When the "Duke of Polignac" initially posted the image of Lady Bruntisfield I did a newspaper search to see what else could be found and, although I saw a photo of Lady Bruntisfield with the necklace, I did not see any additional photos of her with this tiara, or any references to it. So it seems that we have only this one photo of Lady Bruntisfield wearing the tiara.
Initially, I thought that all the ladies whose photos OmerH posted were wearing the same tiara; then I started to notice differences. One of the big problems in comparing the tiaras is that the photo of Maria Immaculata (Princess Johann George of Saxony) is so fuzzy.
Maria Immaculata
Nevertheless, there are two major differences which I can see.
One is in the band where the diamond in the centre is flanked by a small pearl in the tiara now in the Qatar Museum.
Qatar Museum tiara
In the tiara worn by Lady Bruntisfield and the one worn by the Lady Mayoress of London there appear to be 3 small diamonds.
Comparison
The tiara worn by Maria Immaculata might have a small pearl on either side of the central diamond, but I am unsure because the photo is so fuzzy.
Maria Immaculata
The second major difference I noticed is that, in the tiara worn by Maria Immaculata, there appears to be a sizeable diamond in the arc between each of the pearl motifs. In the tiara in the Qatar Museum there isn't. Nor was there one in the tiara worn by Lady Bruntisfield or the Lady Mayoress.
I am thoroughly confused.
Has anyone seen the book published by the V & A at the time of the 2013 exhibition on pearls? Perhaps it contains some additional information which might solve the queries.
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