Jewellery Disputes and Thefts


If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
From what I can see in pictures of the Duchess of Windsor with jewels, it are all contemporary pieces by contemporary firms. The Duchess had an avantgardistic taste in jewels which is hardly detectable in the current British collection.
 
What about loose stones that had been deposited in the vaults, jewels like diamonds from various tours made by past Kings, loose gemstones, pearls, presented to Queen Victoria and so on?
I think that it is possible that he could have nicked a loose stone or two, but just not to the order of magnitude being described. I don't think that Edward could have raided the coffers prior to becoming King, come on can you really imagine Mary of Teck allowing that! The story that someone told Queen Mary may have been true, but I doubt if Edward VIII actually had the access to the jewels in order to commit the offense.

Also if the Duchess had pieces that had Victorian or other connections, I think that would have come out, her jewels often had their own biographies.
 
No, no, dear Lady, Britain does not have enough jewels. Nobody, even Imperial Russia, had enough jewels. The more jewels the merrier. Besides a major complaint, albeit a trivial one, is that Queen Elizabeth wears only a small number of the tiaras and other wondrous and toothsome objects in her most royal possession and leaves other delights just shut away in the cold, dark, dank and dreary vaults which are supposedly under Buckingham Palace. If some kind soul would send me the directions I would fly over to Londan and rent a room on the ground floor near the Palace and buy a shovel on the order of the Red Haired League of Conan Doyle and dig away. After all what she does not use she could not possibly miss. And I could then post pictures of these unloved goodies on the RF. But nobody ever has enough jewels. And diamonds are everybody's best friend. Cheers.

Agreed! Well said.
 
A diamond tiara that used to belong to the Dukes of Portland has been stolen:


https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/breaking-portland-tiara-theft-diamond-13631054

The tiara was made in 1902 by Cartier. A diamond brooch was also stolen. The jewels were displayed in Welbeck Abbey, which belonged to the dukes of Portland where William Parente, Prince di Castel Viscardo - a grandson of the last duke- resides.

Let's hope they will find the piece before it is dismantled by the thieves. What a loss!
 
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A diamond tiara that used to belong to the Dukes of Portland has been stolen:


https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/breaking-portland-tiara-theft-diamond-13631054

The tiara was made in 1902 by Cartier. A diamond brooch was also stolen. The jewels were displayed in Welbeck Abbey, which belonged to the dukes of Portland where William Parente, Prince di Castel Viscardo - a grandson of the last duke- resides.

Let's hope they will find the piece before it is dismantled by the thieves. What a loss!


It is a beautiful tiara, fit for a queen or a princess. I hope it is recovered and returned undamaged (i.e unbroken and with no missing gems/ elements).
 
As we saw with the Swedish Crown Jewels a few months ago sometimes it's not wise to have such valuable pieces of jewellery on display. Sad though it is, with the way things are now they are better off in a bank vault.
 
Behind alarmed glass. :blink::blink::blink:

Can I just point out we have big box stores with schlocky jewelry that sink into vaults at night. And those that don't have large, all but immobile safes. Not that I think we in the US have all the answers, but if we can vault our crummy conflict diamonds worth $129 a pair of earrings :)sick:) families really do need to start locking up the big gun tiaras.

Such a loss. Maybe they prefer the insurance payoff? Which would be a shame. But a reality of life these days.
 
Given that Wellbeck Abbey houses the massive Portland Collection and the Hartley Gallery which both are open to the public I'm sure that they, as was the case with the funeral regalia (it wasn't the Crown Jewels) in Strängnäs Cathedral, were kept under what was considered adequate security. Unfortunately in both cases this wasn't enough.
What I'm afraid of is that the Parente's goal about displaying their treasures to the public and keeping them up north will be affected by the theft. From what I've read admission is free of charge to encourage people who wouldn't normally go to a museum to visit. It's all very admirable and something that William Parente received an CBE for in 2017 while his wife Allison Swan Parente received an MBE for her work with the School of Artisan food also at the Abbey estate. Both of them have done a tremendous work to keep the estate alive and a part of the local community and it would be a tragedy (yes, a tragedy) if the theft of the tiara would make them reconsider their work.


Such a loss. Maybe they prefer the insurance payoff? Which would be a shame. But a reality of life these days.
William Parente is one of the biggest landowners in the UK so I'm sure that he can manage without the insurance payment on the tiara.
 
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Oh no not another theft,lets hope that its recovered!
 
Oh dear,the butler did it,a case for Father Brown I'd say...


A diamond tiara that used to belong to the Dukes of Portland has been stolen:


https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/breaking-portland-tiara-theft-diamond-13631054

The tiara was made in 1902 by Cartier. A diamond brooch was also stolen. The jewels were displayed in Welbeck Abbey, which belonged to the dukes of Portland where William Parente, Prince di Castel Viscardo - a grandson of the last duke- resides.

