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Showing posts with label Non-Royal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Non-Royal. Show all posts

Tiara Thursday: The Roxburghe Tiaras

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A while ago I mentioned a Sotheby's sale including pieces from the estate of Mary, Duchess of Roxburghe, which included three tiaras. The sale was on May 12. Today, we're taking a closer look at those diadems. Buckle up, you're in for a triple tiara treat...
Our three tiaras in action, modeled before the sale
Born in 1915, Mary was the daughter of the Marquess of Crewe and his second wife, Lady Peggy Primrose. She was named after her godmother, Queen Mary. In 1935, she married George "Bobo" Innes-Ker, the 9th Duke of Roxburghe. Society life rolled on as usual for the couple, including a role for the Duchess as a trainbearer to Queen Elizabeth at the 1937 coronation, until 1953. Eighteen years after their marriage, her husband abruptly (and apparently without stated reason) tried to have Mary evicted from Floors Castle, his ducal seat. Thus began a marital feud that lasted six long weeks, Mary refusing to leave the castle while the Duke shut her out of as many amenities as he could, including telephone, electricity, and gas. She survived with the help of sympathetic neighbors including the Earl of Home, future prime minister, who stepped in to negotiate an end to the standoff. The Duchess of Roxburghe was granted a divorce in London. The couple had no children. (The Duke swiftly remarried and had two sons by his second wife.)

Video: On Mary and some of her auctioned jewels, including unrelated jewels at the sale. For a video showing West Horsley Place, click here.
Mary made her life in London after the divorce and eventually inherited a country estate, West Horsley Place, when her mother passed away. She did not remarry and did not have children of her own. When she died in 2014 at the age of 99, her estate passed to her nephew, television presenter Bamber Gascoigne. West Horsley Place is in desperate need of extensive repairs, and she assumed he would end up selling the mansion and estate. Mr. Gascoigne, however, decided to go the opposite route. The Sotheby's auction was designed to raise funds to keep the house and make the necessary repairs. It reminds me of the strategy Princess Gloria of Thurn and Taxis used to keep the family fortune afloat in the 1990s, selling things that can reasonably be bought again (such as jewels) and keeping those that can't (such as historic estates), which seems quite smart to me. As an added bonus for those that love jewels, this brings several wonderful pieces to our attention.

Among other gems, the auction included three tiaras:

The premiere piece in the collection is a unique diamond tiara by Cartier that dates from the 1930s. An Art Deco geometric treasure, it is set with circular-cut diamonds and topped by a series of 31 collet-set diamonds. The case from Cartier is stamped with the monogram and coronet of Mary, Duchess of Roxburghe. This is the most expensive of the three tiaras, selling for more than $2.5 million.

A more imposing diamond tiara went for nearly $850,000, a piece that dates from the last quarter of the 19th century. The design features 20 swinging pear-shaped diamonds dangling amidst rose and cushion-shaped diamonds forming scroll and fleur de lys motifs and a base with lozenge and trefoil motifs. It feels like a cross between the Girls of Great Britain and Ireland Tiara, with its lozenge base, and the Fife Tiara, with its dangling pear drops, which is a very good thing by my book. And this one has added flexibility: the tiara detaches from the bandeau base to become a necklace, while the bandeau itself breaks down into two separate sections.

The last of the three tiaras is a ruby and diamond diadem of a similar age to the older diamond tiara, dating from the later half of the 19th century. The tall piece features rose, cushion, and circular-cut diamonds in foliate motifs over ruby baselines, with a central lyre design set with diamonds and rubies. The older pieces in the collection, including this ruby tiara and the diamond tiara above, possibly belonged to Mary's maternal grandmother, Hannah Primrose, Countess of Rosebery (you may remember her from our recent discussion on the Rosebery Pearl and Diamond Tiara). A matching ruby and diamond bracelet is inscribed on the back with a memorial to "my beloved grandmother Sara Cohen." This tiara brought in the lowest price at auction, just over $100,000. (See? You don't need a house. Or part of a house. You could have a tiara instead. Your loss.)

