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1934 Queen Mary Sapphire Brooch
Posted by Paisley25 on March 14, 2023, 1:30 pm
At today’s Commonwealth service, Queen Camilla wore a sapphire brooch that’s usually referred to as having Russian provenance. In 2014, the royal family said it was purchased in 1934 by Queen Mary. No other information was given.
The British Royal Jewels Instagram page said he thought the brooch was the one bought by Queen Mary shortly before the Kent marriage. In a November 2, 1934 article in the Nottingham Evening Post, it said Mary bought a striking sapphire brooch with a double row of diamonds from a London jeweler. It also said it traced back to the Burdett-Coutts family*. It was to be a present for Marina. Maybe Mary changed her mind or bought it for herself to replace the sapphires she was about to gift. Questions:
1. I’m not very familiar with all the pieces in the Cambridge sapphire set. Was there a new brooch addition in 1934? Or one that matches the double row of diamonds description? How quickly could a new fitted case be created to include one? This newspaper report was in November, the same month the Kents were married and I believe the Cambridge set was given and displayed prior to marriage.
2. The double row of diamonds has me wondering if it’s not the same as the “Russian” brooch. Mistake? But how many sapphire brooches was Queen Mary buying in one year? The last one is probably a dumb question!
3. If it’s not the “Russian”, could it be the brooch that ended up with The Queen Mother and given to Diana? I think we believe it came from Margret Greville, but we don’t really know.
Help!
*The Baroness Burdett-Coutts lost (and found) an “unmatched” diamond and sapphire brooch at Buckingham Palace in 1881. Not sure if it’s the 1934 brooch or not.
In my article, on Queen Mary’s Russian Sapphire Cluster Brooch, I listed all the possible provenance for the Brooch, but my personal guess is that is does originate from the Russian Imperial Family (since the design is identical to the Imperial Brooch auctioned in 2011), but I do not think that it was among the Jewels acquired by Queen Mary from the estate of Empress Maria Feodorovna. Instead, given the size of the brooch and the date at which it was acquired (1934 rather than soon after 1928 like for the other jewels of the Empress), it seems that it was among the jewels confiscated by the Bolsheviks, who then sold it, before it came to the London Jeweller where it was acquired by Queen Mary.
1. The information about the sapphire brooch perhaps being one formerly owned by Angela Burdett Coutts is not new
I think that the idea was first put forward in the public domain by The Court Jeweller.
As British Royal Jewels has blocked me, I am unable to read what he wrote.
But here is what I know.
A small number of UK papers carried the item about a sapphire brooch being purchased by Queen Mary in 1934.
Below is a cutting of the Nottingham paper that Paisley referred to.
I posted about one of the sapphire brooches having been lost & then found years ago.
Apart from the fact that the lost brooch was the middle sized one in a set of 3 large sapphires no other detailed description was given.
These sapphire brooches were inherited by Angela Burdett Coutts from Harriet Mellon, who married (as his second wife) Angela's grandfather, Thomas Coutts, the wealthy banker. Later, Hariett married the Duke of St Albans. It appears that Hariett acquired most of her very grand jewels as the Duchess of St Albans. So far I have traced the 3 large sapphire brooches back to shortly after Harriet's marriage to the Duke.
Various descriptions of the sapphires have been given. Some reports say that they are star sapphires; some reports say that they had formerly belonged to the French Crown Jewels.
Angela Burdett Coutts left her estate to her husband, William Burdett Coutts, so it was either the trustees of his estate or the heirs who were selling items in 1930s.
Without a detailed description of the sapphires owned by Angela Burdett Coutts, it is difficult to gauge whether she may have owned the brooch worn by Queen Mary, QEQM & later QEII. The elaborate gold work framing the sapphire is so similar to the work on the brooch auctioned by Christie's in 2011, that I would be more inclined to back a Russian provenance -- but that does not necessarily mean that the brooch was sold by the Empress' daughters or the Bolsheviks.
From a piece on the 1881 missing brooch, I found this in Vanity Fair, volume 25, page 272:
“The sapphire is one of extraordinary size and beauty, being well-nigh as large as a hen’s egg, and is one of a set of great value which originally belonged to the late Duchess of St Albans.”
This appears to describe a brooch like the one Diana had, probably not the Russian, can’t think of one in the Kent’s collection. For the Russian, I’m coming to believe it didn’t come from the Burdett-Coutts as I can’t believe they had at least three with such an amazing color to form a set.
Some sources say that there were 2 large sapphires & a medium sized one. Over time there were many interesting descriptions given, but I have never seen carat weights given.
The 3 sapphires are said to have been a set, but to my way of thinking that does not necessarily mean that they had identical settings. (For a comparison, think of the components which made up the Delhi Durbar stomacher)
I have been trying to find the source for information that the brooch auctioned by Christie's in May 2011 was of Russian Imperial origin & is a companion piece to Queen Mary's "Russian" sapphire brooch.
Without success.
But, lots of sites say that the brooch auctioned by Christie's was made circa 1840. (I cannot find proof of that either)
If the two brooches are companion pieces, then neither can be the Burdett Coutts brooches as I have found mentions of them worn by the Duchess of St Albans circa 1830.
Very interesting. The jewels on Queen Camilla looks so very bigger than when the late Britanic Queen Queen Elizabeth II wore them. These sapphire brooches continue to puzzle us, I think I did 3 prior post on these said brooches already I.e. the one given by the late QEQM to the PoW and then this Russian one Camilla seems to have debuted.
Remember I did a post with a picture of Queen Alexandra in a painting or picture and she had running down the front of her dress some large dark hued stones which were then identified as the Kent Amethysts. While that could be true it is still not proven that all of those said dark colored stones may have been amethysts.
The sapphire and ruby and pearl earrings are outstanding peices and I wonder if they are legacies from her late Majesty or are they personally belonging to the Queen consort.
I recall in a discussion on said sapphire brooches, it was pointed out that the Princess Royal also has a similar shaped sapphire and diamond brooch but it seems to be smaller.
Regards,
Dave.
Previous Message
At today’s Commonwealth service, Queen Camilla wore a sapphire brooch that’s usually referred to as having Russian provenance. In 2014, the royal family said it was purchased in 1934 by Queen Mary. No other information was given.
The British Royal Jewels Instagram page said he thought the brooch was the one bought by Queen Mary shortly before the Kent marriage. In a November 2, 1934 article in the Nottingham Evening Post, it said Mary bought a striking sapphire brooch with a double row of diamonds from a London jeweler. It also said it traced back to the Burdett-Coutts family*. It was to be a present for Marina. Maybe Mary changed her mind or bought it for herself to replace the sapphires she was about to gift. Questions:
1. I’m not very familiar with all the pieces in the Cambridge sapphire set. Was there a new brooch addition in 1934? Or one that matches the double row of diamonds description? How quickly could a new fitted case be created to include one? This newspaper report was in November, the same month the Kents were married and I believe the Cambridge set was given and displayed prior to marriage.
2. The double row of diamonds has me wondering if it’s not the same as the “Russian” brooch. Mistake? But how many sapphire brooches was Queen Mary buying in one year? The last one is probably a dumb question!
3. If it’s not the “Russian”, could it be the brooch that ended up with The Queen Mother and given to Diana? I think we believe it came from Margret Greville, but we don’t really know.
Help!
*The Baroness Burdett-Coutts lost (and found) an “unmatched” diamond and sapphire brooch at Buckingham Palace in 1881. Not sure if it’s the 1934 brooch or not.