Blaugust 6 - The Albanian Goat Tiaras

Yes, you read that correctly. Albania has had several goat tiaras in its recent history. I just think that's such a statement! Why a goat? A ram's head is the symbol of Skanderbeg, a 15th century Albanian warlord who held off the Ottoman empire for over 2 decades. Why the ram? This article dives into possible explanations. But I'm not here for the history - I'm here for the sparkly goats!

This tiara was created in 1938 for Countess Geraldine Apponyi de Nagy-Appony, known as The White Rose of Hungary, for her marriage to King Zog I of Albania. It's platinum set with old European and single-cut diamonds and features the Ram of Skanderbeg and a floral vine (of roses, I'm assuming, in honor of Geraldine).

King Zog's reign ended when Mussolini invaded Albania and he and Geraldine spent the rest of their lives in exile. The tiara was sold in the 60s and an American pharmaceutical businessman bought it for his wife. When she died, it was sold again at a Sotheby's auction in 2016 but the current owner remains unknown.

Someone has a dope ass goat head tiara sitting in their closet (or, more likely, a bank vault) and they aren't wearing it every chance they get. MISSED OPPORTUNITIES. I'd be wearing that tiara EVERY DAY. To the grocery store, while doing housework, doesn't matter what I'm doing or where I am, it would be on my head.

Geraldine was a lucky woman (well, despite the whole husband being overthrown and having to live in exile thing) because she had another goat tiara! This tiara was made sometime during her exile, possibly after she had to sell her diamond tiara in the 1960s. This one is both diamonds and sapphires but there doesn't seem to be much more information on it than that. This tiara was worn by Queen Geraldine, her daughter-in-law Queen Susan and, finally, (former) Crown Princess Elia who no longer has access to the tiara as she and Prince Leka divorced.

The Albanian princesses also had goat tiaras but there's not as much information on them as there is on the big two. From the Royal Jewels website:

The tiara, made of diamonds, shows the royal crest of the "Ram of Skanderbeg" and was designed in 1930 by the famous jeweller Köchert, Vienna. It had scroll ornaments which was different to the other Albanian princesses' tiaras.
Apparently the whereabouts of this tiara is unknown today. But wait, what was that throwaway line about other Albanian princesses' tiaras?

Several of these tiaras were made for King Zog's sisters. When he self-proclaimed himself king in 1928 he commissioned a whole bunch of regalia including tiaras for his unmarried sisters. They were designed by the same woman who would design Geraldine's diamond goat head tiara and feature oak leaves and our goaty friend, the Ram of Skanderbeg.

I hope you've enjoyed today's dive into goaty tiaras! I told you all before, this was almost a tiara blog. Now I'm getting enthused again and thinking I might do a regular sparkly entry in addition to my weekly posts. It's a thought - let me get through the rest of Blaugust and we'll see if it happens or not!

Do you have any thoughts on goats, tiaras or goats on tiaras? Let me know!

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