More on Marjorie Merriweather
It appears that a very successful business women Marjorie Merriweather post acquired Maximilian's Emerald and diamond ring, And necklace of Emeralds and diamonds in the late 1930's
Marjorie Merriweather Post was born on March 15, 1887, in Springfield, Illinois, and was the only child of Charles William Post and his wife Ella Leticia Merriweather. C. W. Post founded the Postum Cereal Company after his invention of the coffee substitute Postum, Grape-Nuts, and Post Toasties cereals, which expanded rapidly to become one of the largest food-manufacturing empires in early twentieth century.
Being his only child, C. W. Post trained his daughter in all aspects of the company's workings, preparing the groundwork for his daughter to takeover the rapidly expanding family business at anytime in the future. Marjorie who also accompanied her father on his business trips abroad, was exposed to the appreciation of art and imbibed her father's interests as a connoisseur and collector of artworks.
The death of C. W. Post in 1914, thrust upon her the responsibility of running the rapidly growing family business, a role which she assumed with great ease given the training she received from her father before his death. At a time when women in America were seldom more than secretaries in a business world, dominated by men, Marjorie Merriweather Post became the first woman President of a company, going down in history as one of America's first businesswomen.
Mrs. Post married four times. Her first marriage was in 1905, to investment banker Edward Bennett Close, of Greenwich, Connecticut, by whom she had two daughters. However, the marriage ended up in divorce in 1919. Her second marriage was in 1920, to Wall Street financier Edward Francis Hutton. This marriage was a perfect match, both being handsome, wealthy and similar inclinations towards business. The business acumen of Hutton coupled with the experience of Mrs. Post, led to a rapid expansion of the business. Hutton became the Chairman of the Board of the Postum Cereal Company, which diversified into the prepared and frozen food products with great success, and the name of the company changed to the General Foods Corporation.
Post and Hutton were divorced in 1935, and had one child by their marriage. Marjorie married her third husband Joseph E. Davies, a Washington lawyer in 1935, and accompanied him to the Soviet Union, where he served as the American ambassador from 1937 to 1938, and was one of those who witnessed Stalin's reign of terror first hand. It was also in the Soviet Union, that Marjorie began acquiring Russian imperial art treasures which were sold with the approval of the government of the Soviet Union.
Among the items of Russian art acquired by her, included Russian icons, textiles, porcelains, silver and Faberge art objects. Her collection of Russian art, today is the most important collection of Russian imperial art outside Russia, and is displayed at the Hillwood Museum, her former residence in Washington D.C. Marjorie's marriage to Davies also came to an end in 1955. Her fourth marriage occurred in 1958 to Herbert A. May, a wealthy Pittsburg businessman, a marriage that lasted only until 1964.
Besides being a successful businesswoman, Marjorie was also a well known art collector, a philanthropist and socialite. As pointed out earlier she inherited her passion for the arts from her father C. W. Post, but her collection began to expand significantly only after she moved to New York in the early 20th century. While at New York she came under the influence of the wealthy collectors of the New York high society.
To learn more about art she enrolled in classes at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and came under the influence of the renowned art dealer Sir Joseph Duveen, who instilled a life long passion for the arts in Marjorie.
During the 1920s she acquired decorative art objects for her New York home, and French furnishings for her grand apartment in New York, her estate Mar-A-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, Camp Hutridge in the Adirondacks and her yacht Sea Cloud. She also acquired fine Sevres porcelain and 18th century French gold boxes.
She put together her Russian collection of art during her third husbands assignment as American ambassador in 1937-38. She continued collecting throughout her life, and in 1958 hired Marvin Ross, a Harvard trained art historian to catalogue and organize her collections and implement standard museum practices at Hillwood.
In 1973, after her death, Hillwood, her last estate in Washington D. C. was bequeathed to the public as a museum, where her magnificent French and Russian collections are on display. This was her final and most important philanthropic gesture.
Marjorie Merriweather Post involved herself in lot of charitable activities during the great depression of the 1930s, and supported many philanthropic causes throughout her life. She supported the Salvation Army, the American Red Cross, and during World War I donated funds for the construction of field hospitals in France, a gesture that was recognized by the French Government, who awarded her the Legion of Honor. In 1971, she was the recipient of the Silver Fawn Award presented by the Boy Scouts of America.
Marjorie Merriweather Post donates her jewelry to the NMNH of the Smithsonian Institution.
Marjorie Merriweather Post donated some of her jewelry of historical value to the National Museum of Natural History of the Smithsonian Institution in the 1960s, where these are exhibited today at the Janet Annenberg Hooker Hall of Geology, Gems and Minerals.
The famous pieces of jewelry donated by her include the following.
1) A pair of 20-carat diamond earrings belonging to Marie Antoinette
2) 275 carat diamond and turquoise necklace and tiara given by Napoleon I to his wife Empress Marie Louise.
3) The 30.82-carat "Blue Heart" diamond ring, containing the "Blue Heart" diamond of South African origin.
4) Emerald and diamond necklace and ring belonging to the Mexican Emperor Maximilian Joseph.
The Maximilian Emerald Ring is Now exhibited in the Museo Alameda, San Antonio, Texas.
Was that all the jewels and treasure belonging to Maximilian.
There is an old treasure hunting saying. If you want to find treasure follow the money....
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