Sorry I have not chimed in yet but I have not had time to read the whole thread until now.
I think that the devil is in the details here...
I never believed that QM's choker was THE Chain Link Bracelets.
Here is the Royal Collection's description:
"Description Photograph of Queen Mary, facing the viewer with her torso in three-quarters right position. She wears chain link bracelet as a necklace and diamond earrings. Head and shoulders length portrait."
Reading this more innocently - that it without the vast knowledge of the posters to this board - it says "chain link bracelet".
I think that is an apt description for some archivist cataloging (probably a whole lot of) photographs. I would say you could describe this as "chain link".
What it does not say is "The" or "Her" or "Queen Mary's Chain Link Bracelets". I think people are reading this incorrectly and assuming the cataloger meant the specific bracelets we call "Queen Mary's Chain Link Bracelets".
I agree with Arthur and believe that QM's choker in the Bassano portrait I posted is the bracelet worn by QEQM in 1975 which Arthur posted.
To add further chaos to confusion - I found that picture in Getty Images which dates it c. 1920.
I also think that Roberts is wrong on both accounts. The portraits on pages 208 and 210 are the same piece(s) of jewelery but they are not "Queen Mary's Chain Link Bracelets". I think they are the other bracelet(s) posted by Arthur.
Here is a picture of QM wearing "Queen Mary's Chain Link Bracelets" as a choker. The gap of the links is quite wide and distinctive. The Robert's examples are much closer and even.
Posted originally by Royal Enthusiast in June2013
So much of this diamond jewelery looks similar I can easily see how assumptions are made and mistakes put to paper.
That is what makes it fun for us! Trying to sort it all out.