denmark – Page 185

On the Block: Royal Jewels at Sotheby’s

04.24.2014 by The Court Jeweller // Leave a Comment

Next month, a collection of jewelry will be going up for sale at Sotheby’s in Geneva that includes a number of items owned by royals. Here’s a rundown of some of the lots that may be of interest to all of you — including a couple of mysterious items with anonymous royal connections.

The Rosenborg Kokoshnik Tiara (Lot 450). After failing to sell at auction at Bukowski’s, the garnet, diamond, and pearl kokoshnik tiara that belongs to a junior noble branch of the Danish royal family is up for sale once more. The price of the tiara, which was made in the 1930s by Dragsted, has been significantly reduced from its last offering. The most recent wearer of the tiara was Countess Ruth of Rosenborg, who died in 2010. The family is descended from Prince Axel of Denmark (a grandson of King Christian IX) and Princess Margaretha of Sweden (the sister of Crown Princess Martha of Norway and Queen Astrid of Belgium).
The Pearls of the House of Orange (Lot 384). This necklace, made of pearls with a sapphire and diamond clasp, is being sold by Prince Eduard of Anhalt. The pearls belong to descendants of Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange and his wife, Princess Amalia of Solms-Braunfels. The clasp of the necklace was reportedly added during the Napoleonic era.
The Staatholder Pearl (Lot 385). Also from the Anhalt collection, the natural pearl pendant on this necklace is another legacy from the House of Orange. It was worn by Henriette Catherine of Nassau at her wedding to Prince John George II of Anhalt-Dessau in 1659, and has been worn by family brides up to the 1960s. (Additionally, the Anhalts are also offering a diamond and Ceylon sapphire ring, dated to the 19th century, in the sale.)
The Dowager German Empress’s Pendant (Lot 382). This pearl and diamond pendant, which dates to the late 19th century, was part of the jewelry collection of Princess Hermine Reuss of Greiz, the second wife of Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany.

Along with these pieces, all of which advertise their royal provenance as a part of the auction notes, the sale also contains these pieces, being auctioned anonymously by royals:

A Diamond and Pearl Floral Brooch (Lot 326). Offered by “a member of a royal family.” The late 19th century brooch is described as “a floral spray brooch accented with natural pearls and pear-, cushion-shaped, circular-, single-cut and rose diamonds.”
A Synthetic Sapphire and Diamond Demi-Parure (Lot 325). Also offered by “a member of a royal family.” (Possibly the same royal, given the consecutive lot numbers?) The demi-parure consists of two pieces, a necklace and a bracelet, “composed of alternating pinched collet-set circular-cut synthetic sapphires and diamonds.” Additionally, the necklace has five detachable pendant drops.
A Yellow Diamond Demi-Parure (Lot 488). Part of “a royal private collection.” Made by Harry Winston, this demi-parure consists of four pieces: a necklace, earrings, a bracelet, and a ring. (Which, if you ask me, makes it a complete parure, but I’m not in charge of the lot notes at Sotheby’s.) Most of the diamonds are described as having a “yellow tint,” but the ring is set with a 16-carat fancy yellow pear-shaped diamond.
An Emerald and Diamond Parure (Lot 489). Also part of “a royal private collection” (surely the same one as the previous lot). The set includes a necklace, a ring, and earrings. The emerald set in the diamond necklace is a 53-carat Colombian emerald; the emeralds set in the ring and earrings are heart-shaped.

So, if you had a spare bundle of cash laying about, which one of these lots would you bid on? Are you surprised that some of these pieces are being auctioned? And — most importantly — which royals do you think are selling their bling anonymously???

Queen Margrethe’s Turquoises

04.22.2014 by The Court Jeweller // Leave a Comment

As a a reigning queen, Margrethe II of Denmark has access to a wide array of jewels, ranging from pieces that are a part of the nation’s crown jewel collections to items of personal jewelry. Today, we’re going to have a look at a little mini collection that belongs to the queen: her turquoise jewelry.

Margrethe has two sets of turquoise and diamond jewelry: an older suite and a more modern one. The older jewels were apparently inherited by Margrethe from her mother. The set includes a pair of diamond earrings with turquoise pendant stones, a large brooch (really, almost a small stomacher) that features three large turquoises set in diamonds, a smaller brooch, and a small bandeau tiara. The queen has also worn parts of the large brooch as a pendant on a diamond necklace (seen above at one of the events celebrating the wedding of Crown Princess Victoria in 2010).

The tiara’s design includes small turquoise and diamond flowers with petals, often identified as daisies (though sometimes also referred to as other flowers). The daisy motif makes a lot of sense to me, though — especially when you consider that the tiara is often said to have been a part of the jewelry collection of Margrethe’s maternal grandmother, Crown Princess Margareta of Sweden. Both grandmother and granddaughter share the nickname “Daisy,” and there are other pieces of jewelry in Margarethe’s collection that are linked with her mother and her grandmother. (The most notable is, of course, the daisy brooch we talked about recently.)

I’ve seen some speculation that the turquoise bandeau may have been a gift to Crown Princess Margareta from her parents, the Duke and Duchess of Connaught. I’ve also seen it speculated that the turquoises in this older set may be Russian in origin and could even have been owned by members of the imperial family. (I’m not sure that either of these pieces of information is completely accurate, so I’d appreciate confirmation or refutation if you can offer it!) I’ve also never seen a reliable reference to the tiara’s maker, though I personally think it bears a significant resemblance to the daisy bandeau worn by Crown Princess Mette-Marit of Norway.

