It’s time for our first play-in contest for our Tournament of Brooches! In this surprise match-up, two golden brooches compete for the #16 spot…

The Grima Ruby Brooch vs. The Diamond Wild Rose Brooch

The Grima Ruby Brooch

This unique brooch combines gold, diamonds, and carved rubies in an abstract scarab design. Made by Andrew Grima, the piece was a gift to the Queen from the Duke of Edinburgh in 1966. She’s worn it regularly throughout her reign, including an important state visit appearance in Ireland and more than one Christmas broadcast outing.

The Diamond Wild Rose Brooch

This classic gold and diamond floral brooch has been in the Queen’s jewelry box since at least the 1960s. It features a single wild rose in a surround of leaves, and it’s been worn for garden parties, Commonwealth visits, and even a Christmas broadcast.

Our next surprise “play-in” contest will be revealed tomorrow morning!

By popular demand, I’m excited to tell you all that today, we’re kicking off…

The Tournament of Brooches! Sixty-eight brooches from the collection of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom will vie for the tournament title in our latest contest. Of course, the Queen has far more brooches than that — but I’ve selected a range that I think are representative of her collection in general. (Yes, some of your more obscure favorites will therefore inevitably be missing. C’est la vie! Her brooch collection is just too big!)

Just like the tiara tournament, I’ve put together a bracket with rankings and match-ups for us to vote on over the next few weeks. (The top seeds are showcased above! We’ve got the Cullinan III and IV Brooch, Prince Albert’s Brooch, the Williamson Pink Diamond Brooch, and the Duchess of Cambridge’s Pearl Pendant Brooch at the top of our rankings!) 

The tournament will kick off this week with a special series of posts. Those of you who watch the NCAA basketball tournaments as avidly as I do will know about the concept of the “play-in game,” where two teams compete for a final spot in their tournament region. Each section of our bracket features a “play-in” contest in the #16 spot, and you’ll get to vote all week on surprise brooch contests to fill those final spots!

Here’s the bracket for our Tournament of Brooches! You can click to enlarge the bracket above, or you can click here for a PDF version of the bracket that should be printable. (Let me know in the comments if you have any trouble accessing that link! It should be working fine.) We’ll have our first play-in contest on Tuesday morning, and in the meantime, you’ll have tiaras and necklaces to enjoy here for the rest of the day as well!

Which brooches are you hoping will go far in this new tournament?