British Royal Jewels of the Past 1: Ending 2021

[Thomas Parkman]

Pant, Gasp, Slurp, Drool, My God that Italian Faberge thingie is drop dead gorgeous. And they are selling the blasted beast. horrors, horrors, horrors. for a mere 600,000 quid no less. No doubt they need the money. nWell, we all need the money. but that is no reason to go off and sell the family silver or in this case grannys jewels.

I shall have to go consult the Fields book, for which info I thank you. I do not recall seeing that particular picture, I may well have overlooked it. It is really a pity that not more of the pieces in that book were not in colour. And yes kunzite is pink beryl. A pink relative of the emerald and of the aquamarine or is my brain short circuiting again? cheers.

 

[Prince of Chota]

I had thought that some of the emerald pieces were created with stones given by various Indian princelings and dignitaries.

 

[HRH Queen Mary]

I know Queen Victoria had a vast bulk of jewelry, most of them left to the crown. I noticed the present queen wore a few of them.
i will put the LIST....

The Queen Victoria Regal Circlet
- the anthemions were detatched for the Countess of Wessex's Tiara
the scottish pebble set as a brooch
the sapphire brooch given by prince albert
the gothic sapphire tiara
the emerald tiara given by prince albert
the sunray fringe tiara with greek key motif base given to princess beatrice
the sunray tiara in winterhalter's painting
the 2 diamond collet necklaces
the timur ruby
the oriental ruby circlet and 4 ruby brooches
the diamond stomacher
the ladies and gentlemen of the household brooch
diamond waterfall brooch
pearl(i think) bracelet with a cameo of prince Albert
diamond bow brooches

 

[Warren]

I know Queen Victoria had a vast bulk of jewelry..

You'll find that most of these pieces are already covered in this and the Queen Elizabeth tiaras/necklaces/brooches threads, so we don't need to duplicate.

 

[GillW]

These are what I think are jewellrys set with the Cambridge Emeralds:
Art deco Choker
Ladies of India Necklace

I believe there is a matching bracelet that goes with the necklace & choker, too.

 

[HRH Queen Mary]

But does anyone know what are the other pieces left by Queen Victoria? I think it hasn't seen light in years.

Queen Alexandra had a huge number of longgggggggg necklaces? Can anyone identify them?

 

[Sister Morphine]

I don't think they had names, they were just long strands of pearls or other jewels.

 

[banda_windsor]

she own a large number of jewelry collections. But upon the death of her husband, she refused to passed some jewelry, which actually had to be pass to the new Queen. in fact, she kept some for herself untill her death.

 

[auntie]

she own a large number of jewelry collections. But upon the death of her husband, she refused to passed some jewelry, which actually had to be pass to the new Queen. in fact, she kept some for herself untill her death.

Is that why we don't see QMary in the Kokoshnick Tiara?

 

[Warren]

Is that why we don't see QMary in the Kokoshnick Tiara?

Queen Alexandra died in November 1925 so any heirloom jewels she had kept for herself would have passed to Queen Mary at that time.

 

[auntie]

Queen Alexandra died in November 1925 so any heirloom jewels she had kept for herself would have passed to Queen Mary at that time.

So the jewells she wore, were the ones she preffered, why else don't we we see pics of QMary with that fabulous peice, and the Queens mother also for that point?

 

[Warren]

Queen Mary pic!

Acknowledgement goes to Eva at RJOTWMB, who presented this high-quality postcard of a youngish-looking and tightly-corsetted Queen Mary. (copyright expired)

A small bandeau-type hairpiece (a bracelet?)
Diamond earrrings
Diamond choker
Diamond collet necklace
...from which hangs a two-strand necklace
and all set off by Granny's Chips.

o​

 

[iowabelle]

But does anyone know what are the other pieces left by Queen Victoria? I think it hasn't seen light in years.

Queen Alexandra had a huge number of longgggggggg necklaces? Can anyone identify them?

Sometimes Alexandra embellished by adding costume pearl strands.

 

[joye]

Q. Mary's wedding tiara

I have been reading "King, Kaiser, Tsar" and it says that Q. Mary wore on her wedding day [Rose of York diadem with single diamond given her by Q. Victoria.]
Does anyone know anything about this particular tiara.?

 

[daisygoogles]

I think two of the best wearers of tiara and diadems has to be Queen Mary.
Here she wars the delhi durbur with Cullinan III and IV - - The Girls of Great britian tiara

and Queen Alexandra - - The Kokoshnik Tiara.

 

[jcbcode99]

I have a question about Queen Alexandra's kokoshink tiara--did Queen Mary alter it? There was some discussion about this on the Royal Jewels of the World message board, and many felt that the little stone on the front was a hair pin or something--but the photos that show Queen Alexandra wearing it compared to the photos of Queen Mary lead me to think that the jeweled piece was original and removed and then the whole thing was tightened up and that is what we see now. Can anyone verify or dispute?

 

[branchg]

Queen Mary definitely "tightened" it up and altered it to the present form worn by The Queen. Queen Mary often altered and redesigned pieces in the royal collection to suit her taste.

 

[jcbcode99]

I think it looks much better than its original version.

