Colorful Floral Tiaras for Spring

Side by side photos of a tiara on the left and its necklace conversion on the right. The tiara is on a white gold frame and features floral elements of various types and sizes of flowers. The gems involved are diamond, tsavorite, sapphire, amethyst, yellow diamond, and green agate

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I thought I'd honor Spring being here by showing off some colorful floral tiaras! Usually I try to go for the vintage/antique tiaras but there's a mix of old and new in this post.

This first one is from the Japanese firm, Niwaka. The tiara description says it is called "Hanakogo." Underneath that it says "Flower Basket" so I guess that's the English translation? Anyway, I love a convertible piece of jewelry! I just wish there was in in-between picture of it transforming because that's a neat thing to see. This lovely tiara is made of white and yellow gold, and studded with diamonds, tsavorite, sapphire, amethyst, yellow diamonds, and green agate. It could be yours for only ¥25,198,800. That's $157,993.20 in not-so-freedom dollars in case anyone needs some reference.

Gold colored circlet with 5 enameled vividly blue cornflowers spaced around it. Each flower has a stamen with 5 strands and one in the middle, for 6 total and each stamen head is topped with a small diamonds.

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The other tiaras I picked for this post were colorful in the sense of having many colors. This tiara, although "only" blue, is, I think, a stunner because of the depth of the color. This enameled cornflower tiara is from around 1870. According to the description on this Facebook post, Prince Clemens of Bavaria, grandson of the Duchesse d’Alençon (1847-1897), said it was a gift from her sister Sisi, the Empress of Austria. Further down in the comments someone else explained:

"Cornflowers are the national flower of Prussia, courtesy of Queen Luise -- fleeing Napoleon, she and her children were temporarily stranded when their carriage wheel failed. Near a field, they explored it and she picked a handful of cornflowers, which she gave to her son, the future Wilhelm I. He always remembered this, and declared the cornflower his favorite flower in his mother's memory."
A late 19th century enamel and diamond tiara, composed of red enamel flowerheads between green enamel foliate sections, highlighted with rose-cut diamonds.

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I know I'm celebrating Spring and these are Christmassy colors but what the heck. This is a pretty little enameled tiara made around 1890. The Christie's description is a little light on details, only saying this is composed of red enamel flowerheads between green enamel foliate and highlighted with rose-cut diamonds. It doesn't say what the flowers are supposed to be but they look like scarlet pimpernels to me! I'm totally not a flower person but the Scarlet Pimpernel is one of my favorite movies (I also read the book!) and those flowers sure look like the ones Sir Percy signs his messages with!

A gem-set tiara, early-19th century, composite, composed of three starburst clusters of oval and pear-shaped multicoloured gemstones including peridot, aquamarine, hessonite garnet and topaz, spaced by oval amethysts and aquamarines with foliate surmounts, all in foil-backed settings, later mounted onto a tiara frame, silver gilt.

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Now this is the one I was thinking of when I thought to round up colorful floral tiaras! It's an early 19th century (so probably Georgian) tiara with floral elements set on a silver gilt frame. The gems are peridot, aquamarine, hessionite garnet, topaz and amethysts. The description says they are all in foil-backed settings. The Georgians were fond of their paste gems so I'm kind of surprised these are real. This was up for auction in 2022 and was expected to fetch £12,000 - £15,000. I only have one archived page to look at and the auction site doesn't seem to keep past sales so no follow up on whether or not this found a new home.

Tiara with several diamond-studded stems starting at the back and ending in the front. Two of the stems have green gems at the end. There are 3 lillies made from red spinels and rhodolite garnets. It is set in white gold.

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This is the Passion Incarnat Lily tiara from Chaumet and it, too, is convertible! The two large lillies can be taken off and worn as brooches. The setting is white gold and, in addition to diamonds, it also has red spinels, garnets and green tourmalines. That information is from this The Jewellry Editor article and I just have to laugh at these articles because they helpfully let you know what kind of occasion the jewelry pieces are suitable for. This one lists among actual occasions both Just Because and No Special Reason. It's not the first time I've seen these categories on this site and man, I wish I had No Special Reason tiara income.

There's some additional information (and pictures!) on the Tiaras and Crowns Tumblr entry for this tiara, which is actually part of a parure. Apparently, in addition to being worn as a brooch, the largest lily could also be worn on a red spinel and green tourmaline necklace. Other pieces in the parure include: a pair of earrings that can be worn 3 different ways; 2 different rings, one a Bud ring and one a Bloom ring; and a watch.

Floral tiara in gold set with fire opals, black opals, emeralds and diamonds. The flowers are in various shapes and there is a fence almost of irregularly shaped black opals along the front.

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Irene Neuwirth created this tiara in 2013 and it was worn by Joanna Newsom as a bridal tiara when she married Andy Samberg. Fire opals, black opals, emeralds, and diamonds are set in gold. I love black opals! When I first saw this tiara I wasn't sure about it - I'm more a fan of silver-toned jewelry than gold and the black opals looked kind of weird at first because of their shape and how they are set but I think this piece has grown on me.

White metal, probably white gold, tiara set with diamonds and 9 pansy blooms enameled in shades of purple and set with an amethyst at the center.

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Here's another modern tiara, this one made by Russian jeweler Axenoff in 2020. I could not find much information on the tiara but it is some type of white metal set with diamonds and 9 pansy blooms enameled in shades of purple. Each pansy has an amethyst set in the center.

Side by side photos of pansy tiaras, both made by Lalique and with molded glass pansies, enameled foliage and diamonds.

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I almost held the pansy tiaras back because with 3 I had enough for them to be in their own post one day. René Lalique must've been in a pansy mood because he created these tiaras around the same time, 1904/1905. I actually wondered about the significance of pansies. I mean, 2 pansy tiaras are a coincidence but 3? There had to be something to that. I dug around and found a little history on the symbolism which I put down in the rabbit hole for you.

The tiara on the left, according to the Sotheby's auction entry states the pansies are molded glass, the foliage is green enamel and the tiara is also set with rose, circular and single- cut diamonds. It was sold at auction in 2016 and went for CHF 225,000.

The tiara on the right was sold for auction in 2021 at Sotheby's and you can check out the auction page (it's in French). There are a lot of photos of the tiara from different angles, including in its case and with a model wearing it. Much like the other one, it has molded glass flowers, diamonds and enameled foliage. The estimated auction price was 100,000 - 200,000 EUR but it does not say how much it went for or who the winner was.

Tiara made of unspecified gold metal with a spray of green enameled leaves and tiny white enameled flowers set with a clear glass gem in the center.

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We're going to finish up the post with a tiara that isn't the most colorful but sure does evoke Spring. Details are fairly sparse on this piece, which lives at The Met museum in New York and is not currently on display. It's from 1910-1929, could be American or European and is made from an unspecified gold metal and glass and is decorated with enamel.

So what did you think of this garden of tiaras? Which ones were your favorites?

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