Home » categories » rare book library » Kornitzer. Gem Trader.
This chapter is tagged (labeled) with: 

Ch. 5: Sapphires in my Life

Ch. 5: Sapphires in my Life Page of 280 Ch. 6: I arrive at Opal Text size:minus plus Restore normal size   Mail page  Print this page
46
Gem Trader
The most important sapphire in England is in the Im­perial Crown which was made for Queen Victoria in 1838. This crown contains three gems of great historic virtue, the "Stuart sapphire", the sapphire from the ring of Edward the Confessor, and also a fine spinel ruby that belonged to the Black Prince. This is not the crown with which the Kings of England are crowned, "St. Edward's Crown".
Another historical sapphire of more than ordinary in­terest is the stone which once Charlemagne wore, set in the clasp of his imperial mantle. The great emperor of the Franks was buried at Aix, and after the conquest of Germany by Napoleon, the clasp with the sapphire—which was supposed to confer dominion over the world upon its wearer—was taken from the mantle covering his remains and presented to the new world-shaking conqueror.
But Napoleon gave the gem to his brother Joseph, to whom it brought ill luck, and it passed into the hands of Napoleon III, who gave it to his Empress Eugenie. Napoleon III knew utter defeat, Eugenie came to desola­tion and loneliness in a foreign land, their son died young in battle. With the death of Eugenie the stone became the property of the Spanish Duke of Alva, her nephew, who presented it to the Cathedral of Rheims, where it remains.
Ch. 5: Sapphires in my Life Page of 280 Ch. 6: I arrive at Opal
Suggested Illustrations
Other Chapters you may find useful
Other Books on this topic
bullet Tag
This Page