Born in Edgecliff in 1924, Jeanette, wife of fourth-generation Minter Ellison lawyer Robert Minter, passed away in January this year leaving behind three children, eight grandchildren, a further eight great-grandchildren and a collection of jewellery most women could only dream of.

Her father was an architect and project manager who built “half the red brick flats around the eastern suburbs in the ’30s”, including apartments in Bellevue Hill, Bill-yard Ave in Elizabeth Bay and Potts Point.

This included the art deco apartment block, Macleay Regis, in which Gretel Packer snapped up the penthouse less than two years ago for $8.75 million.

Just down the road from the latter lives Jeanette’s eldest son Robert and his wife Robbie, who describe the Minter matriarch as a trailblazer who bought and sourced jewellery for herself at a time when most women would wait for their husbands to select pieces for them. Cultured pearls specially selected from their family friends, the Paspaleys, in Broome, a 4.61ct round brilliant-cut diamond ring, ornate bee brooches “upgraded” with extra diamonds by her personal jeweller in Hong Kong, Jeanette was nothing if not passionate and particular about her jewels.

Decades after she collected them across the globe, 30 of her most prized pieces are now up for auction for other eastern suburbs women and collectors to gush over, part of a 258 consignment totalling more than $1 million that will form Bonhams first fine jewellery auction in five years at their Queen St Woollahra headquarters on August 14.

A week prior on August 8, the Wentworth Courier will host an exclusive event for readers to peruse the jewels at Bonhams and secure the first look at the extensive consignment, including the complete Minter collection.

“You have passions in life, some people love clothes, some people love shoes, but that was hers,” said Robbie. “She just adored her jewellery.” Added Robert, who is also a lawyer and the fifth generation to work for the family’s Minter Ellison firm where he practised for 29 years: “She was persistent, she was always on a mission, it had to be right. She was very particular, it had to sit in the right spot and have the right clasp.

“A good eye and a lot of work and persistence has gone into this jewellery, which buyers will get the benefit of.”

But as her eldest son attests, Jeannette, though elegantly dressed to the very end, “was a worker, she wasn't just a pretty lady buying jewellery”.

From her father Jeanette inherited a love of property, building two houses in Moncur St in Woollahra, her Point Piper home and Palm Beach house and went through a “Paddington phase” where she was buying terraces and doing them up.

“The last apartment that she lived in in Edgecliff, she did it up when she was 89 or 90,” recalls Robert. “She was always busy.

“If I didn’t ring her at age 93 by 9am, she was gone and she wasn't back until 5pm.

“She wasn't sitting in the corner with a crocheted shawl in a rocking chair. She was right there, doing it all. She was a very energetic soul, right until the end.”

Jeanette’s jewels are among the showstoppers in the 258-piece collection up for auction on August 14. The decision was made to divest some of the inheritance because of confusion over which pieces Jeanette promised to whom.

“There was a round-the-table decision by the siblings to put it to auction,” said Robbie.

“If we want anything, we buy it back out of the estate, then it becomes fair. I’ve already got my eye on a couple of pieces which I might buy back.”

Merryn Schriever, director of Bonhams and Australia’s only female fine art auction house director, says ordinarily such pieces would be sold overseas. However, Bonhams have decided to offer the gems to local bidders first.

“I was in Hong Kong, talking with Australian clients who were there bidding in our South East Asian sale, and they were saying, ‘Why aren't you selling jewellery in Australia? We would love to collect jewellery at home, but to get the quality that we demand we’re flying to Hong Kong to bid in the sales’,” she said. “There is considerable strength locally and the demand has been quite exciting. Even one week after posting online that people are very excited that they can access that international market here in Queen St.”

For Fiona Frith, Bonhams fine jewellery specialist, the phone has been running hot with interest from London, Switzerland, Singapore, New York and Hong Kong.

But she predicts most of the pieces will be sold to buyers who live not far from the auction house’s Woollahra doors — and it will be women snapping them up.

“Now women are saying ‘I’m buying myself something’. They’re buying cocktail rings because they deserve it. They’re more in control of their financial situation,” she said. “They don’t wait for their husband or boyfriend, they know what they want for themselves.”

Frith adds: “Jeanette (Minter) was someone who was doing that at a time when traditionally a husband chose your jewellery.

“The first 30 lots of this catalogue are Jeanette, they are her. There is a story with every piece and they're the best of all. They’re the things that people often embrace.”

Wentworth Courier readers are invited to peruse the collection ahead of auction. The first 20 people to RSVP to events.aus@bonhams.com will be invited to attend our exclusive event. 5-7pm, August 8, 97 Queen St, Woollahra