Below is what I know about the crown of Queen Alexandra.
1. The Queen commissioned her crown from Carrington and Co which in turn commissioned the manufacturing jewellers, Wolfe and Co (the company name used to be spelt as Wolff), to manufacture the crown.
For confirmation that Wolfe and Co manufactured the crown see http://www.ewolfe.co.uk/the-history-of-ewolfeco/
Apart from the Koh-i-noor (and perhaps another few large stones) the diamonds were hired. This explains why today all the "diamonds" are paste.
At some time after the coronation the real diamonds were stripped from the crown and paste substituted.
Carrington and Co (and perhaps diamond merchants who supplied the diamonds) then sold the diamonds, no doubt asking a premium for the individual stones.
One who purchased at least one of the large stones was Sir Weetman Pearson, later Viscount Cowdray. The information for this comes from news reports of gifts given to his daughter, Gertrude Mary, who married the 3rd Baron Denman in November 1903.
Some of the reports state that the diamond in question was set in a ring and was heart shaped; others state that the diamond was set in a ruby and diamond ring. As I cannot see any heart shaped diamonds in Queen Alexandra's crown, I assume that the diamond was a round one. Precisely how the ring was set is unknown as I did not find any sketches or photos for her gifts -- but it is several years since I looked.
Diamond and ruby ring
Heart shaped ring
Thank you Beth!
I do recall, now that the stones from queen Victoria's circlet were used which came from Queen Adelaide grand circlet, which came from queen Charlotte's grand stomacher. Plus some extra diamonds after the hannoverian claim.
Then another question... Where did the stones for queen Mary's consort crown come from? When it was made Queen Alexandra was still alive, so not from her crown. But for queen Elizabeth's coronation they could have used some stones from QAlexandra's crown... I think today all the stones in QAlexandra's crown are paste stones.
A very interesting question Csaba!
I have never delved into the details of Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother's crown. According to the Royal Collection site, Queen Victoria's Regal circlet was dismantled and the diamonds used in QEQM's crown.
RC site https://www.rct.uk/collection/31703/queen-elizabeth-the-queen-mothers-crown
When I looked closely at QEQM's crown I noticed that the diamonds in the band are set slightly differently from those in Queen Victoria's Regal circlet. Whereas in Queen Victoria's circlet the larger diamonds in the band are set horizontally, in QEQM's crown they are positioned vertically.
QEQM's crown
Queen Victoria's Regal circlet (frame)
The band from QEQM's crown
The band from Queen Victoria's Regal circlet
I strongly suspect that the larger diamonds in both bands are the same; just set differently.
What do others think?
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