Marvel at the Astonishing Emeralds and Their Intriguing Tales of Exploration!

Emeralds have stirred the imagination for centuries, have been the target of smugglers and pirates, and are still the subject of bloodshed and intrigue. These magnificent stones compete with diamonds, often surpassing them in beauty and value. I have prepared for you a small selection of famous emerald jewelry. Before we start, please support my channel by clicking the like and subscribe buttons. Thank you! Traveling from east to west, this chalk emerald ring is now in the National Collection of the Smithsonian Institution, but it used to shine at state occasions and rival the queen's own jewelry. The Columbian emerald was brought to the Mughal Empire in the 16th-17th centuries, on the territory of which it wandered for several centuries, until it settled in the In 1959, the emerald was bought by Harry Winston and cut to his liking, causing the stone to lose a little weight. Instead of 38.4 carats, it now weighs 37.8 carats. The jewels chose a setting and neighbors to match. The center of the platinum gold ring was the chalk emerald, and the beautiful emerald was surrounded by 60 diamonds. Three years later, Harry Winston sold the ring with a large markup to the American businessman Oscar Roy Chalk, whose name was given to the chalk emerald. The latter gave the jewelry to his wife Claire for the occasion, which became a small legend. Claire Chalk wore the emerald ring to a reception held at the White House in honor of Elizabeth II. But when the woman realized that the queen's jewels were losing out in comparison to her stunning piece of jewelry, she took the delicate step of turning the ring with the stones in the palm of her hand. Claire had not owned the emerald for long. Known for her charitable work, in 1972 she donated the ring to the Smithsonian Institution, where it is kept to this day as an example of high jewelry art. From the Romanoff family to Elizabeth Taylor. The famous actress loved eye-catching massive jewelry and, not unlike the previous heroine, was not particularly delicate in this sense. Elizabeth Taylor was happy to show her jewelry to the public. One of the actress' favorite jewelry was an emerald semiperure from Bulgari, presented by the main man of her life, Richard Burton. And this jewelry set also has a story worthy of a separate novel. Many experts agree that some of the emeralds in Taylor's necklace once belonged to Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna. Fleeing the horrors of revolutionary Russia in 1920, the princess died, but was able to remove much of her precious collection two years earlier. Maria Pavlovna did not have time to report some of them, and they were discovered only in 2009 in Sweden. Then the relics were handed over to the heirs of the princess. In exile, her son Boris had a hand in the sale of the remaining jewelry. The collection gradually melted away, and the jewelry of the Romanov family passed into the wrong hands. Most of them settled in America, as Europeans were not too interested in the emeralds of the princess. The first American owners of the royal stones were the Rockefellers, followed by other wealthy heirs. And only in 1960 Bulgari placed emeralds in the famous necklace, which after Taylor's death went under the hammer for more than $20 million. True, this story remains a hypothesis, but it has quite a few supporters. Mackay Emerald. This huge emerald is set in an art deco diamond and platinum pendant designed by Cartier. In 1931, Clarence Mackay gave the necklace as a wedding gift to his wife, Anna Case, a prime Madonna at the New York Metropolitan Opera from 1909 to 1920. The Mackay Emerald, with a weight of 167.97 carats, was mined in Muzo, Colombia, and is the National Gem Collection's largest cut emerald. The emerald is set in a pendant-style platinum necklace, accented by an additional 35 emeralds and 2,191 diamonds. Mrs. Anna Case Mackay donated the necklace to the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History in 1984. Cambridge Emeralds. The treasury of emeralds of the British royal family is huge. A special place in it belongs to jewelry with Colombian emeralds, which came into the possession of the British crown in the 19th century. In the early 19th century, Princess Augusta, Duchess of Cambridge, took part in a charity lottery in Frankfurt. The princess was lucky enough to win a set of 40 large cabochon cut Colombian emeralds. Princess Augusta bequeathed the set of emeralds to her daughter, Princess Mary Adelaide, who in turn passed them on to her son, Prince Francis of Teck, who decided to leave them to his mistress Nelly, the Countess of Kilmary. So the Cambridge Emeralds almost completely left royal hands in 1910 when Frank died suddenly. Prince Francis' sister, Queen Mary of Teck of Great Britain, was horrified when she learned of this. She instructed her lawyers to make Frank's will private and went straight to Nelly Kilmary to get the emeralds back. And she succeeded. There are different versions of exactly how Mary managed to get the emeralds back from Nelly. Some say that Mary simply demanded them back, but it is much more likely that there was an exchange of money. Eventually, Queen Mary made sure that her own family's jewelry became a Queen Mary was known to wear numerous pieces of jewelry at one time and on the occasion of the Imperial Doorbar held in Delhi in 1911. When King George V was crowned Emperor of India, she had a majority of the Cambridge Emeralds set into what became known as the Delhi Doorbar Parure. Then in 1921, Queen Mary bought a diamond and pearl tiara from Grand Duchess Alina Vladimirovna of Russia. The tiara had been smuggled out of Russia by a British diplomat during the 1917 Revolution. After acquiring the tiara, Queen Mary had it altered and the original dropped pearls could be replaced with 15 Cambridge cabochon emeralds. The remaining Cambridge emeralds were used in additional brooches, necklaces, bracelets, and earrings made by Gerrard's Royal Jewelers. These pieces of jewelry were thoughtfully designed so that the emeralds could be removed from the setting so that Queen Mary could insert gemstones that would harmonize with the color of her dress. All the jewelry mentioned, the Parure Delhi Doorbar, the Vladimir Tiara, and additional jewelry with Cambridge emeralds were the personal property of Queen Mary. The collection was eventually inherited by Queen Elizabeth II in 1953. From Princess to Princess. Fans of the British royal family love Kate Middleton perhaps as much as Princess Diana. Much of this love is due to Kate's respect for the memory of her late mother-in-law and reverent attitude to her jewelry. In another homage to Diana's fine taste, Kate appeared in her mother-in-law's iconic emerald choker. The Cambridge necklace is part of that very Royal Delhi Doorbar Parure collection. Diana initially wore the choker the classic way, around her neck, but one day she dared to go bold. The princess created a furore and hit the tabloid headlines by wearing the necklace on her head. This outing turned the fashion world upside down and created a new fashion trend. The last time the Cambridge jewel was seen on Diana was on her last birthday, 1 July 1997, two months before her death. Today, the emerald necklace remains one of the finest pieces of jewelry in the Royal Treasury. Thank you for watching this video. Share your impressions in the comments and support our channel by subscribing and liking. Thank you!