Garrard & Co. is one of the oldest and most historically significant jewellery houses in the world, distinguished above all by its long tenure as the official Crown Jeweller to the British monarchy. Founded in the early eighteenth century and operating under various names before consolidating its identity under the Garrard family, the firm spent the better part of two centuries on Albemarle Street in London's Mayfair — an address so closely associated with the house that "Garrard of Albemarle Street" became a byword for the highest tier of British jewellery craftsmanship. Its responsibilities ranged from the maintenance and occasional remodelling of the Crown Jewels to the creation of bespoke commissions for sovereigns, heads of state, and the aristocracy of several continents.

Origins and Early History

The lineage of Garrard is conventionally traced to George Wickes, a silversmith who established his workshop in Panton Street, London, around 1722. Wickes built a reputation for fine silver and goldsmithing, attracting aristocratic patronage that would define the firm's character for generations. Upon Wickes's retirement in the 1760s, the business passed through a succession of partnerships — Wakelin & Garrard being the most consequential — before Robert Garrard I assumed control in 1802. It was under the Garrard family that the firm's identity crystallised, and the name Garrard became permanently attached to the house.

Robert Garrard I's sons — Robert II, James, and Sebastian — inherited and expanded the business in the 1820s. Robert Garrard II proved the most commercially and artistically ambitious of the three, steering the firm toward the grandest commissions of the Victorian era. In 1843, Garrard was appointed Crown Jeweller by Queen Victoria, succeeding Rundell, Bridge & Rundell in that role. This appointment, which would be renewed by successive sovereigns, gave the firm custodianship of the Crown Jewels held in the Tower of London: cleaning, maintaining, and when required, modifying pieces of national and historical significance.

The Crown Jeweller Appointment

The role of Crown Jeweller is distinct from that of a mere royal warrant holder. Where a warrant signifies that a tradesperson supplies goods or services to the royal household, the Crown Jeweller is specifically charged with the care of the regalia — the orbs, sceptres, crowns, and associated ceremonial objects used at coronations and state occasions. Garrard held this appointment continuously from 1843 until 2007, a tenure of over 160 years. During this period the firm was responsible for significant work on objects of extraordinary historical weight, including the Imperial State Crown and the Sovereign's Sceptre with Cross, which incorporates the Cullinan I diamond (also known as the First Star of Africa), the largest colourless cut diamond in the world at 530.20 carats.

The setting of the Cullinan I into the Sovereign's Sceptre, completed in 1910 for the coronation of King George V, represents perhaps the most technically demanding commission ever entrusted to a British jeweller. The stone — a pendeloque brilliant of exceptional size — required a specially engineered platinum mount capable of supporting its weight within the sceptre's existing structure while remaining removable for separate display. Garrard's craftsmen accomplished this with a detachable fitting that allowed the diamond to be worn as a brooch independently of the sceptre, a solution that reflected both technical ingenuity and an understanding of the stone's dual role as jewel and symbol of state.

The Albemarle Street Premises

Garrard relocated to Albemarle Street, Mayfair, in 1911, and the address became inseparable from the firm's identity. Albemarle Street had long been associated with intellectual and cultural distinction — the Royal Institution is located there, and the street's Georgian townhouses had housed notable residents across the arts and sciences. For Garrard, the address conferred a quiet authority appropriate to a house that served both the Crown and the most discerning private clients. The showrooms were appointed in the manner of a distinguished private house rather than a commercial establishment, a deliberate aesthetic choice that reinforced the firm's positioning at the very summit of the trade.

Over the decades at Albemarle Street, Garrard produced work across the full range of fine jewellery: tiaras, parures, necklaces, brooches, and rings set with the finest coloured gemstones and diamonds available on the international market. The firm maintained close relationships with the major gem-trading centres — Antwerp for diamonds, Colombo and Bangkok for coloured stones — and its buyers were active at the principal auction houses and in the private treaty market. Commissions from Indian maharajas, Middle Eastern royal families, and South American elites supplemented the steady flow of aristocratic British patronage.

Notable Commissions and Royal Connections

Beyond the Crown Jewels, Garrard's private royal commissions form a remarkable catalogue. The firm created or substantially reworked numerous pieces for the British royal family across the Victorian, Edwardian, and twentieth-century periods. Among the most publicly recognised is the sapphire and diamond cluster engagement ring that Garrard made for Lady Diana Spencer in 1981, selected by Prince Charles from the firm's standard catalogue rather than as a bespoke commission — a distinction that attracted comment at the time but did not diminish the ring's subsequent fame. The ring, centred on an oval Ceylon sapphire of approximately 12 carats surrounded by fourteen round brilliant diamonds in an 18-carat white gold mount, became one of the most replicated jewellery designs of the late twentieth century. It was later worn by Catherine, Princess of Wales, following her engagement to Prince William in 2010, ensuring its continued prominence in public consciousness.

