Jewellery and Watches

An Art Deco Sri Lankan sapphire and diamond pendant on chain, the cushion-cut sapphire claw set beneath an articulated diamond set pierced mount of stepped design, suspended from a single-stone diamond surmount, gold and silver mounted, on facetted belcher-link back chain, accompanied by a Report from the Gemmological Certification Services, confirming the sapphire is of Sri Lankan (Ceylon) origin, with no indications of heating, sapphire weight approximately 14 carats, dimensions 13.7mm x 12mm x 9.4mm, length of pendant 3cm, together with an original purchase receipt (including sapphire and diamond ring in the following lot), from Abdul Caffoor & Co, Bristol Hotel, Colombo, Ceylon, dated 5 February 1947. £4000-6000

The Report from the GCS is numbered 5776-5897, dated 21.06.2016.

Of Arab descent, the Caffoor family were traders of gemstones from the East who settled in Colombo, Ceylon, the earliest records showing their permanent residence in the city from the 1840s. Noordeen D Hajiar Abdul Caffoor was born in 1876 and so the story goes, after a chance meeting with a Muslim jeweller when aged just 14 who provided him with financial support, he started up his own gems and jewellery business. From 1894 he was trading at the Bristol Hotel building, in Colombo. Well liked and respected for his honesty and integrity in business, he quickly established a good reputation, and was granted special permission to board the ships that called at Colombo harbour enabling him to sell his gems and jewellery to the sailors and travellers disembarking from the ships. During the Royal visit of the Prince and Princess of Wales in 1901, Caffoor was given the particular privilege of exhibiting his pearls, diamonds, rubies, sapphires and art works to the royal couple at the Kandy Pavilion.

Caffoor took part in a series of world exhibitions, wining awards for his stands across the United States and Europe, and increasing his own reputation and that of his homeland. In 1903 he participated in the St Louise Exhibition in the USA, and in 1924 he exhibited at the British Empire Exhibition, held at Wembley where Her Majesty Queen Mary personally visited his pavilion and made purchases. Caffoor built up his own unique collection of precious stones and jewellery, and in 1929 he established a Gem Museum at Church Street, Fort, Colombo. Opened by Sir Herbert Stanley, the Governor of Ceylon, he paid tribute to Caffoor who had also presented a permanent exhibition of Ceylon stones to the Imperial Institute, in South Kensington, London.

Caffoor was also remembered as a great philanthropist, contributing generously to education, social causes and the Muslim religion in Ceylon. After his death in 1949, the then Prime Minister of Ceylon, S W R D Bandaranaike, paid him a glowing tribute: ‘I regard him as one of the outstanding Ceylonese gentlemen of his age’.