User:GeeJo/Sandbox

The Poltimore Tiara is a diamond tiara, named for Florence, Lady Poltimore, who was the wife of Augustus Bampfylde, 2nd Baron Poltimore and the tiara's original owner.

Description
The tiara's silver and gold framework is 19.2 cm in diameter, supporting a graduated line of gold settings arranged in alternating floral and scroll motifs. The settings contain clusters of old-cut and cushion-cut diamonds, surmounted by old-cut diamond terminals. The total or individual weight of diamonds in the tiara has not been assessed or publicly disclosed. The tiara was designed to be readily disassembled into a necklace and eleven separate brooches, connected by screwdriver and brooch fittings.

Provenance
The Poltimore Tiara was constructed by the London jeweler R & S Garrard in 1870. Its design was commissioned from Garrard by Augustus Bampfylde, a sitting Lord of the Liberal Party, for his wife Florence. While she wore it to several public functions, including the coronation of King George V in 1911, the tiara saw little public attention until its sale by Hon. Sheila Margaret Warwick Bampfylde, great-granddaughter of Augustus and Florence. The sale was made through public auction at Sotheby’s on 29th January 1959. It was purchased by the Royal Household for £5,500 on the advice of Patrick Plunkett, Deputy Master of the Household, in the run-up to the official announcement of the engagement of Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon to Antony Armstrong-Jones, though whether the purchase was on behalf of Margaret herself or for her mother, Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother to present as a gift, remains unclear.

It was the second Garrard-designed tiara worn by a bride at a royal wedding, the first being a kokoshnik-style fringe tiara worn by then-Princess Elizabeth's wedding to Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark. The latter famously snapped into two pieces on the day of the wedding.

The use of the Poltimore Tiara for the royal wedding broke with tradition in being newly-purchased, rather than an heirloom lent from the royal collection. By longstanding tradition, within the British royal family only married women wear tiaras. The ability to disassemble the Poltimore Tiara, however, allowed Margaret to wear it publicly before then. The first such occasion was a visit to the Royal Opera House in May 1959, where the tiara was in its necklace-and-brooch form.

A satin-bound silk tulle veil made by Claude Saint-Cyr was attached to the tiara for the wedding.

The Princess continued to wear the Poltimore Tiara throughout her life for important state events and parties, including during a state visit by Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Shah of Iran in 1979. She was said to have liked the tiara's impressive height. She often wore the stellar piece on top of elaborate high hairdos, usually with a pair of statement earrings for added dramatic effect. The tiara also famously appeared in a rather scandalous snap of Margaret in the bathtub which was taken by her then-husband.

Pieces from the spectacular collection have already toured the country for six days, during which some 9,000 people viewed highlights of the jewellery lots. Went on display at Christie's itself today, due for auction 14 June Some of the proceeds will also go to charity, one of the main beneficiaries being the Princess Margaret Fund at the Stroke Association, founded by David Linley.

In June 2006, Christie’s London auctioned 800 items, including 192 pieces of jewelry, belonging to Princess Margaret, who died in 2002. The majority were pieces she acquired as gifts at and during her marriage to Antony Armstrong-Jones, Earl of Snowdon. However, several pieces offered at the sale came from the British royal collection, including the Poltimore Tiara, made in 1870 and worn at her wedding 90 years later. Her children reportedly placed the items up for sale to pay some US$5.5 million in inheritance taxes. The queen is said to have demanded that her portion of the proceeds be given to charity. This was one of the few occasions that jewels from the British royal collection have left the family (Alderson, 2006). The sale realized US$17.7 million, nearly double the high presale estimate. The tiara, set with small diamonds, sold for US$1.7 million against a presale estimate of US$370,000. Another significant piece from the British royal collection, Queen Mary’s diamond rivière necklace, brought US$1.8 million against a presale estimate of US$550,000. The Princess Margaret sale also included approximately 15 smaller jewelry items dating back to the eighteenth century (Christie’s, 2006).

purchased by an anonymous buyer from China

It’s a set-up familiar to today’s social-media influencers. Hair done, make-up on, enlist a willing other half to take a photo of you in the bath; the contrast between glamour and mundanity making for perfect Instagram fodder. If the internet had existed in 1962, it would have gone into meltdown at the sight of Princess Margaret in the tub at Kensington Palace, wearing nothing but a diamond tiara and a coquettish smile. The now-famous image was taken by Margaret’s then-husband, Antony Armstrong-Jones, two years after they were married, but wasn’t shown in public until 2006. And it’s in the limelight once more as Helena Bonham-Carter recreates the scandalous scene in the third season of The Crown. Princess Margaret wearing her wedding tiara in the bath, 1962

A few potential articles
As well as Bikini bandits and finger jousting from previous years, I thought it might be an idea to jot down some articles I've been meaning to write for ages, but never got around to, before I forget them entirely:
 * Camel mobile library - See BBC, etc.

Other ones I need to do at some point:
 * Obliteration Room
 * cadbury purple
 * The Great Fogg
 * David Bowman (farmer)
 * Antoine Bardou-Jacquet

List for Cannes, so I don't forget. Updating as I go:

Done:
 * Old Lions
 * Space Chair
 * Lamp
 * Go On Lad
 * What's it going to take?
 * The Trillion Dollar Campaign
 * The Life

Working:
 * Parallel Lines (waiting on the new issue of Shots.)
 * Onslaught
 * Voyeur
 * Paint
 * Balls
 * Time Sculpture
 * Tipping Point
 * Tag
 * http://www.leftlanenews.com/ever-wondered-what-a-completely-clear-car-would-look-like-video.html?

CFRB - http://www.millwardbrown.com/Insights/KnowledgePoints/EmotionalResponse/EmotionalResponse-Page1.aspx

Psychological autopsy
also called psychiatric autopsy. not many authoritative references for this. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12701661 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11728849 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18922235 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8447238 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2652387 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9858086 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6515695 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/4810930 http://www.deathreference.com/A-Bi/Autopsy-Psychological.html http://e zinearticles.com/?Understanding-The-Psychological-Autopsy&id=202888 http://www.authorsden.com/visit/viewArticle.asp?id=14997