MADAM – In your recent jewellery special (ATG No 2318) you review items recently sold by Lawrences of Crewkerne (page 27 – reproduced right).
Described and illustrated is a gold and blue enamel pendant said to mark the opening of the French Estates General on May 5, 1789. Unfortunately this attribution is incorrect – this item being English, not French.
Louis XVI returned to Paris in unhappy circumstances and it was highly unlikely that there would have been the usual presentation of expressions of loyalty, scrolls of welcome and other tributes, never mind a costly gift such as this pendant.