This blog seems to be pretty reputable, yet it deals mostly with jewellery news and modern jewellery collections; rather than in depth historical scholarship. I believe they rely on all the same scholarship that we have access to, without having a working knowledge of the inaccuracies of some of the older works.
It is a fashion jewellery blog, as such, not a jewellery firm.
Literally hundreds, if not thousands of star brooches were made; all of similar if not identical designs. Thus there is no way if knowing who made the Jardine Star brooch, without studying the brooch itself.
All we know is that this brooch is: an eight-pointed diamond star, with single diamonds set on knife-wire in-between each point; with a cluster of eight diamonds surrounding one larger diamond in the centre of the star. It was bequeathed to the Queen by Lady Jardine in 1981, and been worn regularly since.
I have tried to do a search on Lady Jardine, but have not been successful, my immediate guess is that she was perhaps a Lady-in-Waiting to the Queen, or another member of the Royal Household.
I doubt that any more information on this private piece will be forthcoming, not at least during the present reign.
(It should also be noted that Princess Anne owns a similar star brooch, which was presented to her on an official engagement - See Fields).
--Previous Message-- : : Good points. But do we know what website : this actually is? : : How authentic? : : Maybe this firm made the Jardine brooch? : : Lots of unknowns here. : : : --Previous Message-- : It is my honest opinion that this photograph : is not of the Jardine Star Brooch, as it is : not the style of the Royal Collection to : photograph jewels in this manner. All the : catalogued entries of jewels that have ever : been published show their fronts. : : Thus I believe that this image is simply : another star brooch of a similar design; : after all hundreds were made in this style : in the 19th century. Furthermore, in this : photograph of the star brooch, the angles of : the points appear to be different to the : Jardine brooch as seen worn by The Queen. : : One has to bear in mind that the royal : family do not want to disclose too much : information about their private jewel : collections. The vast majority of : information included in QD concerns pieces : that have featured in publications before, : and Roberts has just built upon the previous : scholarship with properly references : sources, clearing up various confusions. : Although we love the jewels for their : history, others will view them just as signs : of wealth, and thus the royals do not wish : to disclose too much information on their : private wealth; thus I believe that new : information, other than the odd snippet from : the Royal Collection, will not be readily : forthcoming on the Queen's private jewels. : There is already mountains of scholarship : out their on the windsor jewel collection : compared to other monarchies. : : :
on June 5, 2012, 9:38 pm, in reply to "