Re: Queen Alexandra's tiara -amethysts amd sapphires Archived Message
Posted by Dmitry on February 4, 2016, 10:30 am, in reply to "Queen Alexandra's tiara -amethysts amd sapphires"
Well done! I wonder, though, if the tiara had interchangeable centers, either sapphires or amethysts. That could easily be. If the tiara was a gift from her sister, Marie Feodorovna, given the huge deposits of first rate amethysts in Russia, once the Duke of Clarence died and Alexandra began wearing half-mourning most of the time, the purple stones would be very appropriate. It might be that Marie Feodorovna added amethysts to the gift at a later date. This is nothing but speculation, of course, but it is a very plausible reason for the confusion about what might be a single tiara "with options". Just a thought. --Previous Message-- : Last year I posted references to press reports : stating that Queen Alexandra wore a sapphire : tiara. : http://members2.boardhost.com/royal-jewels/msg/1439359664.html : : One of those occasions was at the wedding of : her daughter, Princess Louise, Duchess of : Fife, on 27 July 1889. Below is a : description of her tiara for the wedding. : : : From the Illustrated London News 31 : July 1889. : : A photo in Royal Collection shows that HM : wore this tiara. : : : : I believe that this is Queen Alexandra's : sapphire tiara. : : Many people, however, state that the dark : stones are amethysts and that this tiara is : the one worn by Princess Maud, Countess of : Southesk. : : I disagree. : : : : After the Countess' death Queen Alexandra's : amethyst necklace and an amethyst tiara were : auctioned in 1946. At the same time a : cabochon sapphire necklace given to the : Queen by the Tsar and her sister for her : 25th wedding anniversary, which was : inherited by the Countess, was also sold, : but I have not found a reference to a : sapphire tiara. : : For those who are not convinced that there : is a significant difference in the size of : the coloured stones and the surrounds of the : central stones, I have attempted a side by : side image (sorry it is not brilliant) : : : : Queen Alexandra is shown on the left and the : Countess on the right. : : Other differences are - : The dark stones in the tiara worn by Queen : Alexandra are surrounded by diamonds within : an outer border of diamonds. More : importantly, these stones are sugar loaf : cabochons gems, and significantly smaller : than those in the Countess' tiara. : : : : The central stones in the tiara worn by the : Countess do not have the inner diamond : border and the stones seem to me to be : faceted gems, not cabochons. although they : are obviously deep stones. I also feel that : the outer diamond border in the Countess' : tiara is thinner than the one in Queen : Alexandra's, but that may be due to the : angle from which the photo was taken. The : other elements appear to match. : : : In an earlier discussion Malluu put forward : the idea that Queen Alexandra may have had : her tiara originally fitted with sapphires : and later adapted to take the larger : amethysts. : http://members2.boardhost.com/royal-jewels/thread/1439359664.html : and Malluu's idea : http://members2.boardhost.com/royal-jewels/msg/1439658663.html : : A versatile tiara which could take different : elements is a likely explanation. : : I now think that Queen Alexandra used the : central elements from the sapphire necklace : given to her by the Tsar and Empress for her : 25th wedding anniversary as the central : elements in the tiara when she wore it as a : sapphire tiara. : : The sapphires in the necklace are sugar loaf : cabochons and are surrounded by diamond : borders, and they seem to me to be a match : with the elements in the tiara. According to : Ursula's site each cluster in the necklace : is detachable. (I am assuming that : information was taken from the auction : catalogue when the necklace was sold again : in 1986) : http://www.royal-magazin.de/england/queen-alexandra/sapphires-collar.htm : : Tiara : : : Necklace element : :
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