Tiaras and Trinkets on Tuesday (Yellow Gemstones)

We have done a previous feature on coloured diamonds in which yellow diamonds were mentioned but today we will discuss other yellow coloured gems like Topaz and Citrine. It seems that yellow diamonds are far more popular than other yellow gemstone varieties. This probably due to yellow diamonds being far more affordable than other diamonds and that yellow coloured semi-precious stones tend to be so common that they are often overlooked for the fine quality jewellery worn by Royals and other A-listers. Regardless of these generalizations top quality yellow coloured gems have found their way into some of the most prestigious Royal Jewellery Collections.

The Imperial Collection includes a set of Citrine Jewellery. The King George V Citrine Demi Parure consists of a very large tiara of Art Deco inspiration off-set by a matching necklace. It was made in 1909 for Queen Alexandra as a birthday gift from her husband. Queen Alexandra left it in a safety deposit box on her last tour of Europa where it was forgotten after her death due to some paperwork mix-up. The tiara came to light in 2009 when the Crown Prince Imperial, as heir to the jewels was approached by the Switzer Bank who wished to return the forgotten jewels to its rightful owner.

The Yellow Quartz, known as Citrine is of exceptional quality and size and the square cut stones compliment the geometric design of the jewellery set.

The Sun Parure in the Swann Royal Collection is set with a large Yellow Topaz in the center front of the tiara and complimented by Yellow and white diamonds. It was a gift from the Kingdom of Scotney to the first independent Duke of Swann in 1888. 

The Citrine was repolished in 2010 allowing the stone a greater sparkle than the old oval cut. 

The Youssopoff Yellow Topaz  Tiara and matching Necklace was bought from the estate of Prince Felix Youssopoff in 2009 by the Duchess of Aragon. It is of a very similar design to the Swann Sun Parure mentioned above. This may be that they both date from the same era.

The Youssopoff Demi Parure is seen here worn by Donna Hernanda, daughter of the Duchess of Aragon.

As we mentioned these type of stones are a rarity and might deserve more honour than popular opinion affords them. We hope those that did make it to the top have been properly appreciated in today's post.