One fan, Jennifer Grant, purchased an old trunk auctioned at the estate sale of Christie's only daughter Rosalind Hicks back in 2006. The trunk bore the initials of Christie's mother, Clara Margaret Miller.
Grant said, "When I received it, I realized it contained a locked strongbox and the auctioneer had no knowledge of a key." Astoundingly, she didn't bother to investigate it immediately. I would have gotten it opened right away as soon as I got it! She said, "It was a talking point at dinner parties for years, but I never thought there might be anything in it."
When she finally had the box opened, she found several dozen gold sovereigns and half sovereigns as well as jewelry. The jewelry included a diamond ring and a diamond buckle shaped brooch which matched the description of Christie's mother's jewelry in the author's autobiography.
Photo credit : Jeff Gilbert
The original $150 (100 pounds) Grant spent on the trunk has turned out to be quite the investment as the jewelry is worth tens of thousands of dollars or more.
Besides Grant, Christie's biographer was also thrilled. She said, "The whole family were hoarders who kept everything and there was a huge amount of material at Greenway (the Christie home) that simply never got sorted, so it is highly possible that these are indeed Agatha's mother's jewels. In fact, it seems a bit rich if they are not."
I find it hard to understand how the auction company didn't check the strongbox in the first place. It was unfortunate they failed to do so because these family heirlooms were "lost" to Christie's descendants. Christie's grandson indicated he would buy the jewelry back.....if they ever went up for sale again.
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Wow, talk about not keeping track of your stuff!
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