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Great Sapphire Of Louis XIV
The Ruspoli Sapphire, also known as the Wooden Spoon Seller's Sapphire, is a 136.9 carat (27.38 g) blue sapphire that has historically been confused with Grand Sapphire of Louis XIV (which has also been called the Ruspoli Sapphire or Wooden Spoon Seller's Sapphire). Recent research has shown that not only are these two separate gems, but also that the story of once being owned by the Ruspoli family and having been acquired from a wooden spoon seller in Bengal are both apocryphal tales with no basis. The origins of this confusion stem from a book published in 1858 by Charles Barbot, who confused the Ruspoli Sapphire with the Grand Sapphire of Louis XIV.. The known history of this sapphire begins with a French jeweler named Perret, who sold it to a jeweler from Milan named Antonio Fusi around 1811. A dispute over the sale was settled by a court-ordered auction in 1813, leaving a clear paper trail of this gem's history. From there it passed through the hands of a well-known Parisian ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carat (unit)
The carat (ct) is a unit of mass equal to or 0.00643 troy oz, and is used for measuring gemstones and pearls. The current definition, sometimes known as the metric carat, was adopted in 1907 at the Fourth General Conference on Weights and Measures, and soon afterwards in many countries around the world. The carat is divisible into 100 ''points'' of 2 mg. Other subdivisions, and slightly different mass values, have been used in the past in different locations. In terms of diamonds, a paragon is a flawless stone of at least 100 carats (20 g). The ANSI X.12 EDI standard abbreviation for the carat is CD. Etymology First attested in English in the mid-15th century, the word ''carat'' comes from Italian ''carato'', which comes from Arabic '' qīrāṭ '' قيراط , in turn borrowed from Greek ''kerátion'' κεράτιον ' carob seed', a diminutive of ''keras'' 'horn'. It was a unit of weight, equal to 1/1728 (1/12) of a pound (see Mina (unit)). History Carob ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sapphire
Sapphire is a precious gemstone, a variety of the mineral corundum, consisting of aluminium oxide () with trace amounts of elements such as iron, titanium, chromium, vanadium, or magnesium. The name sapphire is derived via the Latin "sapphirus" from the Greek "sappheiros", which referred to lapis lazuli. It is typically blue, but natural "fancy" sapphires also occur in yellow, purple, orange, and green colors; "parti sapphires" show two or more colors. Red corundum stones also occur, but are called rubies rather than sapphires. Pink-colored corundum may be classified either as ruby or sapphire depending on locale. Commonly, natural sapphires are cut and polished into gemstones and worn in jewelry. They also may be created synthetically in laboratories for industrial or decorative purposes in large crystal boules. Because of the remarkable hardness of sapphires 9 on the Mohs scale (the third hardest mineral, after diamond at 10 and moissanite at 9.5) sapphires are also ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Henry Philip Hope
Henry Philip Hope (8 June 1774, Amsterdam – 5 December 1839, Kent) was a collector of Dutch origin based in London. He was one of the heirs of the bank Hope & Co. without having been a banker himself but rather a famous collector of the arts and more particularly precious gems. Origins He was the son of Jan Hope and Philippina Barbara van der Hoeven and the youngest brother of Thomas Hope (designer) and Adrian Elias Hope. He inherited a grand home on Duchess Street, Cavendish Square, London, that he kept from when his father died in 1831 until he sold it for demolition in 1851.Watkin, David. "Thomas Hope's house in Duchess Street: the interiors created by Hope to display works of art in his London house were some of the most influential of the Regency age. A fuller story of their evolution can now be told, following the discovery of drawings by Robert Adam and C. H. Tatham." ''Apollo'', vol. 159, no. 505, Mar. 2004, pp. 31+. ''Gale Academic OneFile'', link.gale.com/apps/doc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hope Diamond
The Hope Diamond is a diamond originally extracted in the 17th century from the Kollur Mine in Guntur, India. It is blue in color due to trace amounts of boron. Its exceptional size has revealed new information about the formation of diamonds. The stone is known as one of the Golconda diamonds. The earliest records of the diamond show that French gem merchant Jean-Baptiste Tavernier purchased it in 1666 as the Tavernier Blue. The stone was cut and renamed the French Blue (''Le bleu de France''); Tavernier sold the stone to King Louis XIV of France in 1668. It was stolen in 1792 and re-cut, with the largest section of the diamond appearing under the Hope name in an 1839 gem catalogue from the Hope banking family. The diamond has had several owners, including Washington socialite Evalyn Walsh McLean, who was often seen wearing it. New York gem merchant Harry Winston purchased the diamond in 1949, touring it for several years before donating it in 1958 to the Smithsonian Nation ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Russian Crown Jewels
