A 27-ounce solid gold jewel-encrusted chalice inscribed in his honor by the grieving widow of a South American diplomat was sold on May 17 by The Potomack Company Auctions for $82,250, including buyer’s premium, a record price for a gold chalice.

The widow was the former Miss Regina Barbour, a belle of Washington and the daughter of prominent businessman James L. Barbour. Her wedding in 1895 at Saint Matthew’s Cathedral to General Julio Rengifo, the Colombian representative to Washington, was reported in several newspapers of the time and was a social event of the year.

Four years after their marriage, General Rengifo drowned in the Magdalena River in Colombia under suspect circumstances, leaving his wife “prostrated by the sad intelligence,” according to one newspaper account. At that time, he was secretary of the treasury of Colombia.

To honor the memory of her husband, Mrs Rengifo bought the gold chalice adorned with a rainbow of precious jewels from Tiffany & Co. and had it engraved with a loving inscription to her husband. She later suffered a nervous breakdown and died in Washington in 1918.

For more information, www.potomackcompany.com or 703-684-4550.