[ Message Archive | Royal Jewels of the World Message Board ]

    To: Bob and JohnPete Archived Message

    Posted by Irma on September 26, 2012, 10:37 pm, in reply to "Re: Musings on the Jubilee Diamond Exhibition"

    Bob, thank you very much for your information gained. It makes the jewellery pieces even more interesting.

    JohnPete, I agree with you that it must have been quite uncomfortable and then in corsets as well!!!


    --Previous Message--
    : I wonder if there are any diary or letter
    : accounts from these royal ladies complaining
    : of tightness/itching/choking around the neck
    : from the popular style of stacked necklaces.
    : It looks unbearable. Imagine a stuffy
    : drawing room in July while wearing all that
    : clothing and jewelry.
    :
    : --Previous Message--
    :
    : Thank you Bob for an excellent personal
    : report.
    : I do like to read about the mechanisms used
    : to assemble various jewels.
    :
    : I have always thought the bar was added to
    : the kokoshnik to keep it beautifully
    : aligned.
    : Some pics of Queen Alexandra show the tiara
    : elements falling apart.
    :
    :
    :
    : --Previous Message--
    : Great thoughts Bob, glad you enjoyed it.
    : It is a historic exhibition, I doubt if we
    : will ever see all these pieces displayed
    : together in our lifetimes
    :
    : --Previous Message--
    : I am just back from London where I had the
    : chance to visit the Diamond Exhibition at
    : Buckingham Palace. Although the room was
    : beyond packed, I took the time to closely
    : examine the jewels on display, particularly
    : the settings for the jewels. One rarely
    : gets a chance to see the
    : "underside" of these things.
    :
    : A few things intrigued me.
    :
    : 1) Girls of Great Britain tiara: one can
    : clearly see how the base separates from the
    : rest of the tiara. There are clippy things
    : all around holding the two pieces together.
    :
    : Also, I couldn't figure out how the tiara
    : can be made into a circlet, the way Queen
    : Mary sometimes wore it. It was only
    : afterward, when reading the exhibition
    : catalogue, that I found out that there is a
    : separate setting to make it into a circlet.
    : (Roberts does mention a separate setting,
    : but had forgotten).
    :
    : 2) The Kokoshnik tiara: Up close, one can
    : clearly see the bar running across the
    : diamond plaques that holds the piece in
    : place as a tiara. I had forgotten that it
    : can be worn as a necklace (although I don't
    : think I've ever seen pictures of it worn
    : that way).
    :
    : 3) The Durbar Tiara: It's big! It is
    : displayed as a circlet. Hard as I might, I
    : could not find any evidence of how/where it
    : separates to take the form of an open tiara,
    : the way the Duchess of Cornwall wears it.
    :
    : 4) Queen Victoria's small crown: It's
    : small!!! One can clearly see the mechanisms
    : that allow the arches to separate from the
    : crown.
    :
    : Some of the tiaras still had fabric wound
    : around the base to make them more
    : comfortable to wear. It took me a while to
    : realize that the white fabric is intended to
    : blend with The Queen's grey hair. Duh!!!
    :
    : I went late on a Thursday afternoon,
    : figuring that the crowds would be smaller.
    : Not really. The room was packed with many
    : tourists, many of whom discussed
    : knowledgeably about the jewels (not really).
    : A woman next to me stated categorically to
    : her friends that the Williamson diamond was
    : a pink sapphire. I merely chuckled and
    : allowed her to feel superior to her lady
    : friends.
    :
    : If you have a chance to visit the exhibit
    : before it closes next week, it is really
    : worth the price of admission (and almost
    : worth the price of the plane fare).
    :
    :
    :
    :

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