The Imperial Crown of Russia (russian: Императорская Корона России), also known as the Great Imperial Crown (russian: Великая Императорская Корона), was used by the monarchs of Russia from 1762 until the Russian monarchy's abolition in 1917. The Great Imperial Crown was first used in a coronation by Catherine the Great, and it was last worn at the coronation of Nicholas II. It was displayed prominently next to Nicholas II on a cushion at the State Opening of the Russian Duma inside the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg in 1906. It survived the 1917 revolution and is currently on display in Moscow at the Kremlin Armoury's State Diamond Fund. Background By 1613, when Michael Romanov, the first Tsar of the Romanov Dynasty, was crowned, the Russian regalia included a pectoral cross, a golden chain, a barmas (wide ceremonial collar), the Crown of Monomakh, sceptre, and orb. Over the centuries, various Tsars had fashioned their own pr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Queen Marie Of Romania
Marie (born Princess Marie Alexandra Victoria of Edinburgh; 29 October 1875 – 18 July 1938) was the last Queen of Romania as the wife of King Ferdinand I. Marie was born into the British royal family. Her parents were Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh (later Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha) and Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia. Marie's early years were spent in Kent, Malta and Coburg. After refusing a proposal from her cousin, the future King George V, she was chosen as the future wife of Crown Prince Ferdinand of Romania, the heir apparent of King Carol I, in 1892. Marie was Crown Princess between 1893 and 1914, and became immediately popular with the Romanian people. After the outbreak of World War I, Marie urged Ferdinand to ally himself with the Triple Entente and declare war on Germany, which he eventually did in 1916. During the early stages of fighting, Bucharest was occupied by the Central Powers and Marie, Ferdinand and their five children took refuge i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
List Of Individual Gemstones
A number of gemstones have gained fame, either because of their size and beauty or because of the people who owned or wore them. A list of famous gemstones follows. Alexandrites * Smithsonian museums' Alexandrite, the largest cut alexandrite weighing 65.08 carats. Aquamarines A birthstone. * The Dom Pedro – The world's largest cut and polished aquamarine. Housed in the permanent collection of the Houston Museum of Natural Science Diamonds :''See List of diamonds'' Emeralds * Bahia Emerald * Carolina Emperor, 310 carats uncut, 64.8 carats cut; discovered in the United States in 2009, resides in the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, Raleigh * Chalk Emerald * Duke of Devonshire Emerald * Emerald of Saint Louis, 51.60 carats cut; discovered in Austria, probably Habachtal, resides in the National Museum of Natural History, Paris * Gachalá Emerald * Mogul Mughal Emerald * Patricia Emerald, 632 carats uncut, dihexagonal (12 sided); discovered in Colombia in 19 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
List Of Sapphires By Size
This is a list of sapphires by size. Sapphire Sapphires are a precious gemstone, a variety of the mineral corundum, consisting of aluminum oxide () with trace amounts of elements such as iron, titanium, chromium, copper, or magnesium. It is typically blue, but natural "fancy" sapphires also occur in yellow, purple, orange, and green colors; "parti sapphires" show two or more colors. The only color corundum stone that the term sapphire is not used for is red, which is called a ruby. Pink colored corundum may be either classified as ruby or sapphire depending on locale. Commonly, natural sapphires are cut and polished into gemstones and worn in jewelry. They also may be created synthetically in laboratories for industrial or decorative purposes in large crystal boules. Because of the remarkable hardness of sapphires – 9 on the Mohs scale (the third hardest mineral, after diamond at 10 and moissanite at 9.5) – sapphires are also used in some non-ornamental applic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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