A boy from Niagara-on-the-Lake who later found himself in Kensington Palace returned home Saturday, now a man, to tell Willowbank guests how three remarkable women showed him the human stories hidden inside great jewels.
Speaking at Willowbank’s Intersections in Heritage Conservation series finale, jewelry advisor and auctioneer Brett Sherlock traced what he learned from Princess Margaret, Elizabeth Taylor and the former Begum Salimah “Sally” Aga Khan and how working with their pieces shaped his life.
Sherlock anchored each story in the jewels that passed through his hands, from the Peregrina pearl to the 13.78-carat Begum Blue diamond.
He began with Princess Margaret, whose private invitations once carried him from Geneva to her apartment above Kensington Palace’s courtyards.
“It was always a big deal for a boy from Niagara-on-the-Lake to go up to the guard’s gate and say, ‘It is Mr. Sherlock for Her Royal Highness the Princess Margaret.’ And them reply, ‘Yes, she is expecting you,’” said Sherlock.
Sherlock said he became one of the “royal rebels” companions and learned that the princess was as theatrical with her jewellery as with her public image.
Her tall Poltimore tiara, he said, never hid behind a hairstyle and travelled with him during the landmark sale he helped her son organize.
He moved next to Elizabeth Taylor, whom he often visited in Bel Air. Taylor understood glamour but also the vulnerability that came with pieces like the Peregrina pearl, a large natural pear-shaped pearl bought at auction, he said.
“I took the Peregrina pearl in my briefcase, strapped into the seat beside me, and drove it to the (Gemological Institute of America). I sat with it until it was weighed and confirmed,” Sherlock said. “That is the level of responsibility these pieces ca.”
He laughed while recalling the chaos that sometimes followed Taylor’s collection, including the moment the missing pearl surfaced in her dog’s mouth. He also remembered the simple scale of her home, which surprised him after years of hearing about Hollywood excess.
“I remember asking her why she didn’t live in a bigger house, and she said, ‘You never wanted to have a bigger house than the owner of the studio,’” he said.
Working with the Begum Salimah Aga Khan, or “Sally” to friends, taught him something different. She would wear major stones with ease, including a rare blue diamond necklace she would throw on with a T-shirt.
At a predawn breakfast after Alana Weston’s 21st birthday ball at Fort Belvedere, Sherlock reached into the pocket of his dinner jacket to return the sapphire and diamond necklace Aga Khan had asked him to hide when she felt over-jewelled for the occasion.
“When I reached into my pocket and pulled out only half of Sally’s necklace, I thought, ‘How am I ever going to pay for the other half of this necklace?'” said Sherlock.
Aga Khan laughed it off as the second half was still in his pocket and could be repaired easily.
Sherlock’s career carried him all across the world through Sotheby’s, Christie’s and Harry Winston, but he returned to Canada after decades abroad.
He said the three women shaped his understanding that auctions depend less on glamour than on trust.
“There are moments when you cannot even get to a phone, but you are registered to bid with clients who cannot be there. It is all about relationships. That is the most important thing,” he said.
Sherlock closed the morning by pointing to the person he credits for sending him out into the world in the first place. During the Q-and-A, he told guests that when he left Niagara-on-the-Lake for his first internship in London, his mother told him:
“Go off and do whatever you want, be whoever you want, Niagara-on-the-Lake will always be your home, and nothing will change here, and you can always come home.”
He also admitted she only wears the jewelry he gives her to church on Sundays.
After the talk, executive director Katie Houghton spoke about Willowbank’s future, and exactly what the school needs to survive its next chapter.
She said the team wants to turn the unused third floor of the nearly 200-year-old house into a public teaching space for stained glass, carpentry and lectures, but the project hinges on funding an internal fire escape that chair Julian Smith designed after the original exterior plan proved too costly.
Houghton said the price tag is $150,000 and the need became urgent after Willowbank lost its largest donor,earlier this year, which had typically given $250,000 a year.
“If we don’t get funding, we won’t be able to exist without funding,” said Houghton.
She said Willowbank has launched a campaign on Canada Helps and placed a donate button on every page of their website to keep the School of Restoration Arts open for its incoming classes through 2026 and to protect the 13-acre national historic site for the public.
Houghton encouraged guests to return for the school’s 20th anniversary next year.
