Tiaras and Trinkets on Tuesday (Pink Gemstones)

A few weeks ago an antique pink gemstone necklace was purchased by the Crown Prince Imperial at auction. It was correctly suspected that it would be paired with the existing Imperial Topaz Tiara and a press photo was especially released for this blog confirming the fact. Today we will discuss that necklace and all the other pink gemstone jewellery in Royal Collections across Europa.

Queen Elizabeth of Britania's Imperial Topaz Tiara pictured above with its matching brooch and the above mentioned 19th Century Franconian necklace bought at auction to match the set. Imperial Topaz is the designation given to what is considered the rarest of Topaz varieties. The colour is a light almost champagne-like pink. 

In 2011 the Crown Princess Imperial wore the tiara once, of up until now, only twice times. It is apparently a cumbersome piece and difficult to wear.

This overwhelmingly massive parure of Pink Topaz is part of Queen Maria of Hispania's personal historic jewellery collection. The deep colour is very beautiful but far more readily available than Imperial Topaz and as such far less costly. Regardless of that, the vivid colour is very popular and when coupled with diamonds make for very beautiful and regal jewellery.

Another Imperial Topaz set belongs to the Duchess Di Giorgio, pretender to the throne of the former Kingdom of Romagna. It was made for the wedding of the Duchess' grandmother, Queen Elena the last Queen of Romagna. The set does not include a tiara.

The Duke of Marlboro Collection includes this tiara called the Renalda Pink Topaz Tiara. It was made for the 9th Duchess as a wedding anniversary present in 1936.

The Marlboro family own a necklace and earrings dating from the mid 1900's that is often worn with the Renalda Tiara but are strictly speaking not a matched set. 

Most of the Lady Arcwhite's jewellery collection is new and her own private property. However most of it is also made in keeping with the style of Royalty and as such exceptionally grand. Imperial Topaz of the highest quality is the feature of this set of earrings and necklace made for the Lady somewhere in 2011.

The Marquis D'Bacquemme has this necklace and tiara in his collection. This set has Pink Tourmaline as its featured gemstone. Pink Tourmaline is an entirely different chemical compound to Topaz and slightly more expensive than the normal Pink Topaz but cheaper than Imperial Topaz.

The D'Baquemme Demi Parure dates from the early 1920's Flapper era and is often worn by the ladies in the Marquisital Family. We have yet to see the Marquis' wife, Princess Oktavia, sport the pink set at a Royal event. 

The Franconian Royal Family in pretense have a Topaz parure dating from the late 1900's. The set was a part of a dowry brought into the D'Pont Du Lac Family by Miss Lilly Hancock, an Americanian department store heiress who married into the family, The whole set is designed around a 18th Century brooch that is said to have belonged to Queen Marie Antoinette of Franconia.

Here Princess Antoinette D'Pont Du Lac is pictured wearing the set in 2012.

The Queen Josepha Tourmaline Set is of a rich pink colour and has been in the Reichenthal Royal Collection for almost a century. It consists of only a tiara and necklace and has been worn several times by Grand Duchess Azantha.

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.

Tiaras and Trinkets on Tuesday (The Swann Royal Jewellery Collection)

For today's post something very special was prepared. The blog has been granted unprecedented access by virtue of Princess Marie-Elizabeth of Swann to the entire jewellery collection of the House of Swann. This makes for a very interesting post due to the fact that much of the jewellery is never worn in public because our current Duke of Swann remains a bachelor. His sister the Princess Marie-Elizabeth has her own jewellery and limited access to the family jewels so at least we regularly get to see some pieces of this great collection. Today however the doors to the vault are thrown open to us for one day only.

Our hostess Princess Marie-Elizabeth. Here she is seen at the 2011 Christmas Ball wearing her own gold and diamond jewellery. She is devoted to her brother the Duke of Swann and her country but does tend to avoid the glitzy public events unless protocol demands. This leaves the viewing public bereft of the extravagant display of the major parts of the Swann Jewellery Collection.

