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Queen Mary's brooches. Paris 1914 Posted by Beth on January 12, 2023, 5:36 pm For years I have put off tackling the question of what brooches Queen Mary wore on 22 April 1914 during the State Visit because the photos I had were too indistinct to really judge what brooches she wore. Then, recently our fellow poster, RDavid, shared a photo with me. It is below & has much better definition. Before we look at which brooches these might have been -- I am not 100% sure & I invite everyone to give an opinion I will show some of the other photos. My guess is that Queen Mary was wearing her large round aquamarine brooch at her throat & the squarish/rectangular aquamarine as a pendant On the day Queen Mary wore a light blue dress, blue hat with blue feathers & a pink coat which was given various shade descriptions. I couldn't find press reports with any mention of her jewels. For a number of reasons the aquamarines often seemed to photograph as a darker colour in the photos of the time & the squarish/rectangular pendant often looked very different. The two photos shown in the image below were taken on the same day & show how different the same jewels can look in different situations. The squarish/rectangular pendant looks different again in the photo below. The large round aquamarine I am referring to is this one which Queen Camilla has worn. Has anyone got any ideas or comments?? The Instagram post I have done is almost identical to this.

Re: Queen Mary's brooches. Paris 1914 Posted by Crowne on January 13, 2023, 4:08 am, in reply to "Queen Mary's brooches. Paris 1914" Thank you for posting these photos. The colour of the central stone seems light, so yes I agree that the aquamarine brooch worn by Camilla is the most likely candidate.

Re: Queen Mary's brooches. Paris 1914 Posted by Torkel on January 13, 2023, 4:41 am, in reply to "Re: Queen Mary's brooches. Paris 1914" Thank you, Beth - very interesting pictures. I immediately thought of a sapphire brooch, but after carefully looking at the pictures I agree with you an Crowne. The clear first picture shows a somewhat dark stone, but there appears to be a light in the stone, which is not usual for sapphires. All considered, the aquamarine is the most logical guess. Another question I have is the ´belt´ worn, possibly attaced to the lower aquamarine brooch. What is it, and is it made of pearl beads? Previous Message Thank you for posting these photos. The colour of the central stone seems light, so yes I agree that the aquamarine brooch worn by Camilla is the most likely candidate.

Re: Queen Mary's brooches. Paris 1914 Posted by Beth on January 13, 2023, 7:28 pm, in reply to "Re: Queen Mary's brooches. Paris 1914" Thanks for sharing your opinions Crowne & Torkel. Re the dangling item below the lower brooch. Initially, I thought it was a jewel of some description but, when hunting through my photos, I noticed that it featured when Queen Mary wore the gown later in the year. I am very fatigued tonight, but I'll hunt for the photo tomorrow & post it -- as I think it is something which we might all enjoy deciding upon.

Re: Queen Mary's brooches. Paris 1914 Posted by mauriz on January 13, 2023, 9:31 pm, in reply to "Re: Queen Mary's brooches. Paris 1914" Previous Message Another question I have is the ´belt´ worn, possibly attaced to the lower aquamarine brooch. What is it, and is it made of pearl beads? I think it’s a passementerie ornament with five rows of silk floss covered beads and tassels, similar to the trimming of the antique cushion below or the evening coat from the House of Worth in the collection of the Met.

Re: Queen Mary's brooches. Paris 1914 Posted by Beth on January 14, 2023, 1:55 pm, in reply to "Re: Queen Mary's brooches. Paris 1914" Thank you so much Mauriz. I had no idea of the technical terms & what they mean. I learn something new whenever you post! I told everyone that I had another photo of Queen Mary wearing the dress she wore for the visit to the Hotel de Ville on another occasion when she also wore the decoration. I was wrong!! What I had was a photo of Queen Mary on the following day, wearing a different dress which also had elaborate ornamentation. I guess this was fashionable in April 1914. Notice how more elaborate the ornamentation is for this gown!

Re: Queen Mary's brooches. Paris 1914 Posted by Torkel on January 19, 2023, 7:40 am, in reply to "Re: Queen Mary's brooches. Paris 1914" Thank you both Mauritz and Beth - I have probably seen something similar on a very smaller scale on dresses (or curtains ) before, but nothing quite as substantial as this. What a strange fashion they had back in 1914 Previous Message Thank you so much Mauriz. I had no idea of the technical terms & what they mean. I learn something new whenever you post! I told everyone that I had another photo of Queen Mary wearing the dress she wore for the visit to the Hotel de Ville on another occasion when she also wore the decoration. I was wrong!! What I had was a photo of Queen Mary on the following day, wearing a different dress which also had elaborate ornamentation. I guess this was fashionable in April 1914. Notice how more elaborate the ornamentation is for this gown!

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