A RING once owned by Jane Austen which was sold to US singer Kelly Clarkson will stay in the UK after a museum where the author lived raised more than STG150,000 ($A257,710) to buy it.
The gold and turquoise ring remained in the Austen family for around 200 years before it was sold at auction last year.
But Clarkson, 31, was prevented from taking the item of jewellery out of the UK when it became subject to a temporary export ban.
Jane Austen's House Museum in Chawton, Hampshire, where the writer spent the last eight years of her life and where she penned all of her six completed novels, launched its fundraising campaign in August.
The museum, which had been unable to meet the hammer price at the Sotheby's auction, has now raised STG157,740 to secure the ring which is expected to go on display in the New Year.
Donations included a single pledge of 100,000 from an anonymous donor while donors included TV gardener Alan Titchmarsh and Austen fans from around the world.
It is not known whether Austen bought or was given the ring - which contains the December turquoise birthstone (Austen's birth month) - and symbolises wisdom and spiritual journeys.
After the world-famous author's death in 1817 from an unknown illness, the ring was passed to her sister Cassandra who then gave it to her sister-in-law Eleanor Austen on her engagement to the Reverend Henry Thomas Austen.
US star Clarkson, a former American Idol winner, said that she was glad that the museum had acquired the item.
"The ring is a beautiful national treasure and I am happy to know that so many Jane Austen fans will get to see it at Jane Austen's House Museum," she said.
Curator Mary Guyatt says they have been stunned by the generosity of Austen fans to the museum, which celebrates the 200th anniversary of the publication of Pride And Prejudice this year.
"Visitors come from all around the world to see the house where she once lived and we will now take great pleasure in displaying this pretty ring for their appreciation.
"The Government's decision to decline an export licence reflects how rarely Austen's personal effects turn up in today's art market, and having missed out at auction in 2012 we are thrilled to have had this second chance to bring it home to Chawton."
The museum, which has also raised enough cash to pay for costs associated with showing the ring, such as its display and insurance, already has two other pieces of jewellery owned by the author of Sense And Sensibility and Emma - a turquoise bracelet and a topaz cross.
Austen is set to appear on the new STG10 banknote following a campaign to have a woman on the currency.
Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang
Austen ring saved for UK
Dengan url
http://petanidollarindo.blogspot.com/2013/09/austen-ring-saved-for-uk.html
Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya
Austen ring saved for UK
namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link
sebagai sumbernya
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar