The Heritage of a Necklace

It's amazing how people can forever change history by altering heirlooms. This is a piece of such a history. It's about a necklace and the desires of royalty.

For your delectation:

The story begins in December 1857 when, as a result of a claim initiated by George III's fifth son, Ernest, Duke of Cumberland (from 1837 King of Hanover), Queen Victoria lost to Hanover a significant part of the family jewels she had regarded as her own. Greatly chagrined, she ordered Garrards to replace the lost jewels by taking stones from 'swords and useless things'. For this necklace, twenty-eight stones were removed from two Garter badges and a sword hilt. At the same time, the central pendant of the 'Timur Ruby' necklace, known as the Lahore Diamond, was made detachable for use as the pendant on this necklace; and two of the smaller pendants from the same necklace, originally the side stones in the Indian setting of the Koh-i Nûr, were made detachable for use as earrings (with additional stones taken from an aigrette and a Garter star). The charge for making the necklace was £65 and for making up the earrings £23 10s.

That's some seriously bling Victorian jewelry! To read the full story of what happened to the necklace after Queen Victoria's remodeling, click on the title link.

A Little Something Rose Cut Diamonds

Victoria’s crown was made not long after large diamond deposits were found in South Africa in 1867. That was when the lower price and availability brought them to the market place. Electric lighting also increased interest in the use of diamonds in jewelry in the 1880’s. They can be referred to as sparkle diamonds.
One of the types of cuts used was the rose cut. The rose cut came in two versions. These were the single and double which were flat on the bottom. A single rose cut has, as you would think, a single layer of horizontal facets. While a double rose has two horizontal layers of facets.

Of course there is the exception. The Dutch rose cuts are deep or high and can have three rows of horizontal facets. While the facet can range from one that is more raw to prepared. You will also see that they are not perfectly round but that adds to their individuality.

Today, the rose cut is still used for melee diamonds (the little gems that accent a big one). Besides being used for accents, there is an increasing desire for rose cuts in order to create reproductions of these antique works of art. Also, for repairing genuinely antique works.