Re: Jewelry of queen Sophie of the Netherlands Archived Message
Posted by John R  on August 11, 2013, 10:26 pm, in reply to "Re: Jewelry of queen Sophie of the Netherlands"
Yes the story about the many unused (empty) tiara frames in the Dutch Royal Vaults is legendary and has come true in recent years as we have seen a second (smaller) frame of the Mellerio Sapphire Tiara reappear in 2004, the small diamond tiara (most recently worn by (then) princess Maxima in Singapore) and the aigrette/ corsage worn by Princess Margriet in 2001 in New York and later by Princess Maxima in 2011 which received much more attention of course.
And then there are all the other goodies we have seen appear in recent years.......
--Previous Message--
:
: Thanks John R, I know that Sophie's niece
: princess Marhilde, inherited a three row
: strand of pearls from her. Mathilde (the
: former princess Demidoff and imperial
: princess of France) had no offspring and her
: heirs auctioned off almost all her jewelry
: after her death I beleive in 1901.
:
: A long time ago someone wrote, I believe on
: this board, something about Rene brus who
: apparantly had a glimpse of the royal vaults
: and (s)he mentioned that, according to Brus,
: there would be 30 possible tiara bases. It
: seemed a bit over the edge reading that then
: at that time and almost wishfull thinking.
: Is there someone who can confirm the story
: about Rene Brus?
:
:
: --Previous Message--
: Some say the (tiara of) Stars were on loan
: from Sophie's family in Wurttemberg, others
: believe the stars may still exist in the
: Dutch vaults. Confusion arises each time
: because Alexander's inheritance mentioned a
: tiara consisting of seven diamond stars....
:
: The Large Pearl Necklace does not seem to be
: in the posession of the Dutch Royals. They
: must have been worth a fortune!
:
: The brooch is a very well known piece of
: course.
:
: The 'Fringe' paiting has always puzzled me.
: Sophie looks very young, extremely odd (even
: if we consider she was not the presttiest
: thing), none of the Jewels match and the
: portrait is of a rather mediocre quality. A
: miracle it survived at all IMHO.
:
: The well known Cameo portrait is stunning
: but again, the tiara is not in the posession
: of the Dutch Royals. To me it always looks
: like a wedding portrait.
:
: The Portrait with coronet is also well known
: and shows the tiara which some claim was
: used to create the pearl button tiara. I am
: still not convinced as the motif and spacing
: of the base is too different from the
: current one but I seem to be standing alone
: in this. And before someone claims one of
: the large leaves was used to create a
: diamond and pearl leaf brooch: it was not as
: can be seen in the Winterhalter portrait and
: other portraits for that matter, it already
: existed.....
:
:
:
:
:
: As said, the Ears of Wheat brooches, later a
: tiara, can be traced with some certainty to
: the Romanovs as can the diamond bow corsage
: with the five (!) pink diamonds and pearl
: pendants. There's a riviere of diamonds that
: is said to have come from Maria Feodorovna.
: She was grandmother to both King Willem III
: and Queen Sophie. Some smaller pieces may
: very well also have a Russian provenance.
:
:
: --Previous Message--
: Sophie's jewels were split between her two
: surviving sons Wiwill and Alexander. Wiwill
: sold part of his inheritance, Alexander
: tried to buy most of them back.
:
: Alexander's inheritance went straight to his
: half-sister Wilhelmina. Her mother Emma had
: many of the pieces reset for the young
: queen.
:
: The Peacock Ruby Parure is made from
: diamonds and rubies that belonged to Sophie.
:
: The 5 buttons that have been set on the
: tiara frame to form princess Margriet's
: wedding-tiara and the one Beatrix wore for
: her investiture belonged to Sophie. As did
: the pearl and diamond leaf brooch with
: drops.
: The diamond ears of wheat also were part of
: Sophie's collection.
:
: Some of her pearls were sold, but the big
: pearl necklace probably stems from Sophie,
: as did the diamond rivière of her
: grandmother Empress Maria Feodorovna.
:
:
: The Cameo-tiara disappeared, after her
: death. It wasn't part of the list of jewels
: in Alexander's inheritance. The likeliest
: scenario is that Wiwill inherited and sold
: this piece.
:
: The star tiara of the famous
: Winterhalter-portrait is most likely a piece
: of the Würtemberg-collection and was only
: loaned to Sophie for the portrait.
:
: The diamond fringe tiara is a mystery. I've
: never come across the mentioning of a fringe
: tiara in the Dutch collection. It may simply
: be artistic freedom.
:
: --Previous Message--
: That fringe diadem is really impressive,
: painter's imagination or not. I only know
: Queen Sophie of the Netherlands from the
: middle picture, looking quite sad. The other
: two pictures are new to me.
:
: I believe many jewels were left to her
: eldest son Prince Willem, the Prince of
: Orange (1840-1879). This son broke
: completely with his father and went into a
: self-chosen exile in Paris where much of his
: fortune evaporated. The unmarried Prince
: died in pretty miserable conditions at the
: age of 39. I am afraid a lot of Queen
: Sophie's jewelry went lost via that way.
:
: Queen Sophie also left jewels to her younger
: son, Prince Alexander (1851-1884). This
: prince remained unmarried as well and died
: at the age of 33. Most of his heritage went
: to his halfsister Princess Wilhelmina, the
: later Queen.
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