THE JEWELS OF QUEEN ELIZABETH II: Her...

THE JEWELS OF QUEEN ELIZABETH II: Her Personal Collection by Leslie Field (Abrams: $16.95). In addition to the royal regalia, which is the property of the state, Queen Elizabeth II probably has the largest private collection of jewelry in world. Field lovingly describes some of the most historically significant pieces in her dazzling array of diamonds, emeralds, rubies and pearls. The most valuable single item in the collection is the brooch the Queen irreverently dubbed “Granny’s Chips.” Fashioned from two of the so-called “Lesser Stars of Africa” (the fragments produced when the 3,106-carat Cullinan Diamond was cleaved in 1908), it consists of the Cullinan III, a pear-shaped pendant of 94.4 carats that dangles from the Cullinan IV, a square-cut stone of 63.6 carats. Field notes the Queen has worn it “no more than six times during her reign.” Perhaps diamonds aren’t a royal girl’s best friend.