14/06/2024
Would you trade your home for a pearl necklace? The building you see here, was formerly the home of Morton F. Plant...
After inheriting his father’s railway company and fortune in 1899, Morton Plant married the recently divorced socialite Mae “Maisie” Cadwell Manwaring, that you see in the second photo. It was said Plant paid Mae’s previous husband $8,000,000 to agree to a divorce.
Plant built his mansion in 1905 on the east side of 5th Avenue alongside a string of other wealthy family homes, like the Vanderbilt’s and Astor’s.
But why did Plant sell his house for a pearl necklace? Maisie Plant had fallen in love with a double strand of 128 pearls with a diamond clasp, said to be worth $1,000,000 made by Cartier. (The jewelry in slide 4 is similar to the necklace Maisie loved)
Cartier offered to trade the necklace, plus $100, for the Plant Mansion. So, for the love of Maisie, Plant accepted.
Soon after the trade, harvested pearls were created and the price of authentic pearls dropped, making the necklace plummet in value. And the iconic necklace has yet to resurface.
📸: Cartier store on 5th Avenue; 1987
📸: Portrait of Sarah Mae "Maisie" Cadwell Plant Rovensky; 1987
📸: Pedestrians, cars and coaches passing in front of Vanderbilt Mansion, on Fifth Avenue; 1900
📸: Jewelry and a Cartier Baignoire wristwatch in a display case at a Cartier; 2021
📸: The exterior of the Cartier mansion on 5th Avenue; 2008