This necklace with matching earrings was a wedding present from gun manufacturer Samuel Colt to his bride Elizabeth Jarvis Colt on June 5, 1856. It is an exceptional example of mid-19th century adornment in the United States. Retailed by Tiffany and Co., it is one of the few diamond ornaments of that date known to survive, as most were later taken apart and the gems re-cut and reset. In 1862, the Hartford Daily News reported that Mrs. Colt wore her Tiffany wedding necklace to the coronation of Alexander II in Russia. During the 1850s and 60s, the fabrication of diamond jewelry retailed by Tiffany & Co. was largely done in Newark, New Jersey, most notably by Durand & Co., on whose board Charles Tiffany served. Tiffany & Co. did not begin making jewelry until the 1870s. Unfortunately, the papers of Charles Tiffany have not survived as they would have undoubtedly provided details on the business (and perhaps personal) relationship between himself and Colt, as Tiffany & Co. was the gun manufacturer’s agent during the Civil War.