This post is also available in: German
Reproductions of the english crown jewels
There’s a man here in Germany, Dieter Baumgartl, who has a strange kind of hobby: He’s reproducing crown jewels.
I’m not kidding – so far he has reproduced the French, Prussian and English crown jewels in pewter, Swarovski crystals, Chinese jewels and virtually anything he could find. He’s currently working on the Russian crown jewels.
He’s doing this at home, ‘on his sofa, while watching television’, he says. The effort, however, is well worth an exhibit – which took place in one of Hamburg’s best shops, the Alsterhaus.
Oh, by the way, to destroy any hope you might have: Mr. Baumgartl doesn’t work for customers – he refuses to do so.
However, if you’re really interested in how he does his work, look carefully at what he’s doing and ask the right questions *plus* have some skills in soldering and jewelry making, you’d be rather surprised what you could learn from that man… He and his works are real inspirations, too – especially because if you’ve ever been to London, you’ll certainly know how long – or how short, rather – you can look at those jewels (if at all, because most of them are not visible for the public!) if you visit the tower 
Visiting one exhibit of Mr. Baumgartl gives you the chance to not only look at them like, well, forever if you have the time – but you can also *photograph* them, which I did.
Here are the pictures of Mr. Baumgartl’s reproduced crown jewels – with descriptions, as far as I remember or photographed them. Note: I’m not so familiar with the history of English monarchs that I could verify that all the given dates, which I translated and wrote down from the German auction descriptions, are all correct. Please feel free to correct me if you definitely know that my descriptions are wrong.
(Unfortunately he didn’t have any reproductions of Queen Elizabeth I’s jewels, which, as you might know in case you’ve browsed this site a bit more, is my absolutely favorite Queen. I would have loved to have a picture taken with something like that wearing something like my Pelican gown. He said I might come back in case I should ever finish my reproduction of Queen Elizabeth II’s Coronation gown (as shown on my ‘interesting costumes’ page) – but I doubt I’ll ever do that. As I’ve said on that page, I have no occasion to wear such a gown; and I doubt anyone else would want to have one made… Well, never mind – the jewels were beautiful anyway…)
 “Oriental Circlet” deigned by Prince Albert (1819-1861) for his wife, Queen Victoria. |
 “The Cambridge Lover’s Knot” Tiara |
 Queen’s Crown Made in 1902 for Queen Alexandra of Denmark (1844-1925), the wife of Edward VII (1841-1910) |
 “Bandeau Necklace” Owned by King George V. (1865-1936) and Queen Elizabeth II (* 1926) |
 Emerald Tiara Owned by Queen Victoria Mary of Teck, wife of King George V. (1865-1936) |
 Queen’s Crown made for Queen Adelaide of Sachsen-Meiningen (1792-1849), wife of King William IV (1756-1837). This crown was used for just one coronation ceremony. After this, all jewels were removed and re-used to make other jewelry. |
 “Feston” necklace and “Stud” Earrings owned by Queen Victoria (1819-1901) |
 “State Crown” Worn by Queen Mary of Modena (1658-1718) on her way back to the palace from the coronation ceremony. Later it was used for various representative purposes. |
 From top to bottom: St. Edward’s Crown, made of gold and 444 jewels; weights about 4,5 pounds. It was made for the coronation of Charles II in 1661 and is generally used for the coronation act of British Monarchs itself. Queen Victoria and King Edward VII instead chose the “Imperial State Crown” for the coronation – because of the weight. The last time this crown was used for Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation in 1953. Scepter, made for the coronation of King Charles II (1630-1685) in 1661. Reichsapfel, made for the coronation of King Charles II (1630-1685) in 1661. |
 Left: Coronation crown, owned by Queen Mary of Modena (1658-1718), wife of King James II (1633-1701), the last catholic ruler of Great Britain. Right: “State Diadem”, was worn by Queen Mary of Modena (1658-1718) on her way to the coronation ceremony. This tradition was later carried on by other King’s wives until the 19th century. |
 “Portland Tiara with Sapphires” |