Let's hope they will find the piece before it is dismantled by the thieves. What a loss!
 
I hope this works, I just got a news alert about the theft of the Swedish Crown Jewels and thought as some where like me interested in what was going on, I would post this here. As I am not a computer tech person at all I am taking a chance that this works......so mods if this is the wrong place please remove it and post elsewhere......Thank you!

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct...st-1.4257444&usg=AOvVaw30vZ9Kj7d2LVTFAFfUcrdj
 
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I am speechless, what horrific news! I would have thought that the security measures for the Green Vault must have been enormous, given the importance of those treasures. Let's hope against hope that the stolen objects will be recovered and the thieves be caught. When objects of art are stolen the burglars often work for dubious super-rich collectors how want the things for their secret collections. So maybe there is still a chance that the objects are not broken up?
 
What terrible news the I thought that the Green Vault would be almost impregnable security wise,totally shocking!
 
Green Vault Heist - Update

Wow, I did not know the Royal Forums have such a thread...

An update on Dresden and the Green vault:

"A mysterious crew of thieves pulled off one of the most audacious art heists in recent memory, and reportedly since World War 2, when they absconded with as many as 100 pieces of 18th-century jewelry from the Saxon royal collection"..."Authorities on the collection say the value of the stolen jewels is "incalculable".
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopoliti...es-steal-100s-priceless-jewels-dresden-museum

"According to the Dresden police, the thieves cut away a lattice of iron bars and smashed through a window before entering the jewellery room, one of a suite of opulent Baroque apartments that house the most precious pieces of the royal collection. They then broke open one of the display cabinets, and took two "jewel garnitures" - sets of 37 diamonds each cut and crafted into buttons, brooches and other matching ornaments. A smaller set of 20 pieces fashioned out of diamonds and pearls was also stolen." (ibid)

What disturbs me a bit: The Boss of Saxonia, MP Kretschmer, claimed, the folks of Saxonia have worked hard over centuries for this treasure...

Not only is this like saying the people around the world worked hard for the riches of the billionaires - communist nonsense! No, the pieces stolen were from the collection of August the Strong, who was King of Poland too... Pandora's Box...
 
What disturbs me a bit: The Boss of Saxonia, MP Kretschmer, claimed, the folks of Saxonia have worked hard over centuries for this treasure...

Not only is this like saying the people around the world worked hard for the riches of the billionaires - communist nonsense! No, the pieces stolen were from the collection of August the Strong, who was King of Poland too... Pandora's Box...
It's not "communist nonsense". The treasures of the Green vault was payed for by the taxes generations of Saxons and Poles worked very hard to be able to pay.
 
:previous: Hmm, our democratic politicians have not amassed such a treasure but piled up a mountain of debt: 2 trillion Euro public debt for Germany.

I want August the Strong back and Frederick the Great! May they have their little diamonds...
 
I saw the Green Vault , such a lot of Security for Tourists....
August the Strong wore diamonds from his head (on his hat) to his Shoes...
 
I hope other sites are stepping up security following this and other recent thefts despite the security.
 
From the photo's I have seen of the various gem pieces missing it looks to me like they may dismantle the diamonds to sell them off individually. And that would be a terrible shame. At least if the pieces remain in their original form there is always a chance of getting them back.

I am very surprised they didn't have a back up power surply. UPS system ... Uninterrupted power surply.
I would have thought it to be a standard piece of equipment in an important museum. Or perhaps it failed on that occassion.
 
From the photo's I have seen of the various gem pieces missing it looks to me like they may dismantle the diamonds to sell them off individually. And that would be a terrible shame. At least if the pieces remain in their original form there is always a chance of getting them back.

I am very surprised they didn't have a back up power surply. UPS system ... Uninterrupted power surply.
I would have thought it to be a standard piece of equipment in an important museum. Or perhaps it failed on that occassion.

Its really shocking at how easy they made it look and such a cultural loss to Dresden,Germany and Poland.

Read more of the Dresden Heist below

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_Dresden_heist
 
1858: In January, the Hanoverians were handed the following jewels: two diamond bows, two pairs of diamond earrings, a pair of pearl drop earrings, a diamond necklace with a cross pendant, a pearl necklace, a large diamond stomacher, a small diamond crown, and a diamond floral ornament. Some of these jewels, especially the stomacher, had been previously dismantled, and the diamonds had been used in the making of other jewels — including the Oriental Circlet.
 
For those who have been following the Duke of Portland diamond tiara story, the tiara has been found but the diamonds in it were taken away. Plus the diamonds were taken to Turkey thus the tiara has pretty much lost its value.
 
There was a theft after WWII at Kronberg castle, home of the Hesse royal family. American officers, Nash and Durand stole valuable jewels worth tens of millions of dollars at the time and very little was retrieved. Tiaras, necklaces were sold dismantled and sold off in different places.
 
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