The Cullinan III and IV Brooch

The Cullinan III and IV Brooch consists of “a pear-shaped drop and a square-cut brilliant, linked together in fine pierced collet and claw settings.”¹

The brooch is formed of the third and fourth largest stones of the largest diamond ever found. The Cullinan diamond was offered to King Edward VII as a token of “loyalty and attachment of the people of the Transvaal to His Majesty’s Person and Throne.”²

The uncut stone was sent to the diamond cutter Asscher in Amsterdam, and he produced nine polished stones, 96 small brilliants and nine carats of rough ends. The Cullinan I and II were reserved for King Edward VII. Asscher had kept the stones III to V and VII-IX, together the brilliants and rough ends as a fee for the cutting and polishing. Every stone was then acquired by the South African Government and given to Queen Mary in 1910. She had Cullinan III and IV temporarily set in her new crown for the coronation of 1911. She also had the Delhi Durbar Tiara adapted to take either or both of the stones. However, she mostly wore the stones hooked together as a brooch.

Queen Elizabeth II inherited the brooch in 1953, and it was then famously referred to as “Granny’s Chips.”³

1. The Queen’s Diamonds by Hugh Roberts p.158
2. The Queen’s Diamonds by Hugh Roberts p.158
3. The Queen’s Diamonds by Hugh Roberts p.161