Today marks the Anniversary of the Birth of Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna of Russia, who was born on this day in 1872! Queen Victoria’s Hessen Granddaughter who became the tragic last Empress of Russia, the Tsarina possessed the spectacular collection of jewels from the Imperial Vaults as well as a splendid personal jewellery collection, which included this Fabergé Pearl Tiara!
Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna’s Pearl Drop Tiara | Diamond Kokoshnik Tiara | Boucheron Pearl Coronet | Fabergé Pearl Tiara | Princess Alice’s Emerald Brooch | Jewels of the Romanovs | Imperial Fabergé Eggs
In the winter of 1898, Tsar Nicholas II of Russia acquired this striking Fabergé Pearl and Diamond as a gift for Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna ahead of their fourth Wedding Anniversary and Christmas.
An almost identical tiara with 11 pear-shaped pearls was in the possession of the Russian Empress Alexandra Feodorovna. No.169 in her personal jewelry collection, this piece was a gift from Tsar Nicholas II for their fourth Christmas together. A Fabergé invoice dated December 31, 1897 for the creation of a “diadem of pearls and diamonds (4,150 rubles)” has been preserved in the archives.
Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna most notably wore the Fabergé Pearl Tiara for a series of portraits taken in 1898, when she also wore her Boucheron Pearl Coronet during the photo session.
Following the Abdication of Tsar Nicholas II in 1917, State Property like the Pearl Drop Tiara and Diamond Kokoshnik Tiara were sent to the Imperial Treasury in St. Petersburg, but as personal property, the Fabergé Pearl Tiara was among the jewels taken by the Imperial Family into exile in Tobolsk.
In Tobolsk, the Imperial Family were able to smuggle out several jewels through nuns and priest, which was hidden in two wooden vats and two glass containers and buried in a basement. The jewels remained hidden until the nuns were tortured in 1933, when two of the cases were found, and the jewels, which included the the Fabergé Pearl Tiara, were photographed, 154 items inventoried before disappearing on the journey to Moscow. Their current location is unknown.
When in 1933 the Bolsheviks found the Romanov jewels, securely hidden since 1918 in the place of their exile in Tobolsk, they estimated the tiara at 25,000 rubles.
An almost identical Belle Époque Diamond Tiara now belongs to the Duchess of Brabant, but it cannot be Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna’s Fabergé Pearl Tiara because it was photographed on the Baroness Vesty in 1925, when the Tsarina’s Tiara was still buried in Tobolsk.
Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna’s Pearl Drop Tiara | Diamond Kokoshnik Tiara | Boucheron Pearl Coronet | Fabergé Pearl Tiara | Princess Alice’s Emerald Brooch | Jewels of the Romanovs | Imperial Fabergé Eggs
