Once Upon a Diamond: A Family Tradition of Royal Jewels

I received this charming book as a gift from a friend, and to my delight, was signed graciously in Gold marker by His Serine highness Prince Dimitri of Yugoslavia himself!I was so thrilled I bought another as a gift for a friend.I found the historical photographs exsqiste & quite informative.Carolina Herrera's forward is as lovely & elagant as her fashions.The touching & warm introduction by Francois Curiel adds the perfect French touch.The photography by Mark Roskams are sumptuous and compliment the artistic jewelry craftsmanship of Prince Dimitri,His cufflinks are my favorite in book!

Lovers and connoisseurs of fine jewelry should be enthralled with this glossy tome. It is a perfect blend of timeless elegance and beauty with history, often personal, interwoven throughout. The many photographs, often from the family archive bring to life a bygone era and offer historical context to the gorgeous jewels which accompany them. Prince Dimitri himself carries on in this fine tradition whilst his designs offer us a touch of whimsical modern spirit. The volume is well written and its quality - paper, photos, layout are outstanding. I highly recommend to lovers of beauty everywhere. Dear Santa: this one is a gift to cherish (hint, hint)!

I know the reviews for this book is all over the place - but if your a serious collector of this kind of books, & already have the great once, this one is a must have.The first 200 pages is especially good - many photos of Royalty that is hard to obtain quality books on and their amazing TIARAS.Unfortunately I must agree with most other reviews that the last 100 pages was of no interest. It’s pictures of the author’s own designs jewels

just the best book. Full of wonderful photos and history. A must purchase for jewel and history lovers!!

This book is nothing more than a glorified advertisement for Prince Dimitri’s jewelry line. The photos of the historic jewelry and their owners are reproduced on matte paper and generally out of focus—perhaps this was a choice made for “artistic” reasons, but it is both distracting and deeply annoying. At least Stefano Papi is acknowledged in the research credits! It appears that the bulk of the Russian section came from his work. Both the paper AND the photography quality improves dramatically in the last half of the book where we are offered a (too) long series of Prince Dimitri’s own designs. It feels like a high end sales catalogue, and certainly the pieces presented are high end, if not necessarily to my taste. I’m glad that I paid much less than the list price for this book. Even at that, I feel a bit stung.

Fantastical book by the amazing Prince Dimitri with intimate stories ofHis royal families journey through tumultuous times and their grace throughout

The history, the jewelry ... a fantastic story - I got 4 books and 3 of them were great gifts!

This is a lovely book, but I felt too disappointed to give more stars. First, the author's own jewelry designs take up about 100 pages when I really wanted to see the historical jewels. Second, almost all of the royal jewels have been previously covered in other books. I was really hoping for some rarer pieces. Even the copy of the jewel album disappointed with rather modest daytime brooches and bracelets. The one highlight for me was the photo album with family photos I've never seen, but I wish they could have been enlarged.

An interesting and absorbing book, well-written, with insightful research into the histories of (mostly) south European royal families and their jewellery. Complicated family trees. Victoria was indeed "the grandmother of Europe". Gorgeous photos.

Magnifique livre sur la Famille Royale de Yougoslavie : émouvante et belle dynastie. C'est un ouvrage fort bien documenté, d'un esthétisme à couper le souffle. Je recommande à 100% pour tous les fans du Prince Dimitri de Yougoslavie qui est élégant, cultivé, racé d'une rare gentillesse et d'un courage admirable. 20/20

Prince Dimitri of Yugoslavia brings to publication photographs from his private collection of his royal family members, and going back generations, and their jewellery. This is a lavish and wonderful book filled with high quality photographs of sparkling jewellery that further includes pieces from Prince Dimitri's most recent creations. A wonderful addition to any library with an interest in fine jewellery and in their emminent patrons and collectors.

perfect for jewel and diamond,emerald and ruby lovers like me.

I was very excited to receive this book, but upon opening, left mildly disappointed.The book design itself is great, with interesting layouts creating a book that is different to the ‘norm’. However, it’s a shame the majority of the pictures included are all the same as all previous books on Romanov / Serbian / Italian royalty. Unfortunately the quality of the same pictures are also higher in alternative books.A shame, as I was expecting to see images and read quotes not previously published before. But no, you won’t find anything new in this book.