Crown jewels are the ultimate estate jewels. Since they belong to governments or monarchs and hold an important place in a country’s history, they will likely never appear in a public sale. Because of their distinctive status, they receive different treatment and care than pieces that end up on the market.
“They are not products. They are objects with stories that have history,” says gem education consultant Rui Galopim de Carvalho. “They are different than jewelry that appears at auction. Those are products for sale. They are not museum items. Although museums have the same kinds of objects as those we see on the market, they are not jewelry products.”
Galopim de Carvalho was a co-organizer of a two-day colloquium called “Treasures, Royal Gems & Jewellery,” which took place in November at the Royal Treasure Museum in Lisbon, Portugal. Those in attendance included gemologists, historians, museum curators, valuators, mineralogists, auction professionals, and others with an interest in historic jewels and gems.
Crown jewels present particular challenges, such as restoring, organizing and maintaining them, as well as figuring out how best to present them to the public. Three of the speakers at the event were in charge of museums with royal collections, and they discussed some of these issues.
Denmark: Fit for the queen
Peter Kristiansen is curator of the Royal Danish Collection, which includes the Danish crown jewels. Dowager Queen Sophie Magdalene established the collection in her will in 1746, and it became effective upon her death in 1770, he explained via video feed at the gathering.
“The collection belongs in principle to the monarch, still today,” he told participants. “And the monarch can in principle do what he wants with the collection, but there are some limitations. He can’t sell it. He can’t give it away, and he is obliged to preserve it.”
The jewels have been in Rosenborg Castle with the Royal Danish Collection since 1915 and on public display there since 1922. Four sets of items have the designation of crown jewels: the Emerald Set, the Pearl-Ruby Set, the Brilliant Set and the Rose-Cut Diamond Set. The jewels also cannot leave the country, Kristiansen explained. Their use is limited to a few state celebrations and royal funerals. In the past, they have been part of coronations, but these ceremonies no longer exist.
Since they are still in use, the jewels get adjusted to keep up with current fashions and to fit the reigning queen comfortably. In January, Queen Margrethe II abdicated her throne after 52 years, citing health reasons. Her eldest son, Frederik X, became king of Denmark, and the jewels were tweaked for his wife Mary.
France: Out of the vault
Eloïse Gaillou is responsible for the approximately 100,000 samples of minerals at the Mines Paris – PSL school’s Mineralogy Museum, where she is director and curator. Among them are some 150 gems from the French crown jewels.
About a century after the French Revolution, the French government decided to sell the collection to rid itself of all symbols of the monarchy, Gaillou related in her presentation. The jewels went up for auction in 1887. “Everything was put on display, and in 10 days, everything had to be sold. It was not sold for [the pieces’] heritage. It was not even sold for the price of the stones, because everything was put into suites of gems and sold to the highest bidder. Only a few sets of jewels were left for the last empresses.”
Some of the experts of the time convinced the government to keep some gems for mineralogical study and historical purposes, she continued. These got divided among The Louvre Museum, the National Museum of Natural History in Paris, and Mines Paris – PSL, which received Colombian emeralds, Siberian amethysts and Brazilian pink topaz.
Apparently, however, no one at Mines Paris knew about the gems until 2016.
“Everything was kept in a vault but not written as the French crown jewels,” Gaillou explained. Once she learned of their historical significance, she immediately decided to display them, dividing them by category — amethyst, pink topaz and emerald — and showcasing them in a tall cabinet. The institute is now researching which jewels contained the gems, and who owned them.
The next challenge for the three French museums is buying back at least some of the original crown jewels based on what they can afford, according to Gaillou. “The decision was made to try to find and purchase back those pieces that were still set in jewelry. Not loose gemstones, but a few things that have the savoir faire, the craftsmanship, of the jewelers.”
Bavaria: Sharing with the public
Jonas Jückstock is conservator at the Treasury of Munich Residence, a palace that served as the seat of government and home of Bavarian dukes, electors and kings from 1508 to 1918. The Treasury is a collection of about 1,250 jewels, goldsmiths’ works, and objects of enamel, crystal and ivory. In his 1565 will, Duke Albrecht V stipulated that the items in this collection should never go up for sale.
Jückstock is an expert in restoration. He spends much of his time at his workbench restoring jewels and other artifacts that date back to the 14th century. He is passionate about finding out as much as possible regarding each item in the museum.
“We work for museums. That means we work for the public,” he told the event attendees. “That comes with the responsibility to give the public not only views of objects, but also the information about it. And I think we like to do that, as well as opening these items to scientific methods to gain additional insights.”
Another challenge he addressed was how museums should plan for the future — whether these institutions that preserve the past should also be anticipating and collecting the types of art and objects that will have historical significance further down the line. “Most of the time, we look back at what has happened, but simultaneously we should think about what we will present in the future, what principles you want to present as a museum [to educate] the public,” he stated.
Main image: The Brilliant Set diamond necklace from the Danish crown jewels. (Royal Treasure Museum)
