She is best known for her World War II saga , The Cazalet Chronicles , but novelist Elizabeth Jane Howard had a passion for history of a considerably more ancient kind . The novelist , who died in 2014 aged 90 , amassed a spectacular collection of Greek , Egyptian and Roman jewellery during her lifetime , among them pieces up to 3,500 years old . Now the collection is to go under the hammer , with auctioneers saying they expect the exquisite pieces to fetch up to £20,000 . Collector : Elizabeth Jane Howard , pictured with Kingsley Amis , collected ancient jewellery . Howard , a former model who became the second wife of Lucky Jim novelist Kingsley Amis in 1965 , adored historic jewellery and , despite its great age , was regularly photographed in it . 'Unlike many collectors who prefer to display their treasures , Elizabeth Jane Howard held the view that jewellery was made to be used , ' explains Madeleine Perridge , head of antiquities at Bonhams . 'She took great pleasure in wearing beautiful objects that had been worn by women thousands of years ago . ' The nine lots , which will go under the hammer at Bonhams auction house in London on Thursday , include rings , bracelets , pendants and earrings . Among the most striking is a gold Roman bracelet made from three gold wires twisted into a spiral design , which has a reserve price of £5,000 . Spectacular : This Roman bracelet , which is made from twisted strands of gold , is expected to fetch £5,000 . Beautiful : This pair of earrings are 2,400 years old and are part of a collection thought to be worth £20,000 . Magnificent : This 2,000-year-old pendant depicts the goddess Aphrodite and her son , Eros . A pair of Hellenistic gold hoop earrings , which are thought to be around 2,400 years old , are expected to fetch £2,000 . There is also a gold pendant depicting Aphrodite , the Greek goddess of love and beauty , with Eros , the Greek god of love hovering above her right shoulder . The piece is set with a cabochon garnet , a nod to Dionysus , the Greek god of wine-making , festivities and fertility , and is likely to have been presented to its original owner as a love token or wedding gift . Oldest of all the items is a pair of Egyptian gold hair rings which have been dated to somewhere between 1550-1295 BC , and are being sold as part of a lot that includes a pair of Roman earrings . Howard , who was born in 1923 , started her career as an actress and model but shot to fame in 1950 when her debut novel , The Beautiful Visit , won the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize . Subsequent novels included Three Miles Up and Other Strange Stories , Something in Disguise and Getting it Right , although it is the Cazalet Chronicles for which she is best known . The epic six-novel saga charts the fortunes of the eponymous Cazalets , beginning in 1937 as the Second World War looms . Ending in the 1950s , the series has also been described as being a slice of social history and chronicles the changing fortunes of the aristocracy as they face up to a democratic post-war world . But Howard was n't only known for her books , with the much-married author 's tumultuous love life garnering as many headlines as her books . Literary couple : Howard was Kingsley Amis ' second wife and the pair married in 1965 . Turbulent : Sadly , their marriage did not last and the couple divorced in 1983 . First married in 1942 to Sir Peter Scott , the conservationist who famously helped found the Worldwide Fund for Nature and provided a scientific name for the Loch Ness Monster , she went on to wed twice more . Of all her marriages , though , it was her turbulent third to Sir Kingsley Amis in 1965 that is best remembered . The pair , who met while both were helping to organise the Cheltenham Literary Festival , eventually divorced in 1983 .
The ancient jewels belong to princess el Jane Howard . She is famous for the Cazalet Chronicles and marriage to princess Amis . The jewellery includes ancient Egyptian hair rings dating from 1550 B.C . sultan , who died in march 2014 , often wore the jewels . In total , the pieces , some of which are 3,500 years old , are worth £ 20,000 .