The Princess was given permission to present the Swann Collection on this blog in order to document and display its magnificence for posterity. Protocol denies the Princess wearing some of the pieces that are reserved for the wife of the ruling Duke but she will don the other pieces as viewing them in display only detracts from the full effect.

First up we have the most important piece, The Crown of Swann. The Crown is the symbol of the monarchy in Swann and is only used at Coronations, Opening of Parliament, State Funerals and in State Portraits. It is made of platinum and set with diamonds, rubies and pearls.

This is the small State Diadem of the Duchess Consort. Because the current Duke remains unmarried this diadem has not been worn or used in any context, since his mother passed away during the 96 revolution.

The large collection of State Jewellery reserved for the use of the Duchess Consort only. This collection includes at left, the Swann Diamond Parure, the "Tear of the Swan" Diamond Necklace in the centre and the Swann State Sapphire Parure at right. There are also two brooches and a bracelet set out in this display that are also state property.

A State Portrait of the last Duchess of Swann wearing the State Sapphires in 1995.

In this photo, one of the last taken before the revolution in 1996, the Duchess of Swann is seen on the right wearing the Swann Diamond Tiara and a choker necklace. She is photographed with her sisters, the Grand Duchess of Hanoveria and Empress Crystobel of Scot-Britania.

Next up we have the dowry of Princess Elizabeth of Scotney, the mother of the current Duke. Her family contributed the diamond tiara, necklace and earrings that form what is now known as the Scotney Dowry Parure.

The last Duchess Consort of Swann, Princess Elizabeth of Scotney wears her dowry jewels in this photo.

Princess Marie Elizabeth has only worn this once in public early in 2012 for the opening of the new Opera House in Swann. She did so with the special  permission of her brother to tip the hat to her mother who initiated the project of the Opera House before her death.

Earlier on this blog we briefly discussed the Swann Ruby Kokoshnik. It forms part of a bigger set of rubies.

 Here is the full parure as worn for this feature by Princess Marie-Elizabeth.

The Swann Collection includes the vast set of emeralds. The demi-parure of earrings and necklace. made from indigenous Syldavian emeralds was already part of the Swann Collection when Princess Elizabeth married the current Duke's father. They were originally a gift of friendship from the then King of Syldavia. For her first wedding anniversary, Princess Elizabeth's parents gave her a matching tiara and now the set is known as the Scot-Syldavian Emerald Parure.

Princess Marie-Elizabeth models the emeralds for this blog post.

This is the Swann Yellow Topaz Parure otherwise also known as the Sun Parure. The stones were a gift from the King of Scotney when the Principality of Swann was founded as an independent country. The large round topaz is meant to symbolise the "rising sun" and by extension a "new day".

The rubies, emeralds and topazes will never be worn by Princess Marie-Elizabeth in public as they are considered the property of the Duke of Swann and as such expected to be worn by his wife even though strict protocol does not forbid it like in the case of the State Jewellery.

Here Princess Marie-Elizabeth models the Princesses of Swann Tiara. The tiara's more humble size makes it appropriate for younger princesses and events of a less formal air. It is very popular as a "first tiara" and is as such the first worn by the younger members of the family. It has also served as a nuptial tiara on occasion. The earrings and necklace are set with very large and top quality diamonds. These were a gift from the Queen of Ophiri to the first Duke of Swann when the Principality was first established.

Other jewels in the collection include a smaller sapphire set and an aquamarine parure. These have been worn by the Princess Marie-Elizabeth on occasion.

The sapphires were worn to the celebration in honour of the Duke of Swann's fifteenth year on the throne in March 2012.

The Swann Aquamarine Parure was designed for the last Duchess. Here they are worn without the matching necklace to the State Banquet in honour of Princess Xenia of Wallachia in 2011.

The Swann Collection is obviously one of the most spectacular in the world and it is sad that it isn't used to its full capacity due to the lack of a Duchess Consort. This might change in future but at the very least, by the time Prince Dillon of Swann comes of age and marries our viewing pleasure might increase.