The other pansy is set with sapphires in the two upper petals, the same number of diamonds in the other petals and three brilliant-cut tsavorite garnets in the centre. This thoughtful arrangement adds to the delicate charm of this pair and reflects the design and craftsmanship associated with Tiffany & Co.

Care and Healing

Historically, the pansy has played a role in both medicinal and cultural practices. First documented in the herbal medicine writings of Rembert Dodoens in 1554, it was used to treat children’s illnesses and respiratory ailments. In England, it was believed to alleviate heart conditions and chest pain, reflecting the flower’s broader association with care and healing.

Shakespeare's Favorite

During the sixteenth century, Shakespeare frequently made mention of the delicate, five-petal pansy in his works. In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Oberon and Puck devise a plan to use the flower’s juice to enchant Demetrius, ensuring he falls in love with the first person he sees upon waking. In Hamlet, Ophelia, overcome by her troubles, hands out pansies while remarking, “And there is pansies, that’s for thoughts.”
This association with “thought” may stem from the pansy’s resemblance to a human face, and in the way its blooms bow forward in late summer, as if lost in reflection. It is also known as heartsease. In Scandinavia, Scotland and Germany, the pansy is known as the “stepmother” flower; the German name is Stiefmütterchen. In Italy, the pansy is known as flammola (little flame). Other English names are “viola” and “violet”.

Four hundred Varieties

By 1833, there were four hundred named pansies available to gardeners who once considered them to be weeds. Floriography, the coded language of flowers, was wildly popular among Victorians who lived in a reserved society where expressing your feelings was regarded as a social faux pas; it allowed them to communicate their desires without saying anything at all. The pansy had become a well-known emblem of romantic thoughts. Apart from romantic love, pansies also symbolized strong bonds of friendship and respect, making it a cherished motif in jewellery design.

Tsavorite Garnets

While garnets are traditionally associated with their brownish red to orangey-red shades, they actually come in a vibrant spectrum of colours, from orange to pink, green, black and honey brown, each with its own unique properties. Among the most remarkable of these variations is the emerald-green tsavorite, appreciated for its diamond-like brilliance and rarity. It is a variety of the garnet group species grossular and the green colour is provided by trace amounts of vanadium or chromium.

The Rolls Royce of Greens

Tsavorite was discovered by British geologist Campbell R. Bridges in 1967 and was given its name by Henry Platt, Tiffany’s chairman at the time and the great-great- grandson of the company’s founder. He immediately recognized its potential due to its intense green colour and transparency and named it after Kenya’s Tsavo Game Reserve, the region where it was first found. While tsavorite is found in both Tanzania and Kenya, the finest specimens, with the purest green hues, are still sourced from this site.
Formed under intense geological conditions, tsavorite typically occurs in small sizes, with stones over 2.5 carats considered rare. Known for its high refractive index and dispersion, the gem sparkles brilliantly, rivalling emerald in beauty but with superior durability and fewer inclusions. It was not until 1974 that the gemstone became more widely known through Tiffany & Co.’s promotion; every good reason why Platt referred to this gemstone as “the Rolls Royce of Greens”.

Tiffany & Company

Tiffany & Co. was founded in 1837 in New York by Charles Lewis Tiffany and John P. Young (pictured below). Initially focused on selling stationery and luxury goods, the firm quickly recognized the growing demand for fine jewellery amongst the expanding middle class. By the mid-nineteenth century, Tiffany & Co. had established itself as a prominent jeweller, thanks in part to its strategic acquisition of high-quality gemstones, including those purchased from the impoverished French aristocracy after the 1848 revolution.

Together with new diamonds from South Africa where diamond deposits were discovered in 1866, Tiffany was able to provide lavish jewellery for the Gilded Age grandees. In 1887, Empress Eugenie’s jewellery was sold at auction and the firm was able to acquire a considerable part of it. This was the first time such important gems had become available on the American market and their noble provenance made them even more desirable for the new American millionaires. Charles Tiffany– sometimes called ‘the king of diamonds’– became the most important American jeweller.
In the early twentieth century, Tiffany’s son, Louis Comfort Tiffany, became creative director and made the brand iconic. His art-nouveau and arts and crafts designs, often inspired by nature, were hugely popular and people spoke of a truly new American style.
In 1955, after several rather difficult years, Walter Hoving was brought in to restore creativity to Tiffany’s. He decided to attract well-known designers and get them to design for Tiffany’s under their own names, a strategy that proved highly successful.

Oscar Heyman

As with most major jewellers, the manufacture of (parts of) jewellery was often outsourced. One very important supplier for Tiffany was Oscar Heyman Brothers. The Pansy Brooch was designed in the 1930s and became an Oscar Heyman & Brothers staple. It was produced exclusively for Tiffany and Co. from the mid-1980s until 2000.

Marks

Both signed Tiffany & Co., marked PT950 for platinum and 750 for eighteen carat gold and numbered 74807 and 75131. The total weight of the tsavorite garnets is approximately 2.41 carats and of the sapphires 2,41 carats, the diamonds weighing a total of approximately 2.82 carats.