
You've heard of the Man of Steel - how about tiaras of steel? There was a period of time starting in the 18th century when cut steel jewelry (and other items like shoe buckles and buttons) was quite popular and there were several steel tiaras created during this time! This craft seems to have started in England although items were also produced in France.
'But steel,' you ponder, 'what an odd choice!'
Well, it was and it wasn't. While steel isn't a precious metal, it does take a considerable amount of skill to be able to create jewelry from it so the value was in the craftsmanship not the actual metal. Also, according to this article from The Jewelry Editor:
Cut-steel jewelry became the height of fashion when King Louis XV requested that France’s wealthy society donate their precious gems and jewelry to help fund his military campaigns during the Seven Years War.
So, popular for both patriotism and skill! And also for beauty. Polished steel is highly reflective and tiaras made from it must have looked glorious in a candlelit ballroom. A glittery piece of jewelry made from steel was also a relatively inexpensive alternative to using sparkling diamonds, whether you couldn't quite afford them or were "asked" to contribute your family jewels to a war fund and needed a replacement.

@europesroyalsjewels on Tumblr
I think one of the most well-known cut steel tiaras (also pictured at the top of this blog post) is the Napoleonic Cut Steel Tiara (also known as Queen Hortense of Holland's Cut Steel Tiara). This lovely tiara has steel leaves set in gold and embellished with gold and steel acorns. It is set en tremblant, which means the pieces are attached to thin wire which causes them to move, or tremble, when the tiara moves. There's a great gif of the en tremblant action on The Royal Watcher blog.
This tiara has quite the story! It originally belonged to Queen Hortense, a daughter of Empress Josephine who married Louis Bonaparte, who was king of Holland. When she died, her jewelry was given to her niece Josephine, who married Oscar I of Sweden. After she moved to Sweden, the tiara wasn't seen again until the 1970s. I've seen two stories floating around the web regarding its reemergence - one is that Queen Silvia herself found the tiara in a random cabinet in the palace at Stockholm. The other story, which I think might have more truth to it, is that an art historian working for the House of Bernadotte found the tiara in "unmarked storage." Whichever story is true, Queen Silvia was instrumental in having the tiara restored and it has shown up quite often on various Swedish royals at tiara events.

The Swedes have at least one more cut-steel beauty in their collection, the Cut Steel Bandeau Tiara. According to this article the Bandeau Tiara was also hidden away for almost a century until it finally reappeared in 2012. It was made in the early 1800s and also has a small matching comb that can be worn in an up-do hairstyle, along with the tiara.
That's it for royal cut steel tiaras (unless the Swedes have any more hiding out in forgotton nooks and crannies of the palace) but if you head over to this blog post there are many pictures of cut steel tiaras that non-royal folk had. I've also put some examples below. By the way, if you now think you might want your own cut steel tiara they seem to be pretty available on auction sites! (If you buy a tiara, send me a pic, I'd love to see it.)

Front and back views of a Victorian cut steel tiara ca. 1840 source

Tiara, cut steel, ca. 1900, MFA source
Georgian Cut Steel Tiara with Swags and Roses source
Early 19th century cut steel tiara source
- Darkly Sparkling - Cut Steel Jewellery - great write up on how cut-steel jewelry was created
- The Jewellery Editor - Berlin Iron and Cut Steel Jewelry
- Jewelry Carats - History of Cut Steel Jewelry
- Vassiliev Foundation - Cut Steel Tiara - some history on cut-steel jewelry in general and the Napoleonic Cut Steel Tiara specifically. Also, a picture of a 19th century steel tiara.
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