Lady Wardington's Personal Jewelry Collection Sells for $161K at Noonans

The BBC once turned down Margaret Audrey White for an announcer role because executives feared her "severely beautiful" appearance would distract viewers and "alarm timid men." Seventy-five years later, the jewelry she collected as Lady Wardington proved equally hard to resist: 28 of 30 lots sold at Noonans Mayfair on March 10, totalling £121,240 (approximately $161,000) in hammer prices.

The top prices went to a pair of mid-20th-century gold evening purses in bi-colour ossierwork, each set with diamonds. The more elaborate of the two, estimated at £15,000 to £20,000, hammered at £28,000. A closely related second purse, estimated at £10,000 to £15,000, sold for £22,000. Together they accounted for nearly two-fifths of the entire collection's total, and both cleared the equivalent of $25,000 apiece.

Two further lots each realised £15,000. A pear-shaped gem-set cluster brooch convertible to a pendant, set with cushion and hexagonal-cut blue and yellow Sri Lankan sapphires alongside emeralds, aquamarines, rubies, and old brilliant-cut diamond highlights, had been estimated at just £4,000 to £6,000 before a London buyer pushed it to two-and-a-half times its upper estimate. A circa-1950 diamond and platinum bracelet by Searle and Co., featuring a 1.3-carat central diamond with approximately 12 carats of total diamond weight in a geometric setting, also closed at £15,000 against a pre-sale estimate of £15,000 to £20,000. Additional highlights from the collection included a pair of emerald and diamond drop earrings and a diamond double-clip brooch, though final prices for those lots were not disclosed in post-sale reporting.

The collection was consigned by Lady Wardington's direct descendants. She was born Margaret Audrey White, scouted as a model while working at an Elizabeth Arden salon, and became a national figure in 1951 when the "Too Beautiful!" story broke. She later married Christopher Henry Beaumont Pease, 2nd Baron Wardington, and settled at Wardington Manor near Banbury. In her later years she channelled her public profile into advocacy for women's financial independence, developing a money-management course for women. She died in November 2014.

Frances Noble, Head of the Jewellery Department at Noonans, said: "It has been our privilege to offer for sale the collection of Lady Wardington and we were delighted to have achieved such strong results for her family."

The outperformance was concentrated in the pieces with the strongest midcentury character. Both evening purses sold above estimate; the brooch pendant realised roughly 2.5 times its high estimate. The Searle and Co. bracelet, by contrast, landed within its guided range, suggesting the market placed the premium on uniqueness of form rather than carat weight alone. Pre-sale coverage cited 364 total lots across the broader Noonans Jewellery, Watches, Silver and Objects of Vertu sale, a figure that conflicts with the 30-lot count attributed specifically to the Lady Wardington consignment in post-sale reporting; Noonans has not publicly clarified whether the larger number refers to the full sale catalogue or is an error. All prices reported are hammer figures and do not include buyer's premium.