Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
Monday, December 1st, 2008
Important gems of this rank, now in private hands or held by gem merchants, tend to stay in circulation, sometimes with long periods of inactivity, until eventually they come to rest in a permanent museum collection. The odyssey of the Idol's Eye is typical. It was discovered in the Golconda ...
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Wednesday, November 12th, 2008
Spanning the years between Empress Cunegunde's Crown and those just described, the Schatzkammer exhibit contains a welter of crowns, diadems, gold diamond jewelry, and tiaras of every sort and description, dripping with gems set in precious metals, tracing the royal successions of a long line of related kings and queens. ...
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Tuesday, October 21st, 2008
The Queen's Crown was not made until 1731 and is generally of the same shape as the King's without the large gems set in. Displayed with Her Majesty's Crown is a collection of jewelry set in diamonds, emeralds, and pearls, which is still available for the use of the current ...
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Thursday, October 16th, 2008
In the Schatzkammer (treasure room) of the Alte Burg the treasure is divided into two sections, secular and ecclesiastical. Under Joseph II, son of Maria Theresa, the church and crown treasures had been jointly placed under the care of the castle chaplain. They are still together although in separate rooms ...
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Saturday, October 11th, 2008
There are extremely important gems, too, that are fit for a king but remain in private hands. Foremost among them is the Jubilee Diamond. It was a large, flattened piece when found in 1895, at the Jagersfontein Mine, in South Africa. In 1897, the year of Queen Victoria's diamond jubilee ...
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Saturday, October 11th, 2008
No other state collection of gems and jewelry pretends to contain the enormously valuable objects found in the "big three." Judging by historic, aesthetic, and artistic standards, however, there are state treasures just as important—so many in fact that several volumes of description ...
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Tuesday, September 30th, 2008
The Kiani Crown is heavy and ungainly looking by comparison. It is built around a tall, round-topped hat made of stiff cloth. The diamond rings gems are either sewn directly to the cloth or are mounted on metal plates which are sewn to the crown. Almost 1800 matched natural pearls ...
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Friday, September 12th, 2008
One group of treasures acquired by the family through right of rule came from the Holy Roman Empire. Starting with the crowning of Charlemagne in A.D. 800, this empire managed to exist for centuries through a succession of difficulties and wars. In 1438 the succession passed to Albrecht II of ...
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Thursday, September 11th, 2008
The Crown Jewels of Iran, already mentioned, are another collection of enormous value surviving relatively intact to our times. Remarkably, they were practically unknown to the world until this decade. In 1961 they were opened to public diamond engagement ring exhibition for the first time at the Bank Markazi in ...
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Friday, September 5th, 2008
Reading about or visiting the marvelous collections of state gems and crown jewels around the world, one might easily get the false impression that all the most important gems, all the famous crowns and regal jewelry that survived were locked up in national treasuries and museums diamond ring. To the ...
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