Archive for August, 2008
Thursday, August 28th, 2008
The third stone cut from the great Cullinan Diamond is drop-shaped like the largest of the group. Weighing 94.4 carats, it was available in 1911 and suitably ostentatious for the new crown to be made for the coronation of Queen Mary, consort of George V. As a matter of fact, ...
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
Tuesday, August 19th, 2008
France once had its share of glorious state wedding bands. Louis XIV enjoyed diamonds immensely. Tavernier has reported in some detail a thousand diamonds he sold to the French king. Among them was the great French Blue Diamond, which had originally weighed 112!4 carats when brought from India in 1642. ...
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
Thursday, August 14th, 2008
Empress Cunegunde's Crown is the oldest in the diamond earrings collection. She was the wife of Henry II, who ruled the Holy Roman Empire from A.D. 1002 to 1024. It is a simple circlet of five curved gold plates hinged together and bespangled with sapphires, amethysts, and topazes. Lovely as ...
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »