Re: Musings on the Jubilee Diamond Exhibition Archived Message
Posted by gillw on September 27, 2012, 1:47 pm, in reply to "Re: Musings on the Jubilee Diamond Exhibition"
I would think that if you could bear to wear those dreadfully tight corsets, a few diamond necklaces were a minor worry! --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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Message Thread:
- Musings on the Jubilee Diamond Exhibition - Bob September 26, 2012, 4:21 pm
- Re: Musings on the Jubilee Diamond Exhibition - LittleMo September 26, 2012, 4:36 pm
- Re: Musings on the Jubilee Diamond Exhibition - Gert-Jan September 27, 2012, 3:52 am
- Re: Musings on the Jubilee Diamond Exhibition - Lily P September 27, 2012, 6:59 am
- Re: Musings on the Jubilee Diamond Exhibition - TMN Raugravine September 27, 2012, 8:48 pm
- Re: Musings on the Jubilee Diamond Exhibition - Cristina September 28, 2012, 7:46 am
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