Regardless, we do know that the tiara was worn in a portrait by Margrethe’s mother, Ingrid, when she was a Swedish princess. That portrait has been a source of some confusion; although Ingrid wears a veil, she is wearing Swedish court dress, not her wedding gown. She did not wear a tiara at her wedding. We also know that Margrethe began wearing the piece way back in the 1960s (including an important outing during the pre-wedding celebrations for her sister, Queen Anne-Marie of Greece), though she has only started to wear it regularly for events like state banquets within the past decade.

The tiara has also been lent to others on various occasions. It was worn by Crown Princess Martha of Norway (mother of the current king) at the wedding of her sister, Astrid, to King Leopold III of Belgium in 1926. On that occasion, it must have been Martha’s cousin, Ingrid, doing the lending. In later years, the tiara has been worn by Madeleine Tengbom (maternal grandmother of Prince Richard of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg, the husband of Princess Benedikte of Denmark) at her grandson’s wedding [1], and by Princess Theodora of Greece and Denmark at her aunt Margrethe’s Ruby Jubilee in 2012.

Margrethe also has the turquoise and diamond Devonshire Brooch in her personal collection. This piece, which features a large turquoise surrounded by four diamonds, was a wedding gift in 1905 to Crown Princess Margareta from the Duchess of Devonshire.

One of the newer turquoise pieces in the queen’s collection is the large turquoise brooch made for her in 2000 by Torben Hardenberg. The brooch has a mythological motif in its design, which includes an image of Diana, goddess of the hunt, and a deer. The piece is made of three large turquoises (said to have come from the Danish royal family’s collection), gold, silver, and diamonds. Margrethe wears this brooch with a coordinating pair of modern turquoise and diamond earrings that have detachable pendant sections.

NOTES, PHOTO CREDITS, AND LINKS
1. Photos of Crown Princess Martha and Madeleine Tengbom wearing the tiara can be found here.

Queen Margrethe’s Daisy Brooch

04.10.2014 by The Court Jeweller // Leave a Comment

Queen Margrethe II wearing the diamond daisy brooch [1]

Queen Margrethe is one of the royals who attaches great sentimental meaning to the pieces of jewelry that she wears. She knows the history of her collection and, as the De Kongelige Juveler documentary demonstrates, she can easily recall the stories behind each item in it. Today’s piece, her daisy brooch, is one of the most sentimental of her jewels, with connections to her mother and her maternal grandmother.

In 1935, Princess Ingrid of Sweden, the only daughter of the Swedish crown prince, became engaged to Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark. Ingrid’s mother, Margareta, had died fifteen years earlier, when Ingrid was only ten. Margareta had a stellar royal background of her own; born Princess Margaret of Connaught, she was descended from the British and Prussian royal families. She also had major jewelry — we discussed several of her pieces here on the blog in January.

The daisy brooch [2]

As you might expect, Ingrid remembered her mother in multiple ways at her wedding, which took place in Stockholm. She wore her mother’s wedding veil, a piece of delicate Irish lace that has also been worn by family brides in the generations since. She also had a rather large diamond brooch pinned to her wedding gown. The piece, which was made in the shape of a daisy, was one of Ingrid’s wedding gifts. Her father, Crown Prince Gustaf Adolf of Sweden, had the brooch made for his daughter using diamonds that had belonged to her late mother. After her wedding, she also wore the brooch on her arrival in her new country, Denmark.

The diamonds alone would be a lovely sentimental connection to the late Swedish crown princess, but the shape of the brooch was another tribute to Margareta. The French version of her name, Marguerite, is also the name of a specific kind of daisy. The late princess was always called “Daisy” by her family, and so the brooch’s design was another tribute to Ingrid’s mother. Ingrid would go on to name her first child “Margrethe,” and like her grandmother, the current Danish queen is nicknamed “Daisy.”

As you might expect, Ingrid treasured the brooch. She wore it on major occasions throughout her life, including her seventieth birthday celebrations in 1980 (pictured above with her daughters, their spouses, and her grandchildren — can you name them all?). In June 1967, she lent the brooch to Margrethe to wear on her wedding day. Margrethe followed in her mother’s footsteps by pinning the brooch to the bodice of her wedding gown.

Shortly before her death, Queen Ingrid gave the daisy brooch to Queen Margrethe as a birthday present. The queen’s emotions over the sentimental gift are clear in her interview for De Kongelige Juveler: “Ten years ago, when I was sixty, on my birthday, my mother had just turned ninety. She gave me the daisy brooch, which I must say, I was extremely touched, to be given it like that. Well, it’s a brooch which means a great lot to me, first because it was my mother’s, and then again because I wore it for my wedding, and then I was given it the way I was given it like that, when I was sixty. That was very special” [3]. Since receiving the brooch, Margrethe has worn it at important events, including the celebration of her seventieth birthday in 2010 (pictured above). It’s clearly one of her most treasured items.

NOTES, PHOTO CREDITS, AND LINKS
1. Cropped still from a YouTube video; source here.
2. Cropped still from a YouTube video; source here.
3. As of the date of this posting, you can view the documentary here on YouTube.