Which of these three would you most like to take home?

Photos: via Getty Images and Sotheby's video

Tiara Thursday: The Rosebery Pearl and Diamond Tiara

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The Rosebery Pearl and Diamond Tiara
This striking tiara was once the property of a woman said to have been the wealthiest woman in England, Hannah, Countess of Rosebery (1851-1890), and was an important member of a jewel collection rich enough to rival a royal collection. The Rosebery Pearl and Diamond Tiara has a base of clusters of large button (bouton) natural pearls surrounded by old-cut diamonds and a top of seven natural pearl and diamond drops, all set in silver and gold. It's a versatile diadem with multiple detachable pieces; the top pieces can be removed (in the same fashion as the Londonderry Tiara, also crafted by Garrard) leaving the bottom row as a smaller tiara, and the buttons can also be used to form six brooches with the top pieces as pendants. A bracelet and brooch, each featuring more clusters of button pearls and diamonds, completed the set.
The bracelet, brooch, and tiara close ups
The tiara dates from about 1878, the same year Hannah de Rothschild married the 5th Earl of Rosebery. Born into the famous banking empire, she was the only child of Mayer de Rothschild and when he died in 1874, the fortune she inherited made her the richest woman in England at the time. Her aristocratic marriage did not come without obstacles, caused particularly by religion (she was Jewish, he was not, and there were hurdles to jump on both sides), but they became an influential couple and her money financed her popular husband's rise through the political structure. He eventually became prime minister, but she sadly would not live to see it; she died suddenly at the age of 39 in 1890.
A Christie's employee shows off the tiara, brooch, and bracelet
Following her death, her husband stored her jewels for nearly 20 years, until their eldest son married and the jewels were split between their four children. Harry, Lord Dalmeny (the future 6th Earl of Rosebery), wed in 1909 and this set of pearl and diamond jewelry was given to his bride, Dorothy Grosvenor, granddaughter of the 1st Duke of Westminster and sister to the 3rd Duke. It passed down in the family and was last known to be part of the collection of the current Duke and Duchess of Westminster, because it was included in a magazine feature on their family jewels. It was sold by Christie's in 2011 as the property of a private collector, where the tiara went for $1.9 million and the brooch and bracelet together brought in nearly $950,000.

Video: The tiara modeled prior to auction
The Rosebery Pearl and Diamond Tiara was purchased by the Qatar Museums Authority Collection, as it was marked when included in a recent Victoria & Albert Museum exhibit on pearls. It's an important piece, thanks to its history (Christie's called the set "Victorian ancestral jewels of the first rank") and the large and rare size of its natural pearls, and I'm glad it is with an owner that frequently loans items for display around the world. It is such a curious and theatrical piece when the top row of pearls is installed - those drop pearls would be inverted on most other tiaras, and the triangular effect of this set up is quite dramatic - I can't help but think it would also be right at home on a movie set too.

Too dramatic for you, or just right?

Photos: Christie's, Auctioneers video, Getty Images as indicated

Tiara Thursday: The Barberini Sapphire Tiara

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The Barberini Sapphire Tiara
So many of the sapphire tiaras we know today are fairly symmetrical, even architectural, in their design, so an asymmetrical floral option makes for a refreshing change of pace. Joining other sapphire floral tiaras such as the Ogilvy Tiara, the Barberini Sapphire Tiara features a flowering wreath design. A rose-cut diamond branch is the base for old-cut diamond flowers with an oval collet sapphire at the center of each, and more sapphires are scattered along the branch. The stones are mounted in silver and gold, and the tiara dates from around 1850.
Other pieces in the set
The tiara is part of a parure that includes a necklace, brooch, and girandole earrings. The accompanying pieces are also notable for their commitment to the floral theme, when many parures might opt for a simpler design for the rest of the set. These were among the jewels that belonged to the Barberini family, an old Italian noble family that counts a pope among its ancestors (Pope Urban VIII) and who gave their name to the Palazzo Barberini in Rome, today the location of the National Gallery of Ancient Art.
The tiara is modeled before its most recent auction
These particular pieces are known to us via their history of auctions, rather than their former owners. The jewels were first sold by Christie’s as a parure in 1971 for $18,850. They were sold again, this time as four separate pieces, in 2009, and brought in close to $250,000 all together ($100,144 for the tiara alone). Floral tiaras are not my favorite overall, but this one does have a charm that makes me wish I’d had the checkbook power to scoop these up.

