US News

ALL AWHIRL OVER PEARLS

It may be the mother of all pearl necklaces. Or knot.

Three stunning strands of natural pearls that will be auctioned in New York next month once belonged to the wife of auto baron Horace Dodge and have a mysterious sheen – they originally may have been worn by Catherine the Great of Russia.

“We will never know,” said Matthew Girling, International Director of Jewelry at Bonhams, which will put the beautiful baubles under the hammer Dec. 16 and expects it to fetch from $500,000 to $700,000.

Speculation about a link to the 18th century Russian empress ignited “like a raging fire” in 1920, when Dodge bought what was originally five rows of pearls from Cartier New York for the then-“staggering” sum of $820,000, he said.