Bejeweled Foundation

A royal jewel vault. A personal project to catalog the best, most beautiful, and most historically significant jewels of the world. Requests, especially with pictures, are very welcome.

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Excellent!  Really shows the size of this bandeau.

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Is this really Margaret?  Because I don’t think I’ve ever seen this tiara before!

But we do know there are plenty of things lurking in the vaults we don’t know about, right?

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Queen Elizabeth II’s Fifth Anniversary Bracelet

For their firth anniversary, and their first since she became queen, the Duke of Edinburgh designed this bracelet for his wife.  The bracelet is an oddity of HM’s collection, as she does not wear much in the way of plain gold, but being a personal piece, she must have some sort of affection of it.  But it is far more likely to see her wearing the bracelet he gave her at the time of their wedding.

The centerpiece element is Philip’s naval badge, an anchor surmounted with a crown, done in a silvertone metal and diamonds.  There are also two York roses, accented with diamonds and tipped in rubies.  There are three other sections containing a a center equal-armed cross, two in sapphire and one in ruby, each with a center square diamond, surrounded by a scrolling intertwined “E” and “P”.

The two “halves” appear symbolic of the pair: the naval badge and two blue crosses representing Philip, the navy, and the Greek flag (which was at the time not yet the current form, which was only the naval ensign at the time of this creation, but the modern Greek flags always have blue and white crosses); and the roses and ruby cross representing Elizabeth, her original position as the Princess of York, and St. George’s cross, England’s flag.  Their two different places in the world at the time of meeting and courtship.  But they come together in their joined initials.  Awwww.

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Queen Alexandra Spam

Prince of Wales Feathers Bangle

Despite opposition to the match with a Danish princess, the proud German relatives did welcome her with jewels.  This bracelet was from the Duke of Cambridge.

The bangle’s band of textured gold is finished by vaguely buckle-like blue enamel and diamond decorations.  In the center are the Prince of Wales feathers.

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Queen Alexandra Spam

Ladies of North Wales Pendant Brooch

This brooch was a wedding gift from the Ladies of North Wales to the new Princess of Wales.  It eventually ended up with Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, who wore it to Prince Charles’s investiture as Prince of Wales.  It is currently in the possession of the Duchess of Cornwall.

The center of the brooch depicts a leek, the emblem of Wales, in emeralds and diamonds.  It is framed by an oval made up of an arch of diamonds accented with small emeralds, and a banner surrounded by emeralds.  It reads “IN TYWYSOGES NI” which loosely translates to “For our princess”, as far as I can determine, but I don’t speak Welsh.  There is a emerald pendant hanging from the base.  There was originally a cluster of diamonds and small emeralds at the top, presumably for usage as a pendant, but it has since been removed.

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Queen Alexandra Spam

Prince of Wales Feathers Pendant Brooch

This pendant brooch was a wedding gift from the Ladies of Bristol to Alexandra on her marriage to the then Prince of Wales.  Over a century later, it was given to Diana as an engagement present by the Queen Mother, and she had it adapted to act as the pendant of a diamond necklace she had been given as a wedding present.  It has since been given to Camilla, who wears it as the traditional brooch.

The brooch consists of an diamond oval accented by small emeralds on the prongs, enclosing the center emblem of three ostrich plumes inside a crown with a banner reading “ICH DIEN”, meaning “I serve” in German.  The crown has several small stones located in the band, what appears to be a ruby, two sapphires, and two emeralds.  There is a teardrop emerald pendant suspended from the base which can be removed.  Originally there was a diamond and emerald cluster at the top which allowed it to be used as a simple pendant, but it has been removed.

Camilla has been unrightfully accused by some of wearing Diana’s jewelry, which is honestly ridiculous.  The brooch is a royal heirloom, and doesn’t necesarily “belong” to anyone.  My guess is, it went back to the Queen Mother after the divorce or Diana’s death.  Charles inherited much of his grandmother’s jewelry and has since given most of it to Camilla.

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Queen Alexandra Spam

Dagmar Necklace

Tradition was that all Danish princess are given a replica of the cross found in the grave of Dagmar, queen to Waldemar the Victorious.  Despite the Danish crown’s finical issues at the time, King Frederik VII made sure that he gifted his daughter with a cross in the most sumptuous necklace.  Alexandra wore it as a stomacher to her husband’s coronation, but the weight and complication of the necklace means it has not been worn much.

This massive Byzantine-style necklace contains 2000 diamonds and 118 pearls, arranged in scrolls and swags with trefoil and quatrefoil designs.  There are four oriental pearl pendants, the two largest of which are near priceless.  The cloisonné enamel cross depicts the images of Christ, Saint Basil, Saint John Chrysostom, Saint John, and the Virgin Mary, and contains a piece of cloth from the grave of King Canute and a silver of what was believed to be the True Cross.  The cross and the pearl pendants can be removed.

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Queen Alexandra Spam

Indian Ornaments

Another of Alexandra’s wedding gifts, this time from Queen Victoria.  It was a suite of Indian ornaments.  Alexandra was only pictured wearing one piece, the collar, at a ball for Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee.  Queen Mary broke up the collar after Alexandra’s death, making a strand of pearls and emerald beads she eventually gave to Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester, and made up necklaces using the leaf pendants and gave them to her granddaughters Elizabeth and Margaret, who passed them on to their own daughters.

