Object of the Day, Museum Edition: Queen Charlotte’s Diamond-Studded Notebook

Notebook, Case and Pencil with
Cipher of Queen Charlotte, 1765
Tortoiseshell, Gold, Diamonds
The Royal Collection

Here’s another item that mysteriously disappeared from The Royal Collection only to reappear well over a century later in the hands of Queen Mary. That Mary of Teck—she was like a magnet for missing antiques.


This notebook was made circa 1765 for George III’s wife, Queen Charlotte. The notebook is bound in a rigid tortoiseshell cover with extremely elaborate gold mounts and Queen Charlotte’s crowned cipher set in high-quality diamonds.

Curiously, the paper in the notebook was never used. This was more of a showpiece than it was meant to actually be used as a notebook. The point on the matching pencil is just as it was in 1765—showing no signs of use.