Museum Legends: 20 Dazzling Masterpieces from Around the World.

Imagine standing in a jewelry museum gallery, behind thick glass under carefully controlled light, a single jewel sparkles. It may have once adorned a queen at a coronation, an empress at a royal wedding, or a monarch during the most dramatic moments of history. Today they belong to the world. From Paris to London, from Washington to Dresden, museums guard some of the most extraordinary treasures ever created. And in this video, we will travel across the globe to discover 20 of the most beautiful historic jewels preserved in museums. And before we continue, we want to ask if you have had a chance to visit any of the museums featuring jewelry collections or at least jewelry exhibitions. Which emotions did you experience looking at those magnificent jewels? Share with us your story, and we are starting our journey with the largest private historic jewelry collection exhibited on behalf of Albion Art Institute, owned by Kazumi Arakawa, the man who one day felt the responsibility to preserve some of the greatest jewels by buying them out at Geneva. First, let's look at my most beloved jewel from the collection, a remarkable diamond choker necklace made around 1760 during the reign of Catherine II. It is one of the greatest survivals of imperial Russia from the 18th century, and the size and quality of its diamonds indicate that it was probably a part of Catherine's private collection. The choker's diamonds are characterized as rare and antique stones, beautifully matched, and its bow-shaped clasp as worthy to be exhibited in a museum. Don't you think so? But what I like even more is a sight of pink topaz color, the vanishing jewelry style we can witness only in museums, the Württemberg pink topaz perure, which goes often on the loan at Victoria and Albert Museum. Likely originating in Russia, it was worn by Princess Marie of Waldeck and Pyrmont before leaving the family. The suite includes a tiara, necklace, bracelets, earrings, and a brooch, all featuring significant pink topazes and diamonds. The stones likely originated from the Ural Mountains and were brought to Württemberg as part of a dowry. Princess Marie, who married Prince Wilhelm of Württemberg, later King William II, in 1877, is famously pictured wearing the set. Between what I noticed, tiara's design is similar to the Leuchtenberg sapphire tiara, featuring a detailed complex floral design, often considered a masterpiece of 19th-century jewelry making. The perure left the Württemberg family's possession, and in 2019 was bought by Japanese Albion Art Jewelry Institute. This same year, Charlotte de Rothschild wore the Württemberg set for a performance at the Albion Art Institute's holiday party in Tokyo, singing Ave Maria. Now let's look at one more less-known tiara. The Monson Tiara. A significant Belle Époque garland-style diamond tiara, created around 1903 for Romaine Stone, the American socialite who married Augustus Monson, 9th Baron Monson. Crafted in gold and silver, this convertible piece features intricate foliate scrolls, pear-shaped diamonds, and a central diamond cluster, designed to be worn as both a tiara and a necklace. Worn by Romaine, 9th Lady Monson, it descended through the family to Nicholas John Monson, the 12th Baron. And if you love aquamarines, one more fantastic jewel to witness is the Aquamarine and Diamond Tiara by Koch, which belonged to Empress Alexandra Feodorovna. It is made in a traditional kokoshnik design using rectangular-cut aquamarines and intricate diamond lines. The tiara was sometimes confused with Fabergé designs, but it is firmly recognized as a masterpiece of the Koch firm. Following the Revolution, it was sold in the 1980s by Sotheby's and sold privately by Christie's for two times, finally landing into the current collection. Leaving the Albion Jewelry Collection, which is currently on the loan at Victoria and Albert Museum, we jumping to the Royal House of Bavaria, with most of the surviving jewels placed at Treasury of the Munich Residence, a home to over 1,250 artifacts from the 9th to the 19th centuries. Possibly the most amazing is Ruby and Spinel Perure, commissioned by King Ludwig I for his wife, Queen Therese. Created by court jeweler Caspar Relender, the Perure includes a very massive ruby tiara, necklace, earrings, and bracelets. The pieces are made of gold and silver set with Burmese rubies, red spinels, often confused for rubies, and diamonds. Although the tiara was considered too heavy to wear, the entire ruby and spinel suite is regarded as a masterpiece of Bavarian royal jewelry. The Crown of the Kings of Bavaria, commissioned in 1806 for Maximilian I Joseph, is a premier highlight of the Treasury at the Munich Residence. Crafted by Parisian goldsmiths Biennaise and Marie-Étienne Nieto, it is adorned with diamonds, rubies, sapphires, pearls and emeralds, and once carried a famous Wittelsbach diamond, which later was removed from crown jewels. But in fact the crown was never worn by the king. It more served as regalia, but not a wearable jewel, and simply was seen from afar on a cushion during the royal ceremonies. Now it is displayed alongside the Queen's crown and other royal regalia. But I am more fascinated with the history of the Crown of Princess Blanche, also known as the Palatine Crown or Bohemian Crown, a delicate 14th-century Gothic masterpiece. As the oldest surviving royal crown associated with English history, this gold, enamel and jewel-encrusted piece features detachable lily stems. The crown left England in 1402 as part of the dowry of Princess Blanche, daughter of King Henry IV, upon her marriage to Louis III, a lector palatine. It measures roughly 18 centimeters in height and diameter, and can be taken apart into 36 separate components. And the last medieval tiara from the collection we want to feature here is the Crown of Cunigunde, a rare 11th-century Ottonian royal coronet, believed to belong to Saint Cunigunde, wife of Holy Roman Emperor Henry II. Cunigunde was crowned on August 10, 1002 in Paderborn, Germany, making her the first German queen to be crowned separately from her husband. The crown is made as a headband-style piece, sometimes referred to as a coronet, which was common for the era, designed for a queen rather than the heavier crowns of emperors and decorated with sapphires, amethysts and pearls. From there we head to the Germans' Green Vault within Dresden Castle in Saxony, where the ultimate survivors rest inside glass display since the almost-impossible jewelry heist in 2019, with the losses reportedly topped $1 billion. Thankfully, some jewels were recovered in 2022, and the same year were displayed to the public. My favorite jewel. Dresden Green was a lucky survivor, as by the time of heist, it was traveling to New York Exhibition. This one is a historically significant 40.70 carat natural green diamond, widely recognized as the largest and finest of its kind. Originating likely from India's collar mine, this rare diamond has a distinctive green hue caused by natural radioactivity. The diamond has been part of the Saxon Elector's collection mounted in a unique hat ornament, surrounded by other, smaller diamonds crafted by jeweler Diesbach. It was safely kept at Königstein Fortress during the Seven Years' War and World War II, and as history shows it survived even the modern hectic time. So question comes, is it a coincidence or is it Among the recovered jewels was this magnificent 18th-century diamond-encrusted hat ornament, the so-called Reiherstütz, or the Egret. Part of the Saxon royal jewelry, this ornate piece was crafted around 1782 and decorated with numerous large diamonds with a small diamond bow as a base and a beautiful fan-shaped structure. However, it reminds me of a large feathered tail made of diamonds. This piece is part of a collection commissioned by Augustus the Strong in the 18th century, but many of jewels that belonged to Queen Amélie-Auguste of Saxony are still missing and probably may never return. But now we are moving to Paris at the Hôtel de la Marine, where more than 100 unique historic jewels gathered under one slogan, Dynastic Jewels, hosted by the Althani family in collaboration with Victoria and Albert Museum, House of Chaumet and British Crown. What surprised me the most are some of these jewels we are less familiar with, almost unseen, but they look really impressive. One spectacular aristocratic tiara displayed is the Thun-Hohenstein tiara. Its dramatic structure of diamond swags and pinnacles reflects the grandeur of Austro-Hungarian court jewelry. The tiara shows how European noble families competed to create jewels worthy of imperial courts. Made in 1890 by the House of Coquart, this tiara is set with hundreds of old mine-cut diamonds and cushion-cut diamonds, set in a design which incorporates motifs from Thun-Hohenstein family's coat of arms, and a large flower at the front set amidst swirling scrolls and foliates. But why we are rarely see this piece of jewelry? It was bought out by Althani family and is rarely exhibited abroad. But it's not a single example, as Princess Marie-Francoise of Savoy's diamond tiara met the same destiny. It was made in 1937 by the Italian jeweler Petosci and incorporates diamonds that previously belonged to the Italian royal family. Its festoon-style shape allows it to be converted into multiple brooches. Princess Marie received this tiara as a wedding gift from her parents, the penultimate king and queen of Italy, upon her marriage to Prince Luigi of Bourbon-Parma. Presumably the current House of Savoy descendants sold the piece to the Althani family. Apart from European collection, let's look at the most shining ruby and diamond necklace which belonged to Maharaja of Nawanagar. Made by Cartier, it consists of an oval and cushion-cut ruby and baguette-cut diamond graduated fringe with brilliant cut diamond details to the pavé set, and baguette-cut diamond links, and rectangular cut ruby back chain, with extraordinary rubies all supplied from the royal treasury. At some point this necklace found its way back to Cartier and was worn by socialite Gloria Guinness, and only in 2004 it was bought by the Qatar royal family. And now let's look at the jewel of Britain's beloved Princess Marina Duchess of Kent's diamond bow brooch and earrings that also now belong to Althani collection. As you see they at least not letting them vanish into private hands forever. The brooch is designed in a classical bow style with the double ribbon bow centered by an oval-shaped 3.5 carat diamond, and accented by numerous pear-shaped and old mine-cut diamonds weighing around 38.00 carats. It was among her wedding gifts from her mother, Grand Duchess Elena Vladimirovna, as well as her Girondole earrings, which she usually paired with the brooch. From there, at a distance of 3.5 kilometers, we cannot help but look into the Louvre, which lost most dazzling historic jewels in the most unbelievable crime of the century. But what jewels can we still look at today? Thankfully, my favorite piece escaped the horrible destiny and still greets visitors today, the Duchess of Angoulême Emerald Tiara. As the name implies, it was created for Marie-Thérèse, the Duchess of Angoulême, who was the only child of King Louis and Queen Marie-Antoinette to survive the French Revolution. She married Louis-Antoine in 1799, and he commissioned this spectacular tiara as a gift. The headpiece was made of a number of stones that the French crown owned, and some new gems specifically ordered for the gift. It contains 1,031 diamonds set in silver weighing 176 carats, and 40 emeralds weighing 77 carats, all set in gold. It was fortunately returned to France and eventually to the Louvre in the early 2000s, after being sold at auction in the late 19th century. Apart from the emerald tiara, in 1973 Louvre acquired two ruby and diamond bracelets from the Duchess's vast ruby parure, with some pieces long lost or at least hidden in private vaults. At some point, bracelets along the tiara and necklace belonged to Cornelia, Countess of Craven, and later were auctioned off at Sotheby's, from where Louvre managed to acquire only bracelets and later a belt buckle. And of course, let's not forget about the crown of King Louis XV, the top piece of French crown jewels. The crown was made in 1722 for his coronation, and adored with multiple precious stones from royal collection. A collection of mazarin diamonds, the sansi diamond placed at the top of the arches, the regent diamond, which was set in the front of the crown, along with other precious diamonds, rubies, emeralds and sapphires. When the French Third Republic decided to sell the crown jewels, this crown was decided to be kept as a piece of historic importance. Yet all precious gems were replaced by glass, and kept in the condition we still see it today. From Europe we travel to United States, where our journey continues with jewels linked to one of history's most famous queens, Marie Antoinette. On display at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, is a pair of magnificent diamond drop earrings believed to have belonged to the ill-fated Queen of France. The earrings feature two large pear-shaped diamonds, weighing over 20 carats and 14 carats respectively. After the fall of the French monarchy, the earrings passed through aristocratic collections before being acquired by jeweler Pierre Cartier, and later sold to American collector Marjorie Merriweather Post. She eventually donated the earrings to the Smithsonian in 1964, ensuring that the public could admire jewels once linked to Versailles itself. Another breathtaking masterpiece from the Smithsonian is the Hall Sapphire and Diamond Necklace. This jewel contains 36 matched sapphires from Sri Lanka, totaling 195 carats, surrounded by 435 diamonds. Designed by Harry Winston, the necklace was donated to the Smithsonian in 1979 by philanthropist Evelyn Annenberg Hall. The result is a jewel that seems almost celestial, deep blue sapphires glowing like stars within a galaxy of diamonds. And did you know that the Smithsonian is a home to one amazing piece of jewelry known as the Cullinan Blue Diamond Necklace? The piece features an Edwardian-style design crafted from 9-carat rose gold and silver. It is set with nine rare, fancy, intense blue diamonds, representing the nine principal stones cut from the original Cullinan rough. The necklace was commissioned by Sir Thomas Cullinan for his wife, Lady Annie Frances Cullinan, following the 1905 discovery of the Cullinan Mines' massive rough diamond in South Africa. The entire necklace features over 240 additional colorless diamonds, bringing the total diamond weight to approximately 24.11 carats. Isn't it beautiful? Okay, so now you have watched 20 jewels from different museums, and we wonder which jewel you like most of all, and which museum do you want to visit in the future? Write down your thoughts and impressions, and welcome to watch our second part of Jewels from Around the World. Have a nice shining day!