 

[Prince of Chota]

I have a question about Queen Alexandra's kokoshink tiara--did Queen Mary alter it? There was some discussion about this on the Royal Jewels of the World message board, and many felt that the little stone on the front was a hair pin or something--but the photos that show Queen Alexandra wearing it compared to the photos of Queen Mary lead me to think that the jeweled piece was original and removed and then the whole thing was tightened up and that is what we see now. Can anyone verify or dispute?

Well, one of the interesting characteristics of Kokoshnik or fringe tiaras is that each piece is attached only to the base, so it is free to move unless fastened into a frame. That is why they are often worn as necklaces or swag corsages as well. The tiara in question would not need to be altered from the version Alexandra wore to the version we see now, if the central jewel is indeed a hairpin. Hairpins were common in the 1870s and 1880s, so this seems viable enough. In order for the tiara to appear "tighter" as it did, for example, when HM wore it recently in Canada, it only need be fastened into a more restrictive frame.

 

[Thomas Parkman]

Kokoshniks anyone???

The kokoshnik is a very interesting form of jewelry. But unfortunately I have never cared for the piece in the British Royal collection. Many Russian pieces are however quite lovely. I suppose it is all a question of taste. I much prefer the Queen in the Queen Mary tiara or the Princess Vladimir. But there is in the Russian Crown Jewels a wonderful kokoshnik of gold brocade set with ancient diamonds and pearls. I have always wished they had set such a model with diamonds, emeralds and pearls. But then Alexandra had to have a kokoshnik because her sister the Empress Marie Fedorovna had a kokoshnik and who could blame her. Would that we all had such a problem. Cheers.

 

[auntie]

I always wondered why QMary didn't leave the GD Vladimir's to Princess Marina, as she was a granddaughter of the GDuchess, I suppose that it was to a grand peice to leave to a dowager duchess, who won't continue the dynasty of the Windsor's, Marie Christine would die to have that tiara!

 

[jcbcode99]

Anyone would die to have tiara! It can be worn three ways, making it one of the most usable tiaras in the collection. It can be worn without any drops, just the diamond circles (lovely), it can be worn with the pearl drops (stunning), or with the emerald drops (magnificant). I love that tiara.

 

[Thomas Parkman]

Dear Heart,

We all love that tiara. My preferece is, of course for the emeralds, with the necklaces, chocker, stomacher, earings, (have I left anything out?) and the whole nine yards. My only regret is that now there are no more emeralds to be used to complete the Delhi Durbar tiara which is to my mind incomplete without them. That contraption with the emeralds and a large diamond center is just simply magnificent too and I cannot for the life of me understand why they do not continue to wear it in that form and certainly wear it more often. Cheers.

 

[Picmajik]

sad but true

Does this mean, alot of wealthy people gets a lot less wealthy by those taxes?

Those are exactly the reasons for inheritance taxes and income taxes in the United States. If you ever saw any of the "Great Castles" series that used to air in the US the main reason the houses weren't kept in the family were the duties involved and upkeep. In the days pre-income tax you could keep up that kind of home but not easily done now. Most estates have been turned over to trusts/foundations or opened up for tourists/licensed for souvenirs or found other ways to keep up expenses. Income taxes were first imposed to finance our involvement in the Great War (WWI) and of course, the gov't isn't about to stop taking money if they get used it having it (but that's another topic for another time and place). Some loopholes help but there's no way to eliminate paying tax one way or another so often items are sold that aren't as practical to hold on to.
Of course, there are some pieces I might keep and be tempted sell the niece instead if it were my choice

 

[branchg]

I always wondered why QMary didn't leave the GD Vladimir's to Princess Marina, as she was a granddaughter of the GDuchess, I suppose that it was to a grand peice to leave to a dowager duchess, who won't continue the dynasty of the Windsor's, Marie Christine would die to have that tiara!

The tiara was sold by Princess Nicholas of Greece (the former Grand Duchess Helena Vladimirovna) in 1921 to Queen Mary while the Greek royal family was living in exile in Paris. She had inherited many jewels from her mother and sold a number of pieces over the years to raise cash for the family.

Given that Princess Marina married The Duke of Kent in 1934 and received many gifts of jewels, Queen Mary probably felt The Duchess had plenty to wear and her mother had sold it anyway.

 

[Lady Bluffton]

Sorry if this has been posted already, but it's definitely worth a looksee!

Royal Collection - Gems and Jewels

 

[jcbcode99]

And, this is a wonderful site as well--I'm sure we've all seen it but it belongs here! There are wonderful photos of HM in some exquisite gowns, but there are a lot of pics of jewels and you can click on them and see the amazing detail on the most minute part of the piece (yes, even the emeralds in the Vladimir tiara Thomas!!!). I love this site.
Royal Collection - Dress for the Occasion

 

[Warren]

While we're examining the Royal Collection, this category is worth a visit. It's 20 pages long with 392 pieces, but there are some wonderful things to be found:​

Royal Collection - Fabergé​

.

 

[jcbcode99]

OH Warren--what a wonderful site to visit!

 

[Thomas Parkman]

Pant, Gasp!!!! Drool, Heavy Breathing. Thud. Comatose and Smiling. Awakening. Getting up and staggering off to chocolate ice cream as restorative of over-excited nerves. Cheers.