What Became of the Royal Jewels?
We see ethereal glimpses of them in old black and white photographs. Fabulous parures. Incredible stones. Magnificent jewels worn with the most august hateur to coronations, fancy dress balls and in portraits. The jewelry boxes of the aristocratic, the royal, and the super-rich were more jewelry vaults (the Queen of England requires a whole castle to house only part of her collection). Assaulted by revolution, depression, disposession, and sometimes just plain old fashion, where have these magificent, ostentatious jewels gone?
One Web site, Royal Magazin, has done yeoman's work in tracking down some of the more well-known jewelry pieces and collections. Tiaras that once added glittering, imperial grace to Russian archduchesses can be found here. Exotic jewels with fanciful pedigrees, like the fabled Hope Diamond. The whimsical diamond stars that once glittered in the long, luxurious tresses of the Austrian Empress Sisi, once regarded as one of the most beautiful women on earth.
This site is not only informative, it is, frankly, lovely. It serves as the figurative setting in which these gems and ornaments are viewed.
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