Wouter Engler viaWikimedia//CC BY - SA 4.0
Although they frequently admit some pretty epic crowns , crest gem are not necessarily just cap — they can also include sceptre , gem , necklaces , tiaras , and tremendous stone . A nation ’s poll jewels are used during a enthronement observance , with the array often being used to constitute the transference of business leader to the new monarch . Over the years , the crown jewels of many land have been lost or destroyed — sometimes in very mystical circumstances .
1. THE HAWAIIAN CROWN JEWELS // REPLACED WITH PASTE
Hawai’i Digital Newspaper Project// Public world
Hawaiian tycoon Kalakaua and his queen Kapiolani decided to hold alavish coronationeight years into their reign , after witness many foreign royals do such ceremony . They had two solid Au crowns plan and made in London by Hoffnung and Co. , for which they paid £ 1000 . One jacket was state to incorporate 521 diamonds , 54 pearls , 20 ruby , 20 opals , and eight emerald , among other precious stone .
The coronation exit forwards on February 12 , 1883 and the impressive crest was ceremonially placed upon Kalakaua ’s head — the only occasion on which the jacket crown was ever used . Kalakaua died of kidney disease in 1891 and his sister Liliuokalani inherited the throne , but already much of her constitutional powers had been gnaw at , and by 1893 she was depose by anAmerican - led military takeover . The custodian who took over the provisional government regulate an inventory of purple possessions , but when staff fetched the satin - line box in Iolani Palace in which crown had been stored , all they establish was its twisted and dead set remains . Every individual gem had been pried from its moulding and stolen .
Detectives immediately set to crop to try and find the lost precious stone , and before long one of the guardsmen , George Ryan , was found to have some of the smallest diamonds in his jacket sack . Ryan was jailed for the theft for three years but no other precious stone were recuperate . Kalakaua ’s jacket was restored with field glass and paste jewels be $ 350 in 1925 and is today display alongside Queen Kapiolani ’s crown ( which had been stored elsewhere and thus remained inviolate ) in Iolani Palace .
2. IRISH CROWN JEWELS // LOST WITHOUT A TRACE
Dublin Police viaWikimediaCommons// Public domain of a function
TheIrish jacket jewelsincluded no crown , but a infield brooch , five gold collar , and a ball field , crimson , and emerald encrusted wizard of the Order of St. Patrick , an honor produce in 1783 as an combining weight to the illustrious British Order of the Garter . In 1903 the jewels were move to a exceptional safe in Dublin Castle which was presuppose to be kept in a new re - enforced strong way . However when staff came to move the safe into its newfangled stance , they realized , a little late , that the good would not fit through the door . Instead , the Officer of Arms , Arthur Vicars , allowed it to be stashed outside the strongroom in a library .
In 1907 King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra were due to jaw Dublin Castle , mean to apply the jewel to bestow the Order of St Patrick on a local Lord , but when the steward come to check on the gem the found the secure empty . Panic and hunch swept the rook — the offence was distinctly an inner caper , because keys had been used to unlock the safe . All fingers target to Arthur Vicars , the person in thrill of the key , but he vehemently protest his innocence and instead accused his supporter , Francis Shackleton — brother of the illustrious Arctic explorer Ernest Shackleton and later a convicted fraudster . Both piece were investigated by a Royal Commission which cleared them of the larceny but admonished Vicars for not exercise due watchfulness . Vicars became a bitter troglodyte , blame King Edward VII for making him a scapegoat and keep to accuse Shackleton of the crime , even using a program line in his will to take another swipe at his former co-worker . advanced historiographer for the most part agree that Shackleton appears to have been the most likely perpetrator , but the jewels have never been tracked down and their disappearance remains a great mystery to this day .
3. ENGLISH CROWN JEWELS // LOST IN THE FENS
King John the Bad . double credit : Wikimedia Commons// Public knowledge domain
King John of England ( known as King John the Bad ) had a vast cache of cap jewel . In October 1216 , just a yr after the famous Magna Carta was signed , King John was attempt to suppress a rebellion and made a misstep through the boggy Fens of easterly England . He and his tumid entourage travelled with many carts ladened down with supplying , including one holding all ofKing John ’s crown jewel . It ’s intend that John had fallen ill , and so was in a hastiness to get across The Wash , a tidal area criss - crossed with creeks , stream , and punic patches of quicksand . The riders got across safely , but present-day chronicles enjoin us that the baggage carts laden with precious stone go down everlastingly into the silt . To cap a really terrible week , just a few days laterKing John the Bad diedof dysentery . The legend of the fall back jewels has grow over time and archaeologists have essay the treasure in swollen — the huge , boggy Fens seem unlikely to ever unwrap their resting lieu .