Sapphires in your floral tiaras, yes or no?

Photos: Christie's / Marco Secchi via Getty Images

Sunday Tidbits for November 23: A Spanish Farewell, a Tiara Watch, and More

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Just a few tidbits to get things rolling for the week - tiaras included:

--As you probably know by now, the Duchess of Alba died this week. We covered her wedding dresses a few years ago, when she was marrying for the third time, and it's always been one of the most popular posts on the blog. Infanta Elena represented the royal family at the funeral. [New York Times, Semana]

--Tiara Watch! Princess Margriet of the Netherlands and her husband Pieter van Vollenhoven attended the annual Peter Stuyvesant Ball in New York this week, and she wore the Pearl Button Tiara in its star tiara form, a.k.a. Máxima's wedding tiara. Margriet rounded out her look with another piece customized by Máx, the large bow brooch that usually features a sapphire center but was swapped for a citrine earlier in the year by the Queen. [Telegraaf video]

--The article linked above mentioned the unfortunate misunderstanding this week regarding Queen Máxima's father, Jorge Zorreguieta. If you heard the reports that he had passed away, I also hope you heard that those reports were incorrect. He is being treated for leukemia, but has apparently been released from the hospital. [NOS, Hello]

--Interesting cardigan/jacket thing sported by Crown Princess Mary for a school visit this week (see video below). Looks like something whipped up from assorted yarn leftovers...except, you know, without the free price tag. [Billed-Bladet video]


--Of general interest to fellow magpies: Sotheby's has been auctioning the collection of the late Rachel "Bunny" Lambert Mellon. The jewels included a blue diamond that went for more than $32 million. [New York Times, Sotheby's]

--In non-sparkly auction news, a hat worn by Napoleon (part of a collection being auctioned by the Prince of Monaco) sold for $2.4 million. [BBC]

--And finally, Prince Harry went to Oman and swords were involved. [Telegraph]

Stay tuned for Monday, when we'll catch up with the happenings in Monaco.

Photos: Telegraaf video

Tiara Thursday: The Cartier Essex Tiara

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The Cartier Essex Tiara
Another tiara famous more for its maker than for its wearers is the Cartier Essex Tiara. The design of scrolling foliage is classic Cartier, also seen in pieces such as the Cartier Diamond and Pearl Tiara and Queen Maria Cristina's Cartier Loop Tiara from Spain, or the bandeau tiara that formerly belonged to the Belgian royal family. This model was bought in 1902 by the Earl of Essex for his wife, Adele, who was an American heiress. According to Geoffrey Munn's Tiaras: A History of Splendor, the Earl provided the stones (759 brilliants and 289 rose-cut diamonds, with a total weight around 156 carats) for the design, which was inspired by a Malaysian headdress.
Lady Churchill, Crown Princess Margarita, and a detail of the setting
Eventually, the tiara left the Essex family and was added to the collection at Cartier. The renowned French jeweler has loaned the tiara out on multiple occasions, allowing it to be worn by Clementine, Lady Churchill, for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, by Crown Princess Margarita of Romania for her wedding, and by a model in a Vogue photoshoot, to name a few. It has also been displayed in many exhibits. You can spot it sparkling away in the video below, from the large Paris exhibition earlier this year:

This tiara is actually pretty big. Its tall structure makes it one of the rare tiaras that can stand up in a hairstyle that might otherwise swallow a smaller piece (see both Clementine and Margarita above). The size plus the dangling pendant at the bottom center of the piece could make it hard to wear - but they make it great to display, so it's right at home in the Cartier collection.