Garrard also produced the diamond diadem worn by Queen Elizabeth II on postage stamps and coinage — a piece originally made for King George IV in 1820 and subsequently modified. The firm's work on historic royal pieces frequently involved sympathetic restoration alongside new creation, requiring craftsmen with an unusually broad range of historical knowledge and technical skill.

Beyond the British royal family, Garrard supplied jewellery to the Russian imperial court, the Ottoman sultanate, and numerous European royal houses during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The firm's silver and goldsmithing departments produced racing trophies, presentation plate, and ceremonial objects that circulated through the highest levels of international society.

Gemstones and Craftsmanship

Garrard's approach to gemstone selection reflected the standards expected of a Crown Jeweller. The firm favoured stones of demonstrable provenance and exceptional quality: Burmese rubies of pigeon-blood colour, Kashmir sapphires of cornflower blue, Colombian emeralds of vivid saturation, and diamonds graded at the highest levels of colour and clarity. During the Victorian period, when the firm's output was at its most prolific, the fashionable settings were typically gold with closed-back or partially closed mounts for coloured stones, transitioning toward open-back platinum settings in the Edwardian era as the influence of French jewellery — particularly from Cartier and Boucheron — made itself felt in London.

The firm's craftsmen were trained in the tradition of English jewellery making, which placed particular emphasis on structural integrity and durability alongside aesthetic refinement. English jewellery of the Victorian and Edwardian periods is often distinguished from its French counterpart by a certain robustness of construction — a quality that served Garrard's royal commissions well, given that pieces were expected to withstand repeated ceremonial use across decades or centuries.

Twentieth-Century Evolution and Ownership Changes

The mid-to-late twentieth century brought significant changes to the luxury jewellery market, and Garrard navigated these with varying degrees of success. The firm underwent several changes of ownership from the 1980s onward. In 1952, Garrard had merged with the Goldsmiths and Silversmiths Company, itself a distinguished London firm, and the combined entity traded under the Garrard name. Subsequent decades saw the business acquired by a succession of corporate owners as the luxury goods industry consolidated globally.

In 2007, the Crown Jeweller appointment passed from Garrard to Annoushka Ducas and Stephen Webster, before being held by other jewellers in subsequent years — marking the end of Garrard's exclusive custodianship of the regalia after more than 160 years. The same year, the firm relocated from Albemarle Street, severing its long association with that address. These changes were widely noted in the trade and the press as the end of a particular chapter in British jewellery history.

The Garrard brand was subsequently repositioned under new ownership, with a renewed emphasis on bespoke jewellery and a contemporary design vocabulary while retaining explicit reference to its royal heritage. The firm returned to Albemarle Street in 2019, reopening at number 24 — a symbolic homecoming that acknowledged the enduring commercial and reputational value of the address.

Legacy and Significance

Garrard's significance in the history of jewellery extends beyond its royal connections, though those connections are undeniably central to its identity. The firm represents a particular tradition of British luxury craftsmanship — conservative in the best sense, technically rigorous, and oriented toward permanence rather than fashion. Its archive, which documents commissions, client relationships, and gemstone acquisitions across more than two centuries, constitutes a primary source of considerable value for historians of jewellery, material culture, and the decorative arts.

For the gemmologist and jewellery specialist, Garrard pieces offer a reliable index of the finest stones available on the London market at any given period. A Garrard provenance — particularly for pieces dating from the Victorian through mid-twentieth-century periods — carries weight at auction and in the private treaty market, reflecting both the quality of stones typically selected and the standard of craftsmanship applied to them. Major auction houses including Christie's, Sotheby's, and Bonhams regularly present Garrard pieces with full attribution, and the firm's royal commissions command particular attention when they appear.

The Albemarle Street address, even after the firm's temporary departure, retains its association with Garrard in the popular and trade imagination. "Garrard of Albemarle Street" remains a phrase that encapsulates a specific ideal of British jewellery: authoritative, historically grounded, and made to endure.

Further Reading

• GIA Gems & Gemology — The Cullinan Diamonds in the State Regalia
• Royal Collection Trust — The Crown Jewels