A jadeite necklace once owned by U.S. retail heiress Barbara Hutton was bought by the Cartier Collection at a Sotheby's auction in Hong Kong on Monday evening for 214 million Hong Kong dollars (US$27.6 million), a record price for jadeite jewellery.

The necklace is made up of 27 large jadeite beads, which were given to Hutton from her father, the founder of the Woolworth retail chain, as a wedding present when she married Prince Alexis Mdivani in 1933. The necklace is adorned with a ruby and diamond clasp by Cartier.

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