Beautiful 14k gold necklace with a small green emerald that Elon Musk presented as a birthday gift to his college girlfriend Jennifer Gwynne in late 1994. Included with the necklace are two original candid photos of Musk and Gwynne—one depicting them standing with Musk’s mother, Maye, during a visit to New York City (date-stamped to May 13, 1995), and the other of Musk and Gwynne posing with four other Resident Advisors before an end-of-the-year formal at the University of Pennsylvania in 1995. In overall very fine condition.
Musk and Gwynne began dating in the fall semester of the 1994-1995 school year when they both lived and worked as Resident Advisors (RAs) in the ‘Spruce Street’ part of the University of Pennsylvania’s Quadrangle dorm. In 1995, after graduating from Penn with a Bachelor of Arts degree in physics and a Bachelor of Science degree in economics from the Wharton School, Musk migrated to Stanford University where had been accepted into the school's Ph.D. program in materials science. He left after two days to join the Internet boom and launch his first startup.
According to Gwynne: ‘When we went to visit Elon’s mother in Toronto during the Christmas break of 1994, Elon gave me both the small ‘love, love, love’ note and the necklace. His mom had a number of these necklaces in a case in her bedroom and Elon told me they were from his father’s emerald mine in South Africa—he pulled one from the case. And because I had not gotten him anything as a Christmas gift (and I felt very guilty about that), he said we would consider the necklace an early birthday present for me. I wore the necklace for a number of years on and off, but it’s mostly been in my jewelry box for the last 10 years (always reminding me of Elon, of course).’
The referenced "small 'love, love, love' note" from Musk can be found in this auction as Lot 89 (https://www.rrauction.com/auctions/lot-detail/346192106430089-elon-musk-signed-birthday-card-psa-gem-mt-10/?cat=0).