4. THE SCOTTISH CROWN JEWELS // LOST THEN REDISCOVERED
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The Scottish crown jewels are know as theHonours of Scotlandand consist of a top that was remodel by James V in 1540 , a scepter grant to James IV in 1494 , and the sword of state , which was pay to James IV in 1507 . The jewels were first used all together at the coronation of all Scots monarch starting in 1543 , but during the English Civil War , when Oliver Cromwell had Charles I executed , the Scottish crown jewels were inspirit away and hidden to foreclose Cromwell from destroying them .
The monarchy was restored in 1660 , and in 1707 Scotland officially became unified with England under James I. At that point in time , the historic piece were place in entrepot in Edinburgh Castle for safekeeping . mostly forgotten , they were believe lost until 1818 , when the celebrated novelist ( and ardent Scot)Sir Walter Scottled a search company through the storerooms of Edinburgh Castle in search of the jewels . Scott stumbled upon a locked oak chest , and there , hidden underneath piles of linen , were the Scotch crown jewels , exactly where they had been left in 1707 . Since then the rediscovered jewels have been on showing at Edinburgh Castle for all to admire .
5. RUSSIAN CROWN JEWELS // LOST TREASURES OF THE ROMANOVS
The Romanov family harness Russia for over 300 years : from 1613 until they were overthrown during the Russian Revolution in 1917 . The Russian tsars had amassed an astonishing accumulation of tip jewels , and in the chaos following their departure it would not have been surprising had the jewels gone missing . However , despite some revolutionary argue that the jewels should be trade as they represent the subjugation of the hoi polloi , historians were capable to preserve the assembling due to their home importance — or so it was thought . In 2012 researchers unveil a large photographic platter of the jewels from 1922 in theU.S. Geological Survey Library in Reston , Virginia . When they compared this record to the official stock of the crown jewel from 1925 they discovered at least four patch were miss , including a sapphire breastpin that they afterward found had been sold at auction in London in 1927 . The other three pieces — identified as a crown , a bracelet , and a necklace — have so far not been trace and their whereabouts remain a closed book . As for the rest of the still super impressive Romanov crown jewels , they are on display at the Kremlin in Moscow .
6. FRENCH CROWN JEWELS // SOLD OFF
Michael Reeve viaWikimedia// CC BY - SA 3.0
The unbelievable Gallic crown jewels were last used at the coronation of Louis XVI in 1775 and were thereafter on show in the First Lord of the Treasury . They include the priceless Charlemagne Crown , Charles V ’s gothic gold sceptre , and the investiture sword , as well as an tremendous collecting of gemstones roll up over hundreds of old age by the French monarchs .
After the French Revolution it was check that the crownwork gem should be sell , because keep them might advance attack to restore the monarchy . It took many years for the plan to be put into action , but in 1887 many of the diadem jewels were put up for sale ( fortunately some of the most historically interesting piece were preserved for the nation and some can still be seen on showing inthe Louvre ) . The vendue cause quite a esthesis and jewelry fans from all over the world flocked to try out and plug a bit of chronicle . The gross proceeds of the cut-rate sale were put into government bonds for the benefit of the country .
In 2008 one of the jewels sold at the 1887 auction again get along up for sale . The stunning infield brooch [ PDF ] had been made for Empress Eugenie in 1855 and was bribe by jewelry maker Emile Schlesinger for Mrs. Caroline Astor at the 1887 auction . When the jewel come up for sale in 2008 , it was quickly snapped up by the Louvre so that it might get together their appeal of live crown gem .
7. ENGLISH CROWN JEWELS // MELTED DOWN
Henry VIII ’s crownwork as paint by Daniel Mytens . range credit : Wikimedia Commons// Public Domain
After the Civil War in England , when Parliamentary force out under Oliver Cromwell defeated the Royalist forces of Charles I , all emblems of the monarchy were ordered destroyed . Charles I was executed in 1649 and the Parliamentarians agree that the ancient English pennant jewel must be melted down , preventing them from being used as a symbolic representation of the drop off monarchy . It is unclear exactly what items were in thecrown jewelsat this time , but they are thought to have included the diadem of St. Edward the Confessor , used at his enthronization in 1043 , as well as many other crowns , jewel , and plate . Details of the historical vandalism are scant , but it is conceive that the golden crowns were melted down and made into coins .
However , one token survived : the goldenAmpulla and spoonused to anoint the monarch with holy oil color during the coronation ceremonial occasion . Today the English jacket crown jewels — create after the Restoration for the investiture of Charles II in 1661 — are kept on display at theTower of London . The Imperial Crown of State includes a azure that once belong to St. Edward the Confessor and was buried with him in 1066 . It ’s sound out , somewhat gruesomely , that the stone was retrieved from the king ’s casket in 1101 and set into a crown for Henry I. It is unclear how the jewel managed to survive the destruction of the pennant jewel but it thankfully reappeared at the Restoration and now represent the honest-to-goodness pull round jewel in the current majestic regalia .
