Hestia tiara features in State Opening of Parliament

We don’t normally pay much attention to the State Opening of Parliament, but yesterday’s ceremonials were a bit special to us, and not just because we have a shiny new coalition government in place in the UK for the first time in anyone’s memory.

Some months ago we had an enquiry about our stunning Hestia tiara (below), but not for a wedding: our customer was interested in hiring the tiara for the State Opening of Parliament, on a date yet to be set (this was before the UK election was called).

And so it came to pass: our tiara was perched atop an aristocratic head during the Queen’s Speech in the House of Lords in Parliament here in London, and we’re told that it got lots of appreciative comments from all sides.

Of course it also gave us an excuse to watch ‘The Gracious Speech’ (as it’s known) and we couldn’t help but notice that our precious tiara was jostling for attention, and, well yes perhaps we must concede that it was being upstaged somewhat by the crown that the Queen was wearing.

So we did what all loyal UK subjects should do in such circumstances: we didn’t really listen to what Her Majesty was saying about the important legislative plans for Her Government, we started doing a bit of research into what she was wearing.

And here’s what we discovered: for the State Opening of Parliament the Queen wears the Imperial State Crown (below).

The crown is adorned with over 3000 gems, mostly diamonds, but also rubies, sapphires, emeralds and pearls.

Others will highlight the ‘Black Prince Ruby’, the ‘Stuart Sapphire’, or the ‘St. Edward’s Sapphire’.

But we reckon that the main event is the Cullinan II diamond which sits on the front of the crown and weighs in at 317.4 carats.

The Cullinan II diamond is sometimes called the Lesser Star of Africa. It’s the second biggest polished diamond cut from the world’s largest gem quality rough diamond ever discovered, the 3,106.75 carat Cullinan Diamond from the Premier Mine (later called the Cullinan Mine) in South Africa, unearthed in 1905.

Which is all very impressive of course, but the Imperial State Crown makes regular appearances in Parliament so it’s not much of a story in its own right.

So please forgive us if we dwell on the debut appearance of our Hestia tiara in such a historical setting.

We got quite a thrill to see our relatively humble jewels rubbing shoulders with our shiny new Prime Minister, Her Majesty the Queen, the Imperial State Crown, and the Cullinan II diamond — absolute royalty in the world of jewels, and pretty good company for Diamondthrills to be keeping!

If you would like to experience the thrill of being adorned by our magnificent Hestia tiara at your wedding or special event, then please get in touch and we’ll make it available to you — provided that it’s not already booked out for any more state occasions, of course.

Original post here.

www.diamondthrills.co.uk

Would you tell people you've hired the diamonds you're wearing?

Well, would you? This question occasionally comes up as we chat to our customers, and we hear a range of responses.

Just last week we asked a customer about this because his wife wore a diamond necklace with matching earrings (pictured, right) to a family wedding.

Now the retail cost of this jewellery would be around £12,500 – probably rather more from a fancy Bond Street boutique – and our customer told us that their fellow wedding guests admired the diamond jewellery and asked about it.

So did they tell those admirers that they didn’t own the jewellery, but that they had hired it for the evening?

No: they said that the jewellery was a ‘gift’ and left it at that.

Well we want people to enjoy wearing our diamonds on special occasions such as weddings, so whether they come clean about the fact that the jewellery is not theirs is – to us – quite immaterial.

For us it’s about the experience of the moment – the evening, the wedding, the party – rather than the commitment of ownership or the symbolism of a gift of love.

They say that ‘A diamond is forever’ – well, of course, it will last forever, but you’ll only get to wear that diamond for a tiny fraction of eternity, and frankly, an evening or a weekend is not so very different to a human lifetime when set against the geological, eternal, forever-ness of a diamond.

Anyway, it got us thinking…

When we first had the idea for Diamondthrills a couple of years ago, we did worry that renting diamond jewellery would be a bit infra dig [from the Latin infra dignitatem, literally - 'beneath (one's) dignity'].

And that therefore people might not want to do it, or if they did, to not talk about it, in much the same way that a chap might go to a smart black tie function but would be reluctant to admit that he had hired the dinner jacket he’s wearing.

But as we did more research and talked to more women, and especially as the gathering storm of the recession set in, it became clear that for many people the idea of hiring jewellery would be seen as smart and savvy, a clever way to accessorise with stunning diamond jewellery for a special occasion, but without the high cost and commitment of ownership.

So, far from clamming up and not wanting to talk about it, we found that lots of women would actually boast about how clever they were being by hiring diamond jewellery!

Well, that’s music to our ears, of course.

And for those – like our customer last week – who don’t want to broadcast the fact that those diamonds they’re wearing are on loan, well that’s fine too. Your secret is safe with us.

What about you? Would you tell people that the sparkling diamonds you’re wearing have been rented for the occasion?

Original post here.

www.diamondthrills.co.uk