Jewel History: Jewels for Miss Roosevelt (1906)

Alice Roosevelt Longworth, ca. 1903 [1]

The New York American says diamond cutters are working night and day on the bewildering array of jewels which the friends of Miss Alice Roosevelt are having set in special designs as wedding gifts [2].

Alice Roosevelt and Nicholas Longworth [3]

At two big Tiffany establishments gems that equal any ever turned out, representing the highest art of the jeweler, and the most precious ever to be found, are being embedded in various handsome articles.

One of the most beautiful, it is said, is a pearl collar of ten strands, the largest ever made by Tiffany, and worth $31,000. A diamond tiara, containing 500 stones, is another, and there are also two diamond collars and two bow-knots of diamonds.

Those who will present these gifts to Miss Roosevelt ask that their names be kept secret. It is understood, however, that two diamond lockets will be given by Secretary of War Taft. Miss Carow, sister of Mrs. Roosevelt, and Mrs. Douglass Robinson, sister of the President, are having work done at Tiffany’s.

At Tiffany’s Forest Hill plant two of the largest presents which, in all probability, Miss Roosevelt will receive are being finished. One is a magnificent silver service, ordered by the Rough Riders’ Association, and a Krag-Jorgensen rifle, fashioned out of solid 22-carat gold, an exact full-sized working model, to be presented by officers of the United States army. The rifle has been patterned from one used by Company H, First New Jersey Regiment, and Miss Roosevelt’s monogram will be worked in diamonds on its stock.

The Roosevelt-Longworth engagement ring, said to have been made in Washington, according to the New York American, was made by Tiffany in New York. It is not a cluster ring, but one large 5-carat stone set in platinum.

NOTES, PHOTO CREDITS, AND LINKS
1. Detail of a hand-tinted photograph of Alice Roosevelt; image in the public domain; source here.
2. Alice Roosevelt, nicknamed “Princess Alice,” was the eldest child of President Theodore Roosevelt. She married Rep. Nicholas Longworth (R-Ohio) at the White House in 1906. The marriage lasted until Longworth’s death but was not especially successful.
3. Picture postcard celebrating the wedding of Alice Roosevelt and Nicholas Longworth; source here.