Does this make your list of favorite Cartier tiaras?

Photos: Cartier, Life, DR, EFE video

Tiara Thursday: The Devonshire Diamond Tiara

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Sad news yesterday: Deborah “Debo” Mitford, the Dowager Duchess of Devonshire, passed away at the age of 94. She was the last of the famed Mitford sisters and the wife of the 11th Duke of Devonshire. Debo's life is fascinating, the Mitford sisters are fascinating, and the Devonshire family (particularly the line up of women that have held the Duchess title throughout history) is fascinating. I couldn't begin to do any of that justice here, so I'll merely say that if you haven't picked one up, you're long overdue to spend some time with one of Deborah's books. Entertaining and conversationally written, they are all worth a read. This one is my favorite:
What I will do is stick to what I know, and I’ve had many requests to feature a Devonshire jewel for our Thursday treat. In the late Dowager Duchess' honor, and since she provided the best anecdotes about this piece, we’ll do that today.
The Devonshire Diamond Tiara (source)

This is the largest and most imposing Devonshire diamond tiara. It was made in 1893 for Louise, Duchess of Devonshire (1832-1911), just a year after she wed the 8th Duke. (Louise is nicknamed “The Double Duchess”, having first been married to and widowed by the Duke of Manchester prior to marrying Devonshire, with whom she'd been in love for some 30 years.) The tiara has 13 palmette motifs separated by lotus motifs, set on a base of three rows. The base dates from slightly later than the top part, around 1897. Jeweler A.E. Skinner used nearly 1,900 diamonds set in silver and gold to make the piece, including 1,041 diamonds taken from other family pieces (including the Devonshire parure and the star from the Order of the Garter regalia belonging to the 6th Duke). Louise was an influential woman at court – her 1897 Devonshire House Ball, a costume gala celebrating Queen Victoria’s diamond jubilee, is still famous today – and on her head and the heads of Duchesses of Devonshire to come, this tiara saw many important events.
Evelyn, at left and center shown dressed for the 1911 coronation
Louise’s successor as Duchess of Devonshire was Evelyn, wife of the 9th Duke. Evelyn was Mistress of the Robes to Queen Mary for 43 years, and wore this tiara to the 1911 coronation and for many subsequent events in Queen Mary’s company. (Deborah Mitford would later write that Queen Mary’s complaints about the weight of her own tiara after a long night had prompted Evelyn to remark, “the Queen doesn’t know what a heavy tiara is”.) The coronation of 1953 also included a Mistress of the Robes wearing this tiara: Mary, wife of the 10th Duke. Mary's husband had passed away in 1950, leaving the title to their son Andrew, husband of the lady to which we dedicate this post. As Duchess of Devonshire, Deborah was also a guest at Queen Elizabeth II's coronation, but she wore the smaller of the family’s two diamond tiaras and wore an older set of peeress robes from the family collection. Her mother-in-law had the more important role to play in the ceremony, and thus had the more recent robes and the big tiara.

Deborah and her mother-in-law continued to use the tiara for many court and social events (Deborah can be seen wearing the tiara here or here). She wrote of her mother-in-law casually fetching jewels from the bank concealed in a Marks & Spencer bag, and she wrote of wearing the tiara out for the night and then hailing a cab on the streets of London, oblivious to the potential dangers of being out alone late at night with thousands of diamonds on display. Those tiara-filled days might be over, but the tiara is still with the family. They have exhibited it at Chatsworth House, their Derbyshire stately home.

Nadja Anna Zsoeks at her wedding to Alexander, Prince of Schaumburg-Lippe, in 2007, wearing a tiara similar to the Devonshire Tiara.
One final note about this tiara: a couple of doppelgängers are in existence. A similar tiara/necklace was auctioned by Christie’s in 2003, and a similar design is owned by the Schaumburg-Lippe family (as seen above), to name two. There are really no limits to the number of times a good tiara design might be used.

