DETAILS

18 Karat White Gold

14 Karat White Gold adjustable chain

Zultanite: 2.4 cts

Emeralds: 0.53 cts

VS F Diamonds: 0.991

ABOUT THE GRAN DUCHESS VLADIMIR TIARA

THE GREATEST JEWELRY STORY EVERY TOLD?

Of all the British Royal family’s Crown Jewels, the Grand Duchess Vladimir Tiara is certainly one of the most intriguing.

For many years it has been a favorite of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II for special occasions and ceremonies of state. The tiara is often seen being worn one of two ways, either with pearls, as it was originally made, or with Emeralds.

THE GRAND DUCHESS

In 1874 the Tiara was ordered from Bolin, Russia’s most important jeweler after Faberge, for Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna, shortly after her marriage to the Grand Duke Valdimir Alexandrovich, uncle of future Tsar Nicholas II.

The Grand Duchess’ jewelry collection would become as famous a her parties. Friends would note her interest in rare and unusual gemstones while Tsar Nicholas II would end up banning the Grand Duchess from playing roulette.

In 1917, the Grand Duchess, along with most of the Romanov family, left St Petersburg for the Crimea. Her famous jewelry collection stayed behind, hidden in a secret vault inside her home the Valdimir Palace. At the time she proba- bly did not realize she would soon need to leave Russia in exile and never return home.

Bertie Stopford, an English antiques dealer who had been living in St Petersburg on and off for several years before the revolution had befriended the Grand Duchess.

A SECRET AGENT

Stopford began working as an agent for the British War Office in 1915. The Grand Duchess, realizing that she would need her jewelry to finance her life in exile, concocted a plan with Stopford to recover her jewelry.

In August 1917 Stopford entered the Vladimir Palace in St Petersburg disguised as a boiler repairman, broke into the still undiscovered safe and was able to smuggle the Grand Duchess’ jewelry collection out of the clutches of the revolution, reuniting it with her before she left Russia in 1919.

A RAFFLE PRIZE?

Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna died in France in 1921 and her daughter Elena sold the Tiara to keen highest bidder Queen Mary.

At the time cultured Pearls were just beginning to arrive in Europe, this probably prompted Queen Mary to take the Tiara to Royal Jewelers Garrards and exchange the Pearl drops for Emer- alds. The Emeralds used were known as the Cambridge Emeralds, a collection of emeralds that the Duchess of Cambridge, Queen Mary’s Grandmother, had won as the raffle prize at a fundraiser in Frankfurt in 1818.

When the Tiara was completed Queen Mary could have pearl days or emerald days as the gem features were interchangeable.

ROYAL FAVORITE

It would become a true court favourite for Queen Mary and later for her grand- daughter Queen Elizabeth II, who would inherit the Tiara and wear often on special occasions, sometimes with pearls, sometimes with emeralds, always in spectacular fashion.