Interesting, my notes say differently. Perhaps there is confusion between PeRegrina and PeLegrina. This is what I have:
La Pelegrina, translated as "The Incomparable", weighs 111.5 grains and once was part of the Spanish crown jewels. An egg shape with a silvery luster that makes it appear almost transparent with a rose cut diamond foliate cap and circular cut diamond surmount. It was also known in Russia as the Zozima after the Russian czar's jeweler. It came into the possession of the Spanish Crown in 1579 when presented to King Philip II. A contemporary account relates as follows: "In order more particularly to know the riches of the King of Spain one has but to read the works of Padre Acosta, but I will content myself with relating that which I did myself see in Seville in 1579. It was a pearl which Don Pedro de Temez brought from Panama, and which he did himself present to Philip II. This pearl, by nature pear-shaped, had a long neck and was moreover as large as the largest pigeon's egg. It was valued at fourteen thousand four hundred ducats ($28,800) but Jacoba da Trezzo, a native of Milan, and a most excellent workman and jeweller to his Catholic Majesty, being present when thus it was valued said aloud that it was worth thirty--fifty--a hundred thousand ducats in order to show thereby that it was without parallel in the world. It was consequently called in Spanish La Pelegrina which may be translated, I think, into "incomparable." People used to go to Seville to see it as a curiosity. At that time there chanced to be in that city an Italian who was buying the finest pearls for a great nobleman in Italy, but the largest gems he had were to it as a grain of sand to a large pebble. In a word, lapidaries and all those who understand the subject of Pearls said in order to express its value that it outweighed by twenty-four carats every other pearl in the world." The Pelegrina was found off the small island of Santa Margareta, about one hundred miles distant from San Domingo. Philip II wore the jewel as a hat buckle. Philip III gave the jewel to his wife Queen Margareta who wore it on the occasion of a grand ball which was given in Madrid in 1605 to celebrate the conclusion of peace between England and Spain. From the Spanish Royal treasury there are two conflicting accounts as to its subsequent history. One says that it came to France as a wedding gift from the Spanish King Philip IV to his daughter Maria Theresa upon her marriage to French King Louis XIV in 1660. La Pelegrina vanished in 1792, after the collapse of the Bourbon monarchy, materializing in 1826 Moscow, where it was purchased by Princess Tatiana Youssoupov (1769-1841) who wore it as a single earring and had it passed down through the generations. The other says that it did not go to France with Maria Teresa but stayed in Spain and was worn by the subsequent Borbon sovereigns but then disappeared only to resurface, some say, in Russia. A book of 48 pages devoted to it alone was published by a German author in 1818. In any event, the stone disappeared once again on the eve of the Russian Revolution. Prince Felix Youssoupov, smuggled numerous jewels from Russia when he made his escape: It stayed in the possession of Prince Felix Youssoupoff until he sold it in 1953 to Swiss dealer Jean Lombard. It was subsequently sold at Christie's in 1987 for $463,800.
La Peregrina, translated as "The Wanderer" or "The Pilgrim" , is one of the most famous pearls in history. It is a large pear-shaped white pearl of originally 223.8 grains (later 203.84 grains) discovered in the early 1500s by a slave in the Gulf of Panama. He gained his freedom for finding it. King Phillip II of Spain (1527-1598) acquired the pearl in 1554 and presented it as a wedding gift to his wife, Queen Mary Tudor of England in 1554. It was returned to Philip following Mary Tudor's death, and it subsequently passed down to Spanis Queens Margarita and Isabel; Velazquez painted two separate portaits of Queen Margarita and Queen Isabel on horseback each wearing La Peregrina. With the Napoloeanic invasion, it apparently was seized by Joseph Bonaparte (ruled 1808-1813) who took it with him when the fled Spain. The Wanderer is aptly named, as it often fell from its setting due to its weight—once to be found tucked into a sofa cushion and, on a later occasion at Buckingham Palace, caught in a lady’s train. Later it was acquired by the British Marquis (later Duke) of Abercorn from the son of French emperor Napoleon III. It was purchased in 1969 for $37,000 by actor Richard Burton for his wife, actress Elizabeth Taylor .
