I love talking about Targaryen crowns (like all the time) and maybe this is grasping but I like thinking about Daeron I's and Baelor I's choice of crowns relative to their father Aegon III's own choice of crown.
Aegon III may not have initially chosen or designed the crown he wore during his reign (given that he was crowned with either the same or an extremely similar circlet when he was initially proclaimed king, in 131 AC), and he certainly did not have access to a plethora of alternate Targaryen pieces in his day (given that Rhaenyra had sold the crown of Jaehaerys I and that the fate of Aenys I's crown following the coronation of the young Jaehaerys I remains unknown). Nevertheless, Aegon's crown became a fitting symbol for his attitude as king and his approach to his reign. Somber and simple, a man who openly stated his desire to give the smallfolk “peace and food and justice”, Aegon had no personal or political inclination to glorify himself with a grandiose crown. The plain gold band allowed Aegon III to mark himself as a king in the most unassuming way possible, while spending as little of the crown’s treasure as he could on himself personally (and, in turn, saving that (literal) gold for the people). Moreover, this was as practical a crown as a king could wear: instead of being literally weighed down by a sense of his own grandeur, Aegon III would instead demonstrate to his subjects that he was committed to the sort of hard work only a lighter crown could permit.
So in a way, Daeron’s and Baelor’s respective crown choices may have been a sort of following in the footsteps of their father. Obviously Daeron’s decision to wear the crown of Aegon I reflected Daeron’s explicit desire to be the spiritual successor of the Conqueror, to complete the former’s conquest and finally bring Dorne into the Iron Throne’s domain. Yet this crown may have also worked to echo Aegon III’s circlet, with all the latter's pragmatic connotations. While Aegon I’s crown could not equal Aegon III’s in simplicity - given the presence of rubies and the base of rare Valyrian steel - the Conqueror’s circlet nevertheless suggested a certain amount of practicality: its light construction and association with the warrior-king Aegon I argued for its ability to be worn in battle (as indeed it was, albeit unexpectedly, by Daeron I during his assassination). Just as Aegon III may have used his plain gold band to signal his readiness for the hard work he intended to do in rebuilding the realm after the Dance, so perhaps Daeron I wished to don the steel-and-ruby circlet of Aegon I to demonstrate his eagerness to be an active king, present in the field for the work he may have believed needed to be done for the realm. Not for Daeron I a showy crown laden with jewels, appropriate only for the throne room; Daeron may have wanted instead to copy his father’s example of coronal practicality as a representation of regal work ethic.
Likewise, Baelor may have wished to emulate his father in his choice of crown, though less for functionality and more for modesty. From the very moment he reached his majority, Aegon III prioritized the needs of his subjects above his own glorification: he would not only not spend one penny of his treasure on a party for himself, but insisted on distributing the food intended for this celebration to the poor. His crown, in turn, represented the bare minimum of expense for the exaltation of the dynasty; if a crown of precious metals could ever be called “cheap”, Aegon III’s certainly took the title. So when Baelor came to the throne, perhaps he sought to echo his father’s sentiments, and indeed exceed them. Just as Baelor would commit himself to grand acts of charity throughout his reign, so he may have preferred a crown which cost his government no gold, the better to spend it on his people. His father had worn the most basic crown man could make; he, Baelor, would wear the most basic crown nature would offer, made from the grasseous equivalent of precious metals and set with the floral equivalent of gems. He was a king, like his father, intent not on magnifying himself but on humbling his own regnal appearance, that his dedication to the least of his subjects be seen as his chief priority.
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