Friday, October 4, 2013

Readers' Ultimate Tiara Collection: Pick Your Other Material!

All the standard tiara stones, the gems you see most frequently represented (according to me) in big collections, have been covered in our little voting round ups: diamonds (in many forms), pearls, emeralds, rubies, sapphires, aquamarines, amethysts, turquoise. But there's more! Unusual materials, other colors and types of stones, and so on. They aren't as common, so one category will take care of it:

Pick your favorite "other material" tiara!

This is a fun category, I think. Well, I had fun putting it together, at least! We've got classic sparkly gemstones just not covered yet, metals that take a central decorative role, and unique opaque materials on display. And I included colored diamonds as well, since only white diamonds have received any love so far. Here's a brief selection, but as always the field is open for more:

Note: Yes, we will have a category for tiaras made in the past few decades. (I tell you this because there is some overlap.) Also, don't forget that many of these names are links to see more info or the tiara in use.

1. The Rosenborg Kokoshnik, garnets with diamonds and pearls
2. A coral wreath tiara
3. Citrine and diamond tiara, by Cartier in advance of the coronation of George VI
4. The Naasut Tiara, primarily gold with diamonds
5. The Cameo Tiara
6. The Cut Steel Tiara
7. A Cartier rock crystal tiara, with platinum and diamonds
8. The Linley Beechwood Tiara, made of carved beechwood
9. The Golden Poppies, made primarily of gold with pearl and diamond accents
10. The Cut Steel Bandeau, also of cut steel
11. Princess Astrid's Gold Bandeau, gold with a variety of other stones
12. Queen Victoria's Orange Blossom Tiara, given to her by Prince Albert and made of white porcelain blossoms, green enamel oranges, and frosted gold leaves
13. The Citrine or Topaz and Pearl Tiara
14. The Noor-ol-Ain Tiara, of white and colored diamonds
15. The Modern Gold Tiara, primarily of gold with diamonds and potential center sections of topaz and tourmaline

1. Farah's Seven Emerald Tiara, with emeralds and white and colored diamonds
2. A Russian floral bandeau of diamonds, colored diamonds, and enamel leaves
3. An Iranian tiara of emeralds, diamonds, pearls and a central pink spinel
4. Queen Desideria's Malachite Parure, with carved malachite
5. A tiara of gold and chrysoprase
6. Archduchess Isabella of Austria's Peridot and Diamond Parure (top peridot drops are removable)
7. Jetsun Pema's tiara, of unknown material (gold and possibly jade?)
8. Ivy leaf tiara, made of gold, green enamel and chrysoberyls
9. Lalique Dragonfly Tiara, with enamel dragonflies and a central aquamarine
10. The Devonshire Parure Tiara, of gold with enamel and intaglio and cameo work, from a parure of multiple materials

1. The Queen of Kilimanjaro Tiara, featuring a 242 carat tanzanite stone (the world's largest faceted tanzanite) on white gold with diamonds and tsavorite garnets
2. The Chaumet Blue Enamel Kokoshnik, of blue enamel and diamonds
3. A Fabergé diamond tiara with a bottom strip of blue enamel representing a ribbon
4. The Midnight Tiara, including rose and white gold, black oxidized silver, moonstones, and diamonds
5. The Bagration Parure Tiara, of pink spinels and diamonds
6. The Russian Nuptial Tiara, with a central pink diamond
7. The Württemberg Pink Topaz Tiara, with pink topaz and diamonds
8. The Chaumet Bowknot Tiara, with pink topaz and diamonds
9. The Savoy Pink Tourmaline Tiara, pink tourmaline and diamonds
10. Princess Viggo's Opal Tiara
11. The Floral Danica Tiara, primarily silver with diamond and amethyst

Ready to vote for your favorite?
-Vote for one tiara in the comments. (If you're mentioning multiple tiaras in your comment, indicate which one gets your vote, or I will just count the first applicable one. One comment vote per person, please.)
-I will also count the number of "likes" or up arrows on those comments, so you can vote that way too.
-Non-royal tiaras and tiaras that no longer exist are fair game too.

UPDATE: Thanks for your contributions, voting is now closed!

Photos: Sotheby's/Cartier/Christie's/Getty Images/Kongehuset/Geoffrey Munn/Bodilbinner/Harry Winston/Chaumet