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    Re: Musings on the Jubilee Diamond Exhibition Archived Message

    Posted by E.M. Grimes-Graeme on December 7, 2012, 11:58 am, in reply to "Re: Musings on the Jubilee Diamond Exhibition"


    We saw the exhibition on Sept 4th and I was absolutely bowled over. It was beautifully laid out and lit; I saw the emerald necklace from across where i was standing and could not get over the intense green light coming from the stones in addition to the rainbow colours from all the diamonds. My father in law roomed with Dr. John Williamson at McGill University in Montreal in the 1920s, and said he was a very reclusive man, who he liked very much. Because of this I have always felt an attachment to the magnificent Williamson Pink brooch, and was thrilled to see it there. As a beacon for culture and the arts the British royal family has contributed enormously, a fact which seems not to matter too much in today's world.

    --Previous Message--
    : Thank you for sharing this with us! Really
    : interesting.
    : You are so lucky to be able to visit that
    : magnificent Exhibition
    :
    :
    :
    :
    : --Previous Message--
    : I am just back from London where I had the
    : chance to visit the Diamond 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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