I think this discovery is quite spectacular. As far as I know the name of Maison Van der Stichel never came up before in the context of royal jewelry. René Brus does not mention this firm in his list of jewelers. I was disappointed, though, that Mr. Hamel did not reveal the source of his discovery. I was at the symposium yesterday, and asked Mr. Hamel afterwards about the newspaper article, but he gave no further information. I hope he will do so in a publication. I did a quick search in the KB digitized collection of newspapers and also in other websites but did not find anything. Apparently, Mr. Hamel's source never was digitized. It would be interesting to know if the author of the 1898 article mentions the source of his information (implicitly or explicitly).
--Previous Message-- : According to George Hamel, a gemnologist who : worked for Court Jeweller Steltman in The : Hague, the provenance of the Dutch Sapphire : Tiara is: Maison van der Stichel in : Amsterdam. : : He presented his case during the Silverstad : Symposium in Silver city Schoonhoven. He has : found a newspaper article from 1898 stating : that the Tiara was made at that firm. He : also claims the central sapphire was not an : heirloom (brooch) from Queen Anna Pavolvna. : : Mystery solved? : : Vorsten online : : : Volkskrant article : : : Photo Van der Stichel, Amsterdam : : : : :
on December 1, 2013, 7:26 am, in reply to "