Allison McKibbin’s engagement ring

The diamond solitaire has been in the family for four generations — originally as an engagement ring, then as a solitaire necklace — and has resided in Minnesota, Europe, Rhode Island, and currently in Richmond, Virginia.

Allison McKibbin married Charles Henry (C.H.) Bigelow Jr. on August 26, 1911. She was 29; he was 45. On their engagement, C.H. presented Allison with a 1.4-carat diamond solitaire ring. He was a widower with three children aged 10 to 14: Donald (b.1896), Alida (b.1898), and Charles Henry III (b.1901). He and Allison had two children: Mary Allison (Molly, b.1919) and John (b.1920).

Their eldest son Donald and his wife Honor served in the U.S. Foreign Service, stationed in Bucharest, Tangier, Addis Ababa, Geneva and elsewhere. When World War II began, Donald and Honor placed their two sons — Lawrence and Roger — in New England schools. The boys lived with their grandparents in St. Paul, Minnesota, when school was out of session, and came to know their American cousins well.¹

Larry and Roger remained close with their grandparents. Soon after C.H. died in 1945, Allison gave the diamond solitaire ring to Larry as a keepsake. Larry, a talented artist who also served in the OSS during the war and later in the CIA, devoted himself to painting, with shows at the Betty Parsons Gallery in New York and at galleries in Washington, Dublin, and London. A few years after he and his wife Franka had settled in Rolle, Switzerland, on the shore of Lake Geneva, Larry sent the diamond ring to his cousin Molly Bigelow McMillan with a note saying “back home to family again, with affectionate wishes, Larry.” His cousin Rick and wife Barbara, carried the ring back to Minnesota after a visit with Larry and Franka.

Molly — Nana to her grandchildren and great-grandchildren — decided to have the diamond reset as a solitaire necklace for her daughter Allison. Her handwritten note on an appraisal report: “Given to Allison McMillan on the occasion of her marriage to Mark Nickel, July 26, 1986.”

A little more than 30 years later, more than a century after Allison McKibbin had first received it, Allison McMillan presented it to her daughter Susan Allison Crawley. Susan later had it reset in its original state as a ring.

About the stone
Molly McMillan had the stone appraised in 1986 before giving it to her daughter Allison. It is an Old European cut, a style popular from 1890 to about 1930, said to emphasize “fire” (dispersion of light from within) rather than the modern “sparkle” (brilliant black-and-white patterns across the surface). Old European diamonds, all hand-cut, have more quirks than modern machine cuts; each is unique. The stone was rated “nearly colorless” (2 on a 10-point color scale) with some inclusions but none visible without a microscope (6 on the clarity scale). The appraisal grade was provisional because the stone was mounted. Full AGS grading (a zero ranking is highest) requires unmounted stones.

¹ Barbara D. McMillan, Lawrence Graham Bigelow: An Artist Sees for His Country  (Outskirts Press, Inc.; 2019)