Caldwell Tiara

Close up image of a gold tiara. The band is a series of leafy gold pieces that have 3 gold leaves on each side of an oblong central piece that looks almost like a pinecone with a crown of frills. in the cener is a green enamel flower with 4 petals and a large round topaz in the center.

This tiara (or hair ornament, as they call it, but it sure looks like a tiara to me) has a neat story attached to it! It was part of an episode of Antiques Roadshow and the owner was able to talk about its history. Her grandmother was a sculptor and worked on the Lincoln Memorial. The tiara was given to her by Henry Bacon, the architect. From the show transcript (which is at the source link):

It's made out of 22-karat gold. It's high-karat gold, and it's hallmarked also, by Caldwell from New York, Edward Caldwell. He was a great jeweler in New York City. One of his claims to fame is that he made a lot of boxes for prominent people in Washington, D.C.-- silver boxes, gold boxes and jewelry. I know you're interested about the yellow stone in the middle. That is topaz. The flower on the outside is all done in green enamel. The other thing about this great hair ornament is that it's not only signed by the maker, it is also dedicated to her on this adjustable hairpiece. On one side it says, "To Evelyn Beatrice Longman, given to her by Henry Bacon." And the date is 1917, July 21. And the other side... is inscribed, "A token for her work that she did on the Lincoln Memorial."

The appraiser went on to say that each golden leaf was created separately and then assembled together into the tiara form. He said the topaz is genuine but not of very good quality. The value of the gold and the topaz alone would make the tiara worth around $3,000. Because of the known maker, Caldwell, and the inscription from Henry Bacon with her grandmother's name, he estimated auction value could be $15-$20,000 (this was back in 2004).

While I was on the Antiques Roadshow site, I did some poking around to see what other tiara goodness I might find and I came across this 2 minute video of a woman who brought in her tiara collection and you all really need to watch it! The appraiser chose 6 pieces to talk about (I am wondering how many she brought in total!) but what you really need to see is the owner. She is unabashedly wearing quite the tiara! She said it was because it happened to be her birthday that day but I have a sneaking suspicion she wears a tiara every day. #LifeGoals

Tiara Collection Video

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.

Henry Bacon - the architect who oversaw the engineering and design of the Lincoln Memorial and the Reflecting Pool.
Evelyn Beatrice Longman - American sculptor
Edward F. Caldwell & Co | Velvet Box Society - I couldn't really find any information about any jewelry that Caldwell made. Most of the information out there is about the other things his firm created. This brief write-up does at least mention that jewelry was also made.

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