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The ceremonial gems, crowns&nbsp;and bejewelled brocades that mark the immeasurable&nbsp;gulf between the monarch and the mere vassal also have&nbsp;their stories to tell, sagas of sudden thefts, cunning&nbsp;counterfeits and boundless avarice. And not all such&nbsp;yarns are the stuff of distant yesteryears.
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-42156 aligncenter" src="//www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/The_Ball._Eglinton_Tournament.1.jpg" alt="Crown Jewels" width="700" height="466" srcset="https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/The_Ball._Eglinton_Tournament.1.jpg 700w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/The_Ball._Eglinton_Tournament.1-200x133.jpg 200w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/The_Ball._Eglinton_Tournament.1-421x280.jpg 421w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/The_Ball._Eglinton_Tournament.1-120x80.jpg 120w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/The_Ball._Eglinton_Tournament.1-500x333.jpg 500w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/The_Ball._Eglinton_Tournament.1-400x266.jpg 400w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/The_Ball._Eglinton_Tournament.1-600x399.jpg 600w" sizes="(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px" />
Although historically, it was the high kings and&nbsp;queens of Europe that hogged much of the limelight,&nbsp;in truth, they have no monopoly on mesmerising&nbsp;monarch-commissioned fine metalworks. Indeed,&nbsp;long-considered the&nbsp;spiritual home of hereditary rulerdom – is Tehran.
While, today, it is synonymous with international&nbsp;sanctions and vast oil reserves, less well-known is&nbsp;the fact that it is home to the world’s most extensive&nbsp;collection of royal jewellery, the centrepiece of which is&nbsp;the Daria-i-Noor (Sea of Light). Weighing in at around&nbsp;182 carats, it’s one of the largest cut diamonds&nbsp;the world has ever seen.
Given its exceptional nature, it should perhaps come&nbsp;as no surprise that this particular precious gemstone has&nbsp;been the root cause of inter-dynastic feuds throughout&nbsp;the region for more than 300 years. Although pale-pink&nbsp;in hue, for many, its true colour should be a shocking&nbsp;crimson, an apt match for the blood of the thousands&nbsp;that have been spilt across the centuries as rival factions&nbsp;tusseled to secure it for one envious emperor or another.
<figure id="attachment_42173" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-42173" style="width: 466px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="wp-image-42173 size-full" src="//www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Sea_of_Light.jpg" alt="Sea of Light" width="466" height="700" srcset="https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Sea_of_Light.jpg 466w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Sea_of_Light-200x300.jpg 200w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Sea_of_Light-186x280.jpg 186w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Sea_of_Light-120x180.jpg 120w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Sea_of_Light-400x601.jpg 400w" sizes="(max-width: 466px) 100vw, 466px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-42173" class="wp-caption-text">Daria-i-Noor (Sea of Light)</figcaption></figure>
Originally hewn from the&nbsp;darkness of southeast India’s&nbsp;Golconda mines, it is not the&nbsp;only jewel with such a provenance&nbsp;to cut a bloody swathe through&nbsp;the lives of the region’s residents.&nbsp;Equally ill &#8211; starred was the&nbsp;67.5-carat Black Orlov, also known as&nbsp;the Eye of Brahma, one of the largest&nbsp;black diamonds ever found.
Stolen from its sacred setting in&nbsp;the eye of a Hindu God Brahma statue&nbsp;in the dying years of the 19th century by an itinerant holy man, it is said that those&nbsp;who subsequently came into contact with&nbsp;it were forever cursed. No matter how&nbsp;cynically you take such an assertion, its&nbsp;list of victims to date is both impressive&nbsp;and chilling, with a New York diamond dealer and two&nbsp;Russian princesses all inexplicably leaping to their&nbsp;deaths soon after the misappropriated mega-jewel&nbsp;crossed their paths.
<figure id="attachment_42158" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-42158" style="width: 700px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="wp-image-42158 size-full" src="//www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/55727248-612x612-min.jpg" alt="Crown Jewels" width="700" height="466" srcset="https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/55727248-612x612-min.jpg 700w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/55727248-612x612-min-200x133.jpg 200w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/55727248-612x612-min-421x280.jpg 421w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/55727248-612x612-min-120x80.jpg 120w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/55727248-612x612-min-500x333.jpg 500w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/55727248-612x612-min-400x266.jpg 400w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/55727248-612x612-min-600x399.jpg 600w" sizes="(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-42158" class="wp-caption-text">Black Orlov</figcaption></figure>
Given the comprehensive nature of its curse,&nbsp;clearly only radical action could end its suicide inspiring&nbsp;spree. Thankfully, back in 1950, just such&nbsp;a solution was implemented. Its then-owner had it&nbsp;chiselled into three separate pieces, a development&nbsp;that has seen no East European Empress motivated to&nbsp;bid an 18th-floor adieu on its part ever since. Phew.
