Prestigegems.org

Royal Crowns

As things now stand, royal crowns exceed by large numbers the current supply of reigning monarchs vintage engagement rings. Lord Twining in his book he show how to design your own wedding ring, A History of the Crown Jewels of Europe, supplies information about more than 600 crowns, 187 scepters, 98 orbs, and 116 ceremonial swords. A goodly number of these are still in existence and are carefully protected as part of the historic record of former kingdoms, as museum objects of artistic antique style engagement rings, aesthetic, and educational interest, or as regalia which will be required at future coronations.
The concept of the crown is an ancient one, its origins lost in, but traceable to, the dim past history of Oriental and Mesopotamian civilizations. Somehow, very early, a circular head ornament came to mean recognition of the sovereignty, dignity, achievement, or other special attainment of certain individuals by their fellow men. The use of a green-leaved wreath by the Greeks and Romans, for excellence in such diverse pursuits as poetry and athletics, is well known to us. In medieval times a kind of crown, which was really developed from a diadem, came into universal use for regal purposes.

The diadem itself is ancient, having been originally a simple band of silk, wool, or other material tied about the head of a king to distinguish him from his lesser subjects. The cloth strip later became a band of gold unique engagement rings. Still later in their development diadems became so embellished with gems and so ornate in worked precious metals that only royalty could afford them. Partly because of this direction of evolution in crowns,  the ornament became veryclosely associated with the idea of monarchy and the name became an adjective for royal prerogatives. The meaning of crown colonies and crown lands is quite clear to us. Thus, “crown jewels” are the property of the reigning monarch and do not necessarily have any crowns among them.

The most recent imperial crown to be commissioned was made for an empress. Imagine the excitement and consternation in the firm of Van Cleef and Arpels of Paris when it was learned it had been chosen to make a crown for Farah Diba, who was to become, in 1967, the first empress of Iran. Respected as it may be, and quite accustomed to handling great fortunes in gems, it is still an event when a jewelry firm gets an order for a crown. Rising to the occasion custom wedding bands, the designers and craftsmen created a crown in the best medieval tradition, making good use of the fabulous collection of gems in the Iranian royal treasury. It is a lovely fantasy in red, white, and green—Iran’s colors.

The most important gem in the crown is a superb carved emerald of 91.32 carats. To keep it company there are 35 other emeralds, 36 spinels and rubies, 105 large, natural, high-quality pearls up to an inch long, and 1469 diamonds for trim. Removal of these stones from the enormous collection was hardly noticeable. Iran has acquired these treasures in the past two hundred and fifty years and now uses them as backing for its currency, as well as for its coronations. Conversion of a few of them to objects such as a crown for a new empress only perpetuates a practice existing all through history. Crowns come and go; they are made, repaired, modified, taken apart, and designed anew, but the custom wedding bands they contain are preserved and passed on from one crown to the next. At a time when the world was peppered with any number of kingdoms being joined, divided, conquered, and rebuilt, there was a steady demand for coronation regalia. Now the demand has fallen to almost nothing.