Early 19th century tiara at Richard Ogden
This is a ca 200 year old tiara that I found while rummaging through in the secret cabinet at Richard Ogden. Robert Ogden told me the story behind it and also why it is referred to as a “Travelling Tiara”:
Antique 19th century tiara at Richard Ogden
The wealthy ladies in the 18th and 19th century didn’t want to bring their diamond-set jewellery along on long horse drawn carriage-journeys, so they had the workshops design identical pieces in paste (glass) that they could safely carry along on their travels. This tiara is a wonderful piece of history, which has stayed in such great condition, despite having almost 200 years on its shoulders:
Travelling Tiara ca 1830s at Richard Ogden in the Burlington Arcade
In the 1700s Bohemian glassmakers’ designs were the most sought after in Europe, and they had just surpassed the once unrivalled Venetian glassmakers in skill and design. Their designs were like works pieces of art, mirroring precious stones so perfectly (1) and it became common practice for all the great jewellers to sell paste jewellery alongside their precious pieces. Even royalty – for example Elizabeth I, Mary Queen of Scots, Queen Anne, the wife of James I, the first Duchess of Marlborough and Henri IV of France – owned paste jewellery (2).
In 1869 the following statement could be found in Queen magazine:
“If the profession or career of the husband requires that his wife should go much into society on a small income, she would be perfectly justified in wearing imitations to save money… it cannot be wrong for a lady who cannot afford and has not inherited them to wear a moderate amount of paste.”
The article added that she should not give the impression that her “jewels” were of any value.
Antique 19th century tiara at Richard Ogden
The designs were very clever, which we can see in this little beauty: it can be taken apart and turned into a brooch and a smaller tiara/headpiece. You can see the mechanism at the back in the photos above and below here:
The tiara comes apart and splits into various other pieces
… it can be worn as a lovely brooch…
… and as a smaller tiara! A girl can never have too many tiaras, right?
Eventually, in the mid-2oth century costume jewellery was made popular on its own, by various designers, and high as well as low priced brands would become renowned names in costume jewellery; Crown Trifari, Dior, Chanel, Miriam Haskell and Monet. I am pleased to say that we have had the pleasure of encountering designs from quite a few of these previously on the blog!
Sources:
(1) The Legend of Bohemian Glass: A Thousand Years of Glassmaking in the Heart,
by Antonín Langhamer
(2) How to spend it – the real appeal of paste jewellery
Decades of Elegance 