Royal Jewels

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ok, so we got back...hubby and i and i had a little fun with some great ring pics..this is a collage to show the actual size of diana''s sapphire ring..we all have read and seen the rumors about how big it was and it just seems to comtinue to get larger! i wish they could grow bigger with age!!!LOL anyhow, my point is, i took two pics of di''s ring...sorry they are a smidge blurry..and one of mine..you''ve see the pic..anywho, i made my fingers the same size as her fingers in the pics. this will put the rings at about the appropriate sizing..and you can see for that ..they are about the same size...which makes her sapphire about a 7 carat stone..maybe 7.5...
i''m such a detective eh everyone???LOL

 

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oh yes, i duh on my part...you know how i was mentioning about what was what that i was wearing in those pics i put up..well i forgot the other bracelet..the plain gold one on my other wrist...oooooooooooooooops...it''s a hand hammered solid 14 kt gold bangle, torque style. i forgot that one.
got carried away! LOL

 

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diana with charles...

 

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In 1719, Emperor Peter I "the Great" (reigned 1682-1725), founded the earliest version of what we now know as the State Diamond Fund of the Russian Federation. Peter I had visited other European nations, and introduced many innovations to Russia, one of which was the creation of a permanent fund to house a collection of jewels which belonged not to the Romanov family, but to the Russian State.

 

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Russian Field Tiars made from Diamonds and Gold.

 

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Peter declared that the state holdings were inviolate, and could not be altered, sold, or given away - and he also decreed that each subsequent Emperor or Empress should leave a certain number of pieces acquired during their reign to the State, for the permanent glory of the Russian Empire. Peter left all of the pieces used in the coronation ceremony to the Diamond Fund, as well as many important pieces of 15th, 16th and 17th century jewelry. The pieces were housed in a special secure room in the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, first called the Renteria, and subsequently called the Diamond Chamber.

 

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The Great Imperial Crown made in 1762 for the coronation of Catherine the Great by the court jeweler J.Pauzie represents the height of creative imagination, lavish beauty and skilled workmanship. It is adorned with five thousand diamonds arranged in a splendid pattern of laurel wreaths and oak branches.

The glitter of the diamonds is enhanced by two rows of gleaming pearls and the crown is topped by a huge red spinel, the second largest in the world, which weighs almost 400 carats.

The Scepter has the world''s famous "Orlov Diamond", the largest faceted diamond weighing 189 carats.

 

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Peter''s daughter Elizabeth I (reigned 1741-1761) had a voracious taste for jewelry, and a number of the most beautiful pieces of the Rococo period date from her reign, such as the remarkable Earrings in the form of garlands of flowers with bees.

 

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Faberge Collection

The 19th century brought changes in the organization of jewelry making. Many famous jewelers worked in Russia, and some, such as Faberge have become household names.

Peter Carl Faberge, the son of French-German ancestors, ruled the world of jewels in the four decades prior to the outbreak of the World War I. The House of Faberge became world-famous. It produced inter alia, figurines made of semi-precious stones, snuffboxes, powder-boxes and items of jewelry.

 

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In 1914, with the threat of a possible German invasion due to World War I, the entire collection was carefully packed, and sent from St. Petersburg to Moscow, where it was placed in vaults beneath the Kremlin for safety. But Russia''s political troubles, including the Revolution in 1917 and the ensuing Russian Civil War made the history of the State Jewels even more complicated.

 

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beautiful sapphire broach

 

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A diamond-set enameled two-color gold Imperial presentation snuff-box applied with a deep gold hued enamel over guilloche sunburst patterns accented by Imperial eagles and defined by a gold chased trellis set with diamonds. At the center of the box, is the diamond-set crowned monogram of Tsar Nicholas II against an oval panel enameled white with a diamond-set border.

 

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The jewels were forgotten for a time, and it was not until 1926 that they were found in the Kremlin, and the pieces opened, catalogued, and photographed in their entirety. An enormous selection of the pieces were sold to an American consortium, and the pieces, which comprised close to 70% of the original collections, were sold at Christie''s Auction house in London in 1927. The pieces which were sold were dispersed all over the globe, and many of their locations are now unknown.

 

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A gold-and silver-mounted diamond-set tiara, signed with initials KF for Carl Faberge.

 

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The Lilies of the Valley egg is a masterpeace in Art Nouveau style. The miniature of Tzar Nicholas II and his two daughters Olga and Tatyana painted within the body of the egg. The pictures pop up when a pearl knob is turned.
When Kerensky''s provisional government took power in February 1917, the egg was not listed in the inventory of the Imperial Treasury. Even today it is not clear how it came to the West. The Forbes Magazine Collection acquired it together with the Coronation egg in 1979 for 2.16 million US dollars.