P.S.: Remember Thursday outfit posts have returned, so keep scrolling!

Photos: Amazon/Richard White, Gauis Caecilius, Flickr/NPG/Thomas Starke via Getty Images

Tiara Thursday: The Mike Todd Diamond Tiara

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The Mike Todd Tiara
Most of the tiaras we cover here are known for their association with royalty or nobility, but this one's a little different: it's known because of its association with Hollywood royalty. It was given to Elizabeth Taylor by her third husband, Mike Todd, in 1957. The tiara dates from around 1880 and is made of old mine-cut diamonds mounted in platinum and gold in a design that includes central scroll motifs topped by single diamonds and separated by latticework.
Mike Todd was a theater and film producer who was married to Taylor for just over a year - from February 1957 to March 1958, when he tragically died in a plane crash in New Mexico. Taylor later wrote that when he presented her with the tiara the year they married, he said, "You're my queen, and I think you should have a tiara." He lavished jewels on Taylor during their time together, from the 29.4 carat diamond engagement ring she referred to as her "skating rink" to the Cartier ruby and diamond set he gave her while she was lounging in the pool wearing this very tiara.
More gifts from Todd: Diamond earrings, and a ruby set from Cartier
She wore them all, sporting the tiara for the first time at the 1957 Academy Awards, where Todd's film Around the World in 80 Days won Best Picture. She also wore it at the Cannes Film Festival that same year and at events after Todd's death as well. It didn't matter that tiaras weren't particularly fashionable at many of the events she would attend - she wore it, and she made it look right at home.

Video: Taylor in the tiara at the Oscars with Mike Todd. At the end, footage from his funeral is shown.
The Taylor jewelry collection was auctioned after her death, with a portion of the proceeds going towards her AIDS foundation. The now-famous auction was held in December 2011, and included the Mike Todd Diamond Tiara. It carried an estimated price of just $60,000 - $80,000, but bidders were enthusiastic throughout the sale and in the end the tiara sold for $4,226,500. Its current whereabouts are unknown.

Would you have sprung for this tiara? Assuming you had a few spare million sitting around, of course...


Photos: Christie's/TimeLife/Art

Royal Outfit of the Day: February 28

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Grand Duchess Maria Teresa wore an Elie Saab couture gown to the pre-wedding dinner for the Prince of Asturias and Letizia Ortiz Rocasolano in May 2004. Earlier that year, Catherine Zeta-Jones wore the gown to the SAG Awards (pictured right; runway in center).
The Oscars are this Sunday and I care about precisely one thing: pretty dresses. (Okay, and also if LUPITA! is going to win.) In the spirit of the first thing, today's outfit is another red-carpet-to-royal style duel - and since it's Elie Saab, you know Maria Teresa is involved. She's added a bit of cape action/arm coverage, but also crucially added some diamond action. And that might give her the edge, though I'll be honest and say this is not my favorite Elie Saab gown. You?

