Thank you Baxter for that pic which I have added to my notes. It seems the tiara was always a complete circlet. Possibly QEQM had it altered for the base to be a tighter fit for her?
--Previous Message-- : As jinja mentioned, the Queen Mother loaned : the tiara to an exhibition at Christies in : June 1998 along with the Duchess of Teck's : tiara and the Strathmore tiara. The photo : below shows that the alteration had occurred : by that time and also that the velvet : wrapping around the base was still brown, : from which we can infer that the Queen : Mother had not worn it after her hair had : grayed. : : :