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India's Maharanis Posted by Dave on September 30, 2019, 9:49 am Just a topic which I see has not as much interest as the Europeans and others but yet these Maharanis had some of the most impressive jewels around. https://www.pinterest.com/pin/478859372875440633/ Princess Rafat Zamani Begum - or Bari (senior) Begum Sahiba of Rampur, formerly of the Najiabad family. https://www.pinterest.com/pin/830351250030253646/ https://www.pinterest.com/pin/441845413422246453/ https://www.pinterest.com/pin/299770918930121078/ https://www.pinterest.com/pin/618259855068680915/ https://www.pinterest.com/pin/350154939751091501/ Regards, Dave.

Re: India's Maharanis Posted by OmerH on September 30, 2019, 7:47 pm, in reply to "India's Maharanis" Great thread Dave. Sadly the tiaras and other jewels worn by Indian Royal ladies often get overlooked. I'm particularly intrigued by your picture of Princess Rama Rajya Lakshmi Rana of Nepal. Her tiara is almost the same design as Princess Mary, Countess of Harewood's tiara with just some minor differences. My guess is they were made by the same jeweller. Countess of Harewood Tiara:

Re: India's Maharanis Posted by Dave on October 1, 2019, 5:59 am, in reply to "Re: India's Maharanis" True to form OmerH, its the exact observation I made as well and was surprised by the similarities. The center stone in the tiara is magnificent, but what I think is even more outstanding is the necklace and the brooch at the neck line. Thanks for your thoughts. Regards, Dave. Previous Message Great thread Dave. Sadly the tiaras and other jewels worn by Indian Royal ladies often get overlooked. I'm particularly intrigued by your picture of Princess Rama Rajya Lakshmi Rana of Nepal. Her tiara is almost the same design as Princess Mary, Countess of Harewood's tiara with just some minor differences. My guess is they were made by the same jeweller. Countess of Harewood Tiara:

Re: India's Maharanis Posted by OmerH on September 30, 2019, 8:01 pm, in reply to "India's Maharanis" Found this close up of Maharani Tara devi of Jammu & kashmir. I particularly like this version of a diamond fringe!!! Maharani Tara Devi of Jammu & Kashmir Another thing that we often overlook when discussing Indian jewels is that the male tiaras were often much grander than the female ones!!!!

Re: India's Maharanis Posted by Dave on October 1, 2019, 6:03 am, in reply to "Re: India's Maharanis" Thanks again for getting a better picture of the fringe tiara which if I had to vote would get pole position. It is outstanding and has real profound look above all the other fringes seen, and that's just my opinion. Can anyone say where did all of these jewels go? Do the Indian royals also sell off their jewels like most European royals and noble houses do? And if so why do we hardly ever hear about any being auctioned or set in a museum somewhere. Regards, Dave. Previous Message Found this close up of Maharani Tara devi of Jammu & kashmir. I particularly like this version of a diamond fringe!!! Maharani Tara Devi of Jammu & Kashmir Another thing that we often overlook when discussing Indian jewels is that the male tiaras were often much grander than the female ones!!!!

Re: India's Maharanis Posted by MarcA on October 2, 2019, 8:33 pm, in reply to "Re: India's Maharanis" I wonder if the tiara's are photo shopped? Especially the lovers knots. This is a tiara type that comes up frequently as Queen Mary's was a copy of one in the Wurttemburg collection so if another copy or near match belonged to one of the Indian royal families it would have been very prominently discussed and noted on other boards and sites before. However Dave you may have just found a real revelation! Previous Message Thanks again for getting a better picture of the fringe tiara which if I had to vote would get pole position. It is outstanding and has real profound look above all the other fringes seen, and that's just my opinion. Can anyone say where did all of these jewels go? Do the Indian royals also sell off their jewels like most European royals and noble houses do? And if so why do we hardly ever hear about any being auctioned or set in a museum somewhere. Regards, Dave. Previous Message Found this close up of Maharani Tara devi of Jammu & kashmir. I particularly like this version of a diamond fringe!!! Maharani Tara Devi of Jammu & Kashmir Another thing that we often overlook when discussing Indian jewels is that the male tiaras were often much grander than the female ones!!!!

Re: India's Maharanis - Patiala Lovers Knot Posted by OmerH on October 2, 2019, 9:20 pm, in reply to "Re: India's Maharanis" MarcA the Patiala Lover's Knot has been known for years and years. Just an example......this entry from 2014 on TheCourtJeweller. http://www.thecourtjeweller.com/2014/05/queen-marys-lovers-knot-tiara.html?m=1

Re: India's Maharanis - Patiala Lovers Knot Posted by Beth on October 10, 2019, 6:36 am, in reply to "Re: India's Maharanis - Patiala Lovers Knot" I think that Vincent Meylan has some more information about the Patiala Lovers Knot tiara in this Instagram post. Vincent Meylan https://www.instagram.com/p/BpOmpMSnQGs/ At present I cannot read what is said in Instagram posts, so I might be mistaken. If so, I apologise.

Re: India's Maharanis - Patiala and Toro Lovers Knot Posted by The Royal Watcher on October 10, 2019, 4:28 pm, in reply to "Re: India's Maharanis - Patiala Lovers Knot" I wonder if the picture is of the real tiara or an imitation, but it seems like quite a substantial piece! I've recently discovered that one of my great-great-grandfathers was a leading Official at the Court of the Maharaja of Patiala, so I wonder if he (or a member of his family) ever saw the piece in real life. Not Indian, but there is also a Lovers Knot Tiara (an imitation of Queen Mary's) worn by Queen Best of Toro!

Re: Patiala Lover's Knot Posted by mauriz on October 10, 2019, 6:41 pm, in reply to "Re: India's Maharanis - Patiala and Toro Lovers Knot" I don't think the first picture is showing the Patiala lover's knot tiara. (Looking at the pearls, which seem to be drilled through, the less than refined metal work and the far too big "stones", I'm inclined to think this is a rhinestone copy.) Christie's has an article about jewelry worn by royalty and sold by Christie's online, in which Vincent Meylan refers to the various copies of this tiara. The article has a photo of the lover's knot tiara sold by Christie's in 1985 which was, according to the text, either the copy owned by Princess Maria Immaculata of Saxony or the one owned by the Maharani of Patiala. That tiara has small round pearls instead of diamonds between the large pear shaped pearls and a row of pearls instead of diamonds at the base. The portrait of the Maharani doesn't allow to examine the base of her tiara, but I'm convinced it has small pearls and not diamonds on top. That said, the large pearls seem to have a shape quite different from the tiara sold in 1985 – particularly the second pearl to the right of the centre pearl (from our point of view) doesn't seem to match. But that could possibly be just a matter of perspective and camera angle.

Re: India's Maharanis Posted by The Royal Watcher on October 10, 2019, 4:47 pm, in reply to "India's Maharanis" Wonderful thread! South Asia has a rich and wonderful jewellery culture and it is quite likely that most of these jewels still belong to the families. Here are a few! The Maharaja of Kashmir and his family, in 'exile' in Bombay in 1950! Members of the current Kashmir Royal Family, along with members of the Gwalior and Baroda Royal Families, to whom they are married into (the Crown Princess of Kashmir is a Princess of Gwalior and Maharani of Gwalior is a Princess of Baroda) They are also closely liked to the Rana family of Nepal!

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