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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