Photos: Getty Images/Vogue/People

Tiara Thursday: The Mountbatten Tutti Frutti Bandeau

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Starting around the 1920s, Jacques Cartier took inspiration from Indian design and popularized a style of jewelry design using an interesting combination of colored stones: rubies, emeralds, and sapphires, sometimes accented with white diamonds. The colored stones might be faceted, cabochon, or carved, and the motif was often nature-themed. The distinctive combination of red, green, and blue stones would later become known as 'Tutti Frutti'. Tutti Frutti wasn't huge in tiara design, but one important example is this bandeau tiara which belonged to Edwina Mountbatten, wife of Lord Louis Mountbatten.
The Mountbatten Tutti Frutti Bandeau
Designed by Cartier of course, the Mountbatten bandeau is typical of the Tutti Frutti style. The sapphires, rubies, and emeralds are carved and probably came from India; they act as fruit and leaves on the branches of a diamond-set tree. The platinum tiara can be worn in true bandeau fashion across the forehead, and breaks into two separate bracelets. (It has been photographed used as two bracelets, but I'm not aware of an example of it in use as a bandeau.) It was made in October 1928 and purchased the following month for £900. Edwina Mountbatten (1901-1960), later the Countess Mountbatten of Burma, was known for her fashionable dressing (among many other things), so of course her jewelry was right on trend. She and her husband would later serve as Viceroy and Vicereine of India, adding significance to the Indian inspiration of this design.
Edwina Mountbatten wearing some of her other jewels, and a close up of the bandeau
Proper Tutti Frutti jewelry made by Cartier in the heyday of the style is extremely valuable and routinely grabs high prices at auction today. The value of the Mountbatten Tutti Frutti Bandeau was brought into the news in 2004, when the British government placed a temporary export ban on the piece. The law allows them to do that for items of particular significance to keep them from leaving the country; apparently the bandeau had left the Mountbatten family and was about to change hands again and be exported. This piece is valuable because it is Cartier in this particular style, but also because it was made for Cartier by English Art Works in London. The company was set up by Cartier and staffed exclusively by British craftsmen, providing important jobs for a struggling British industry and allowing British customers to buy without feeling unpatriotic for purchasing from a French company. Thus, the Mountbatten Tutti Frutti Bandeau has great significance to British jewelry making history. A suggested value of £300,000 was set. The ban apparently worked: in 2008, it was loaned to the permanent jewelry exhibit at the Victoria & Albert Museum.
Máxima and her necklace
We don't see a tremendous amount of this style in use by today's royal houses. The best example of tutti frutti style jewelry (likely not Cartier, but the style) we see on the royal beat today is a necklace and bracelet set from Queen Máxima's collection. This is a love it or hate it style, I think, and while I wouldn't want it to see it all the time, as an interesting accent piece I love it. And I'd love to see someone give a tiara like this a try!

Love it, or hate it?

Photos: WikiCollecting/NPG/V&A/CBS

Tiara Thursday: The Cartier Onyx Tree Kokoshnik

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The Cartier Onyx Tree Kokoshnik
We don't see onyx that often in today's royal jewels, though it was long a staple of mourning jewelry. But in this tiara the black material shines, depicting an Art Deco tree with branches sprawling across a diamond background in a platinum setting. The tiara, made by Cartier Paris in 1914, also features pearls studding the top of its kokoshnik shape (kokoshniks are traditional Russian headdresses) and touches of black enamel. The tree is fascinating here, too - nature motifs are incredibly common in the tiara world, but this stylized version is a uniquely complete depiction, trunk and all. The combo of the tree and the black onyx gives this diadem sort of an Evil Queen appeal, don't you think? Just me? (That's a compliment, by the way. The Evil Queen always gets the best wardrobe.)
Center detail of the tiara; a clutch with the tiara's image carried by Charlotte Casiraghi; the Cartier exhibit ad
The tiara exists in the Cartier world as a showpiece, really, a stunning example of the craftsmanship and Art Deco styling of the renowned firm. I have not seen it in use (though if you have an example, feel free to comment). It's a cover girl tiara, its image adorning book covers, promotional materials, even purses. Currently, it's being used in promotions for a massive Cartier exhibit in Paris.

Video: The Cartier exhibit
The Cartier: Style and History exhibition at the Grand Palais, Paris, runs until February 16, 2014. Hundreds of Cartier works of art are on display, including some pieces with royal connections. Queen Elizabeth II has loaned out the Williamson Diamond Brooch and the Halo Scroll Tiara; Monaco's princely family has loaned pieces including the Cartier Pearl Drop Tiara, the brooches from the Bains de Mer Tiara, a diamond necklace, and Princess Grace's engagement ring; the bandeau tiara that belonged to Belgium's Queen Elisabeth is out for show, plus pieces from the collection of the Duchess of Windsor, and much much more. If you can get there, don't miss it! 

How do you rate this tree tiara?

P.S.: Our new Royal Outfit of the Day series runs on Thursdays too, so keep reading for the second post!

Photos: Cartier/Getty Images

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