No litany of&nbsp;precious stone-related perfidy would be complete&nbsp;without reference to that most doomed of grand&nbsp;dames, Marie Antoinette, the wife of King Louis XVI of&nbsp;France, and&nbsp;the Affair of the Diamond necklace&nbsp;that famously sent her heading towards headlessness.
Rightly sensing that the&nbsp;French Revolutionary mood&nbsp;of the late 18th century&nbsp;made it a poor time for the&nbsp;country’s royal family to take&nbsp;receipt of a US$14 million necklace –a 650-diamond, 2,800-bejewelled behemoth&nbsp;– commissioned by his predecessor, King Louis XVI&nbsp;looked to distance himself from the entire project.&nbsp;
<figure id="attachment_42175" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-42175" style="width: 466px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-42175" src="//www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Affair-of-the-Diamonds.jpg" alt="Affair of the Diamonds" width="466" height="700" srcset="https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Affair-of-the-Diamonds.jpg 466w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Affair-of-the-Diamonds-200x300.jpg 200w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Affair-of-the-Diamonds-186x280.jpg 186w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Affair-of-the-Diamonds-120x180.jpg 120w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Affair-of-the-Diamonds-400x601.jpg 400w" sizes="(max-width: 466px) 100vw, 466px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-42175" class="wp-caption-text">Affair of the Diamonds</figcaption></figure>
Sadly, a less zeitgeist-minded courier sought&nbsp;to woo the favour of Queen Marie by securing the trinket for her personal use. Sadder still, the&nbsp;revolting peasantry got wind of the prospective&nbsp;purchase and Marie and her head became detached&nbsp;well before the necklace could actually be dispatched to her royal loveliness.
The necklace in question ultimately ended up in&nbsp;England, where it was divided into less ostentatious&nbsp;segments and sold off. Indeed, should you want to&nbsp;discretely dispose of some roguishly-acquired regalia,&nbsp;the United Kingdom is probably a more logical locale&nbsp;than most, given that the country just has so much of&nbsp;it already in circulation – the most celebrated of which&nbsp;is probably Saint Edward’s Crown.
<figure id="attachment_42162" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-42162" style="width: 700px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="wp-image-42162 size-full" src="//www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Dronning_victoria-min.jpg" alt="" width="700" height="466" srcset="https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Dronning_victoria-min.jpg 700w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Dronning_victoria-min-200x133.jpg 200w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Dronning_victoria-min-421x280.jpg 421w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Dronning_victoria-min-120x80.jpg 120w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Dronning_victoria-min-500x333.jpg 500w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Dronning_victoria-min-400x266.jpg 400w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Dronning_victoria-min-600x399.jpg 600w" sizes="(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-42162" class="wp-caption-text">Saint Edward’s Crown</figcaption></figure>
Weighing a not –&nbsp;inconsiderable 2.23kg and&nbsp;standing 30cm tall, it was&nbsp;last used ceremonially when&nbsp;the current queen was crowned&nbsp;in 1953. Featuring more than 440&nbsp;precious and semi-precious stones&nbsp;– the majority of which are rose-cut&nbsp;aquamarines and white topazes – it&nbsp;comes fetchingly trimmed with velvet&nbsp;and ermine. At a very conservative&nbsp;estimate, it is said to be worth some&nbsp;US$12.7 billion, which pretty much&nbsp;equates to the annual Gross Domestic&nbsp;Product (GDP) of Mongolia.&nbsp;Given the value and symbolism&nbsp;of such items, then, it is perhaps&nbsp;unsurprising they have often proved&nbsp;the catalyst – or, at the very least, the&nbsp;excuse – for revolution.
Royal lines, dynasties, call them&nbsp;what you will, are fleeting human&nbsp;constructs, abiding only as long as flesh&nbsp;and blood allows. And, even in Britain,&nbsp;the crucible of all things coronation related,&nbsp;the whispers are that it will be a&nbsp;much-diminished House of Windsor that&nbsp;emerges once its current 92-year-old&nbsp;matriarch enters her final repose.
The trappings, trinkets and jewels&nbsp;she leaves behind, may, however, become&nbsp;a cipher to a regal past, with their jewelladen&nbsp;legacy lingering long after they&nbsp;have taken their own final bow.

Text: <a href="mailto:bailey@itotalmedia.com">Bailey Atkinson</a>

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Crown Sourcing: Where were the crown jewels originally requisitioned?