The suite is made from emerald beads, pearls, diamonds, some type of opaque reddish-orange stone (possibly carnelian), and gold.  There are two woven bracelets, one with emeralds and the red stone, the other with diamonds, and both are edged with pearls.  An armlet with a center cluster of beads and two groups multiple of strands of pearls on either side looks long enough to be adapted for use as a choker.  The collar contained seven individual pearl strands, strung with gold and diamond pendants that look similar to maple leaves, each with an emerald or pearl hanging from the bottom.

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Queen Alexandra Spam

Pearl & Diamond Wedding Parure

From her groom, Alexandra received a parure of diamonds and pearls which she wore with her wedding dress.  She wore it frequently, and was taken by Queen Mary after she died.  The necklace was given to Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, of whom it became a favorite, while the brooch and earrings remained with Mary.  The entire set is now in the Queen’s posession.

The reoccurring theme of the parure is of a single round pearl surrounded by diamonds.  The necklace contains eight of these, the three middle ones of which have pearl drops.  There are strings of diamonds connecting them, with swags of a single row of diamonds beneath.  The earrings are simply the pearl surrounded by diamonds motif, which also forms the center of the brooch.  There are also two flanking pearls and many large diamonds surrounding the center, with three pearl and diamond pendants hanging from the base.

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Queen Alexandra Spam

Rundell Tiara

Part of Bertie’s wedding gift to his bride was a large tiara made by Garrard, though it has long been called the Rundell after another jeweler.  For her entire time as Princess of Wales, it was Alexandra’s go-to tiara.  After her death, it was claimed by her daughter Victoria, who “disposed” of it.

The tiara was all diamond.  In it’s original form, scroll motifs with large central pear shaped diamonds sat atop three bands of diamonds and were spaced with Celtic knot-style elements.  Later, the scrolls could be removed and swapped with stars.  The knots could be worn with either or removed entirely.

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Queen Alexandra Spam

Wax Flower Sprig from her Bridal Wreath

When Princess Alexandra of Denmark married Bertie, the Prince of Wales, in 1863, she left the world of hand-sewn bonnets and entered a world of massive jewels.  It’s a stretch, but we’ll begin her story with the wax flowers that adorned her wedding dress.  This sprig was given to Queen Victoria, who placed in an envelope reading “From Alixes’ Pr. of Wales Bridal wreath March 10th / 63″ 

The wax orange blossoms were made in England, and signified purity, innocence, and eventual fruitfulness upon entering a marriage.  Wax was likely used instead of real blossoms because of the timing (Alexandra was married in March), not because of the Royal Family’s inability to afford them.

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Smithsonian Jewels Spam - End

Marie-Louise’s Diadem

Gifted to Empress Marie-Louise by her husband on the occasion of their marriage, this diadem was originally set with emeralds and was part of a parure (the remaining pieces of which are now on display at the Louvre).  Van Cleef & Arpels later acquired the tiara and removed the emeralds, all of which were sold off individually.  The diadem was then reset with Persian turquoise.

The diadem encircles most of the head, and while it appears very heavy, it also looks rather flexible.  The scrolling design of diamonds and turquoise have lyre motifs inter-spaced with palmettes.

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Smithsonian Jewels Spam

Victoria-Transvaal Diamond Necklace

This yellow diamond necklace features a large central pear shaped pendant, and is accompanied by five smaller pear and marquise diamonds on either side.  The chain is formed by round brilliants.

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Smithsonian Jewels Spam

Chalk Emerald Ring

Jewels are hard to trace, but this one is believed to have been once owned by a Maharani of Baroda.  The square step cut emerald is today set in yellow gold with 60 pear cut diamonds.

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Smithsonian Jewels Spam

Cullinan Blue Diamond

Gifted by Thomas Cullinan to his wife in celebration of the discovery of the Cullinan diamond, which was given to King Edward VII of Britain.  The Edwardian necklace features a double bow from which is suspended the 9 carat Cullinan blue diamond.  The bow can be detached from the necklace and can presumably be used as a brooch.

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Godman Necklace

Frederick Godman was British naturalist with an appreciation of items with historical significance.  Once while in Bavaria, he purchased an emerald necklace that was said to have belonged to Empress Joséphine of France, but investigation since has put doubt on its origin (it may have been made for the one of the Wittelsbachs).  In 1965, Godman’s daughters offered it to the Queen with the request to wear it occasionally.  The Queen graciously accepted in this rare case with a private audience, and has fulfilled their request.

The necklace consists of seven pendants hanging from individual diamonds spaced with diamond bars.  The pendants hang from graduated lose diamond and platinum scrollwork, with foliage designs surrounding the pendant emeralds.  The center emerald is pear-shaped, while the other nine emeralds are square.

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Smithsonian Jewels Spam

White Quartz Pendant

This 136.34 carat rock crystal is set in a gold, vaguely antler-shaped setting with a golden tassel at the bottom.

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