History of Famous Jewels and Collections: Re: Queen Mary and large pink topaz brooch

An incredibly nice and important find Beth, you have beaten me to it for I was also going to post on the topaz's you now mention. It proves that QM was not too adverse to coloured stones as many may have thought. To me I believe QM had sets of these stones and may have also left some to her grand daughter the present Queen who also hardly wears coloured stones. I often wonder if Vincent never thinks of maybe having an interview with one of the minor royals such as the DoG to have a dig in on her jewel collection? Sending a nice letter of intent may not be such a bad idea.

Regards,

Dave.

Previous Message

The Duchess of Gloucester and Princess Alice were both photographed wearing a large oval pink topaz with a pendant as a corsage ornament. Both ladies have been photographed wearing it on the centre of their bodice at evening functions.

I had always assumed, but never had proof, that the brooch came from Queen Mary, although the following news item did make me wonder -- but without an image any of the pink topaz brooches could have been lent to the exhibition mentioned.

July 1956

Now I have found a very clear image showing Queen Mary wearing the brooch for day time wear in 1929. The photo which comes from the Wellcome Collection makes sense of a blurry newspaper photo I had of Queen Mary.

Queen Mary on a visit to the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Hospital on 8 May 1929.

Clear photo from the Wellcome Collection

Detail

This photo raises another query for me. I wonder if Princess Alice changed the lower gemstone? In the photo of Queen Mary it looks rounder. In the photos of the Duchesses it looks more pear shaped. I wonder if the lower gemstone was used in the bracelet now worn by the Duchess of Gloucester?