2020-05-01_Lapidary_Journal_Jewelry_Artist

Carter told Town & Country. “She

had a complex about being short.”

Teresa is most proud of the Bur-

mese ruby tiara and the George III

tiara the queen wears for the open-

ing of Parliament. “I think that one is

simply wonderful,” she says.

She and her husband have also

replicated the Cartier Halo tiara,

another favorite of Margaret’s, the

Lover’s Knot, a favorite of Diana’s

and now Kate’s, and the Spencer

tiara handed down through Diana’s

family. “None of them were easy,”

Teresa says. “We had to do a lot of

research.”

The tiara Elizabeth wore on her

wedding day was her “something

borrowed,” a loan from her mother

known as the King George III French

tiara, which converts from tiara to

necklace, as French tiaras often did.

“It was extremely satisfying making

the jewelry for the queen’s wedding

in 1947,” Teresa says.

Made Too Well?

Costumes and jewels on The Crown

have earned rave reviews. “We did

get a very strange review saying the

George III tiara was made too well,

because the original broke and had

to be fi xed quickly,” Teresa says. “I

didn’t even know about this.”

It turns out, a couple hours

before the 1947 royal wedding, the

catch holding up the tiara’s dia-

mond fringe broke and it fl ipped

down, to the bride’s alarm. In a clip

fi lmed in 2011, the queen admits

she hadn’t known the tiara convert-

ed to a necklace and thought she’d

broken it. Tape was applied and the

wedding went off without a hitch

— televised and broadcast by radio

to 200 million people around the

world.

Jewels in The Crown may not be

the real thing but they come pretty

close. In fact, the Tomases have

been accused of posting images of

the original crown jewels on their

website. “But they are, in fact, ours,”

Teresa assures us.

Does she watch The Crown?

“Oh, yes!” she says. “I was glued

to the television. It was absolutely

wonderful.”

Find Them

WWW.STAGEJEWELLERY.COM

The replicas of the

diamond tiaras

looked remark-

ably real, even

close up. The cop-

ied crowns, while

impressive, didn’t

read as precious

antiques in the

glare of museum

lighting. But on

screen, the rep-

licas are totally

convincing.

A replica of the Poltimore tiara. The original was a favorite of Princess Margaret

who wore it at her wedding. PHOTO: COURTESY WINTERTHUR

See More

COSTUMING THE CROWN,

PAGE 58

CATHLEEN MCCARTHY has covered jewelry

and business for Town & Country, JCK, The Washing-

ton Post, and her own site, TheJewelryLoupe.com.

She also writes the regular Net Profi ts column for

Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist and interweave.com.

MAY/JUNE 2020 67

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