 

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The remaining pieces, which are the historically and artistically most important from the collections include the coronation regaila, and a spectacular collection of eighteenth and ninteenth century jewelry. The pieces went on display for the first time in 1967 as a commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of the revolution, when they were displayed in a special vault beneath the Kremlin to high-ranking officials and foreign dignitaries.

The treasures of the Diamond Fund are part of the national state heritage.

Since the fall of communism, the pieces are on display to the public, who can buy tickets to visit the diamond fund when they go to the Kremlin Armory Museum in Moscow.

 

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Only six of the Imperial Easter eggs contained mechanism.
One of the most famous is the Rooster egg, which the ruler, Nicholas II, presented to his mother on April 9 1900. At the push of the button, the lid opens, and a rooster appears, crowing and flapping his wings. The small rooster is decorated with real feather. In 1985 the egg was acquared by the Forbes Magazine Collection for 1.76 million US dollars.

The Coronation Egg is enameled a deep gold hue over guilloche sunburst patterns and blanketed by a gold trellis marked by diamond-set Imperial eagles at the intersections.

At the top of the egg is the crowned monogram of Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna emblazoned in rose-cut diamonds and rubies. The date 1897, appears beneath a smaller portrait diamond at the bottom of the egg. When the egg is opened, the surprise fitted inside a velvet-lined compartment is a removable replica of a coach of gold, enamel, diamond and rock crystal.

 

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Faberge: The Coronation Egg.

Today in the museum of Faberge you can find the most exquisite and famous works of the house of Faberge from the Imperial Easter eggs collection to highly luxurious items for everyday use.

 

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The history of Russian jewelry goes back over one thousand years. Many of the earliest pieces of Russian jewelry are very similar in style to pieces which were worn at the court of the Byzantine Empire. As ancient Rus'' and Kiev grew into what we now know as Russia, the style changed very little.

 

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It was not until Emperor Peter I "the Great" that real innovations and exchanges with the west changed Russian jewelry style for ever.
The steady influence of foreign jewelers, combined with the Russian jewelers own creativity ended up establishing a Russian jewelry industry of great size and importance.

Snuffbox, Gold, cut diamonds, diamond roses, glass and silver, 1775 .During the second half of the 18th century the Russian imperial collection of items of jewellery was being continually added to. Such pieces included snuffboxes, which might also be used as awards or diplomatic gifts. Catherine II herself was a passionate collector of snuffboxes made of rare stones and was generous in her presentation of such objects to those around her.

 

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Why wait in line to see the royal jewels at the Tower of London when you can have a princely piece of your own?

That''s what buyers at Sotheby''s auction of important pieces once owned by royalty found Thursday at the Beau-Rivage Hotel in Geneva. The event, called "Magnificent Jewels, Noble Jewels and Jewels from the Collection of Lily Marinho," fetched a total of 60 million Swiss francs ($57.1 million), including buyer’s premium. This was the highest total for any sale held in Geneva this week and the second-highest total for any sale of magnificent jewels worldwide in U.S. dollars.

 

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sorry, that lovely sapphire was.'' Duchess of Windsor''s Sapphire Pendant

This 206.82-carat sapphire pendant was created by Cartier in 1951. It was expected to sell for 1.1 million to 1.5 million Swiss francs, but the lot was withdrawn from sale as the owner decided he couldn''t part with it.
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Sotheby’s
Royal Million Dollar Jewels
The baubles of the Duchess of Windsor and the UK''s Queen Mother go to auction.

Pearl and Diamond Tiara

This tiara, from an aristocratic collection sold for 301,000 Swiss francs ($286,76, including buyer''s premium. Set with diamonds, it is designed as a garland of stylized myrtle leaves and is embellished with seven pearls, and part of the garland detaches to be worn as a brooch.

 

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Count Scheel-Plessen''s Diamond-Encrusted Tiara

This tiara, decorated with diamonds and dating from circa 1900, sold for 94,600 Swiss francs ($90,127). The central diamond rivière is believed to have been commissioned by Carl, Count Scheel-Plessen, either circa 1882 (for the occasion of his marriage to his wife, Louise) or in 1896, when his Danish title of greve (count) was recognized by Prussia.

 

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wow wow eye candy, emeralds everywhere!

 

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Moroccan Royal Jewels - The crown

 

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queen mary''s russian broach

 

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ok, it won''t attach, i''ll figure it out and post it later, let''s move on!
this one is a gorgeous tiera!

 

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ok good, at least that one worked..it''s an aquamarine tiera...the anne cartier

 

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there, here''s that broach of queen mary''s...it loaded!