Aquamarine Tiaras for March

Tiara made by René Lalique featuring 4 dragonflies on each side of a diamond-shaped aquamarine. The dragonflies are flying at an upwards angle and they are decorated in diamonds, emeralds and their wings are enameled. The tiara is on a wire frame of silver metal and there is white velvet covering the wire where it would sit on the wearer's hair.

Dragonfly tiara by Rene Lalique, ca. 1900, source

I thought since it was March I would see what kind of tiaras I could find featuring this month's birthstone, aquamarine. I also tried to see if there were any tiaras with March's other birthstone, bloodstone, but no dice. That would have been dope. Anyway, so many of the royal tiaras with aquamarines feature big honking aquas. Not all of them, but SO. MANY. Kinda boring. But I did manage to find some lovely ones that are just a little bit different.

Our first piece is a lovely tiara by René Lalique, created around 1900, that features a swarm of dragonflies chasing an aquamarine. From Barbaraanne's Hair Comb Blog:

In 1900, enchanted observers marveled at how light played with color, as it reflected off leaves or the wings of a dragonfly.
However, unlike moths, dragonflies don’t navigate by the light of the moon. Instead, they use sunlight’s energy on their wings to fly. Dragonflies swarm with predatory precision, catching mosquitos with their feet. Indeed, one dragonfly can eat from 30 to hundreds of mosquitoes per day. If they can’t fly, they’ll starve. Lalique knew this and would not transform voracious killer-gangs into angelic creatures. He created swarms.
In this famous tiara, c. 1900, it looks as if the dragonflies are pursuing light, a faceted aquamarine, because they are all going in the same direction. This is not the case. Lalique was trying to show how beams of “sunlight” from the aquamarine shined down on the dragonflies’ wings to give them energy. Look at how the wings change color, and draw diagonal lines from the aquamarine to the plique-a-jour enamel.
Close up image of the dragonfly tiara showing the diamond-shaped aquamarine and the dragonflies

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The dragonflies can be removed from the frame and worn instead as a brooch, if you weren't feeling tiara-y but still felt the need to wear some bling.

Simple gold band with engraved green leaves and 5 rectangular aquamarines spaced around the band.

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George Fouquet created this tiara around 1910. One of his other tiaras, which also happens to have a huge aquamarine, was the subject of its own tiara post, the Sea Dragon Tiara. As much as I love the tiaras that are totally extra, I love the relative simplicity of this one. I think it looks like something a medieval princess would wear.

Aquamarine and diamond tiara featuring alternating motifs of pinecones made from clusters of pear-shaped aquamarines and rectangular aquamarines set in platinum with verticle bands of diamonds where they meet the band. The base features a band of small, rectangular aquamarines on their long side, above which is a band of diamonds. The frame is wrapped in very light brown velvet.

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Cartier created this pineflower tiara in 1937. What are pineflowers? Apparently, the same thing as pinecones. Princess Anne is the current owner of this tiara but it was originally an anniversary present from George VI to the Queen Mother. She regifted it to Anne as a wedding present in 1973. The tiara used to have a round, central pineflower element but at some point Anne had that removed and now uses it as a brooch. There's a link below in the rabbit hole that leads to an article about the tiara and has some close up pictures of the pineflowers/pinecones.

Art deco style platinum, diamond and aquamarine tiara in a geometric stepped design. The design looks like skyscrapers.

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I love this tiara - it's so pleasingly angular. The design reminds me of skyscrapers. I've been able to find precious little information on it. According to this Spanish forum board, it was made by Mellerio in 1929, apparently for the 1929 Barceolona International Exposition. I bet there's a cool story behind the design choice but, if so, it's hiding from me.

Picture on left is a headshot of Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh wearing a tiara with diamond scrollwork and a very large oval, sea green aquamarine in the center. Picture on the left is also Sophie but she is wearing the tiara in its necklace form.

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Aquamarines come in a variety of shades. Of all the ones that I've seen used in tiaras, none have had this lovely sea-green hue. This is a newer tiara, probably made around 2005 by G. Collins and Sons. The article with this information (check below in the rabbit hole) also says it might have been designed by her husband but I have my doubts. He also designed her wedding pearl necklace and earring set (check out the second photo in this article) and I can't believe that the same person who designed that could come up with this.

Gold and aquamarine parure in original case with tiara, necklace, brooch, earrings, 2 bracelets. The tiara design is sprays of aquamarine flowers and leaves, golden leaves, large round aquamarines in ornate circular frames. The earrings are studs and drops, each with aquamarines. The bracelets are gold mesh with large oval medallion clasps. The brooch is large and oval, set with an oval aquamarine. The necklace is ornate goldwork with oval aquamarines and a pendant in the middle that has 3 other aquamarines, set in ornate goldwork.

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I'm going to finish off this post with this awesome gold and aquamarine Georgian parure. It was created ca. 1820 and is in its original case. The set has a tiara, necklace, brooch, earrings, and 2 bracelets that can convert into a choker. This picture is from a Facebook post and one of the comments is "Beautiful but too much to wear at one time." I'd like to have the opportunity to say CHALLENGE ACCEPTED! Look at that beautiful tiara with all those sprays of jeweled leaves and flowers - just gorgeous!

image of a white rabbit popping out of his rabbit hole, looking around, and going back in. His rabbit hole is surrounded by grass and some carrots in the ground.

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