Repairing the Crown

The crown from the film “Young Victoria” was in need of some repairs:

While attending a lecture at the Getty Museums , sponsored by the LA branch of Swarovski - Designing Victoria: Visual Sources for Historical Costume, I found a “sapphire” on the stage. I immediately jumped to rescue it from the floor. Little did I realize that picking up this little gem would be the reason I would be asked to repair this gorgeous movie prop.

Sandy Powell and Deborah Landis were the guest speakers. After the lecture, Larry McQueen and I walked up to the stage to meet the speakers and it was there that I spotted the “sapphire” on the floor. Right next to the display of the the crown which was on center stage.

After being introduced to Deborah Landis and Sandy Powell I promptly handed the "sapphire" over to Sandy Powell.

Sandy Powell had commissioned a British maker to create the crown for the movie - The Young Victoria. It seems that the gemstone popped out of the setting while on display at the lecture. 

Deborah Landis, whom I have worked with on the Academy  jewelry installation, then introduced me to the Swarovski representative (also the sponsor of the event) and I offered to repair the crown.

Costume Designer: Sandy Powell

According to history - the original royal crown had fallen into disrepair and needed to be replaced. The Imperial State Crown was made in 1937 for George VI, as the original Queen Victoria’s crown had fallen into disrepair.

Today’s project was repairing the prop from the movie “The Young Victoria”. It was a fairly quick and easy to repair. I had to set the gem and create a new stem for the diamond sphere. It was a joy to work on.

The original maker did a beautiful in creating this movie prop. All images shown below - by Kathleen Lynagh