Prestigegems.org

Crown of the Andes

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 contrary, many objects fit for a king are still in circulation. Some of these were once owned by royalty but many, though eminently qualified, have never been.

Perhaps the richest and most famous crown known that was never intended for the head of a king is the Crown of the Andes. This great gold crown is described as having “the circlet rising in eight points, pierced and embossed with intricately entwined acanthus scrolls and applied with clusters of table-cut emeralds in high carved settings simulating bud diamond ring and flowers, eight similar stones set at intervals around the base below a narrow band of small emeralds. The four arches also pierced in an elaborate scroll design, similarly set, surmounted at their union by an orb and emerald-set cross, and supporting seventeen cabochon emerald drops which hang freely within the Crown.”

The story of this crown begins in the 1580’s when a smallpox epidemic raged through Colombia. The city of Popayan, near the source of the Cauca River, was a prosperous cultural center in the path of the plague. As one, the people of the city prayed for deliverance from the death-dealing sickness and were spared. In thanksgiving, the citizens donated gold and emeralds for a crown to be dedicated \to the Virgin Mary. It was required that “the ctown cheap engagement rings must exceed in beauty, in grandeur and in Value the crown of any reigning monarch on earth, else it would not be a becoming gift to the Queen of Heaven.” In 1599, in the Popayan cathedral, the crown was placed on a statue of the Virgin. In the early 1900’s it was decided that the crown should be sold to build an urgently needed orphanage, hospital, and home for the aged. The fall of the Russian czars brought a halt to one possible sale being negotiated vintage engagement rings but finally in October, 1914, the sale was completed to an American syndicate. Still owned by the syndicate, it is now in the United States, but not on public exhibition.