 Four-rows pearl necklace owned by Queen Elizabeth II (*1926) Necklace owned by the Russian Czar Maria Fjodorowna (1847-1928) |
 Fringe Earrings and Goodman Necklace owned by Queen Victoria (1819-1901) |
 Top to bottom: Brooch – owned by the Russian Czar Maria Fjodorowna (1847-1928) Russian brooch – owned by Queen Mary of Teck (1867-1953) Brooch – owned by Prince Albert (1819-1901), husband of Queen Victoria |
 “Floret Earrings”- owned by Queen Mary of Teck (1867-1953) “Courage” Brooch – owned by Queen Mary of Teck (1867-1953) Clips by Cartier – owned by Queen Elizabeth II (*1926) |
 Tiara with Emeralds and Diamonds owned by Queen Victoria (1819-1901) |
 Orders Owned by the Royal family. |
 “Cluster Earrings”, “Three-Drops Necklace and Brooch” Owned by Queen Alexandra (1844-1925), wife of King Edward VII (1849-1910) |
 Queen’s Crown The last crown that was made for a King’s wife for her coronation in 1937 for Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon (1900-2002), wife of King George VI (1895-1952) and mother of Queen Elizabeth II. |
 Brooches owned by Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon (1900-2002) and her daughter, Queen Elizabeth II (* 1926). |
 Circlet with the Koh-I-Noor worn by Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon (1900-2002), wife of King George VI (1895-1952) and mother of Queen Elizabeth II. |
 Tiara owned by Princess Louise (1848-1939), the fourth daughter of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. |
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| Regal Circlet owned by Queen Victoria (1819-1901) |
Backside of the Regal Circlet (left), just so you see how Mr. Baumgartl has worked the circlet |
 Burmese Ruby Tiara owned by Queen Elizabeth II (* 1926). |
  “Cullinan III & VI” “Koh-I-Noor Brooch” owned by Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon (1900-2002), wife of King George VI (1895-1952) and mother of Queen Elizabeth II. The two pictures show just the same – but the right one also has a human thumb in the lower right corner, so that you may imagine the sheer size of these incredible jewels (both the reproductions and the originals) |
Hi !
I’d like to know how much it would be to buy a replica of the Queen Elizabeth crown (The one with the Koh-I-Noor on it). We are shooting a low budget movie where the crown is a crucial prop and we want a really good looking one. Yours are incredible !
Please get back to me with a quote.
Regards
Zefred
Hi Zefred!
Sorry, but I am just a costume maker, not a jewelry maker (that should be obvious from the page above and this entire site), so I can’t help you. If I make jewelry – as I made for my Queen Elizabeth I: ‘Pelican’ gown – I’m mostly making it for myself
There are other companies however that do have replicas of the Imperial State Crown, such as this one, for example, which you can’t buy but hire.
Best wishes,
Naergi
Oups ! Sorry, I didn’t realize you were not the maker of the crowns
Could I possibly have Mr Baumgartl contact info so I can contact him and ask him for a quote please ?
Thanks a lot !
Zefred
As far as I know, Mr. Baumgartl does not have any contact number. I don’t have an address of him either, and even thorough internet researches could not bring one up, sorry.
Also, he does not make jewelry for clients, just for his own exhibits; which means he never sells his replicas but keeps them.
Then again you could try and find one of his exhibits over the internet, then contact the exhibit staff and ask them for contact with Mr. Baumgartl. I never went so far just because of how he treated me at that exhibit where I took the pictures that can be seen above (which wasn’t precisely nice, but I don’t want to go into detail).
So sorry again!
Best wishes,
Naergi
OK. THanks a lot for the info.
Cheers!
Zefred
Can you e-mail me some of the photos above of Dieter’s jewels and crowns? Your site chopped some of them off. I sure would appreciate it. Thanks E. Wilhoit
I can’t see how “my site” chopped some of them off (my site isn’t capable of chopping images. I am; however I didn’t chop any of them, except for cutting off sides of the images which didn’t show any jewelry.
Could you explain what you mean, and maybe what you need the images for?
The tiara on the first row, number 4
Do you know the name of that tiara?
No, sorry. There was no name given for it at the exhibit.