Which royal family has the best collection of jewels?


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I love a lot of the European jewels, some of them just because of the history behind them. But if I had to go with quality and quantity I'd say the jewels being sold by Christie's in November. They say it's from a Royal house and I'm pretty sure it's from the middle east somewhere (just like you speculated Little Star). Here are some suites and parures that are up for sale:







And finally the "piece de resistance", the Gulf Pearl Parure by Harry Winston:



To view the auction go to http://www.christies.com/departments/calendar.asp?DID=33&month=11&year=2006&location= and browse the November 14th auction. You may need to be a registered user to view the lots. Also, once the auction is over the pictures will be removed.
 
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Nefertiti said:
I love a lot of the European jewels, some of them just because of the history behind them. But if I had to go with quality and quantity I'd say the jewels being sold by Christie's in November. They say it's from a Royal house and I'm pretty sure it's from the middle east somewhere (just like you speculated Little Star). Here are some suites and parures that are up for sale:
Click to expand...
:wacko: Who is able to buy this somptuous pieces of jewelles and or kind of reception? That is absolutly sure it's not for a breakfast at tyffany!
 
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I have gone thru the sites cited in this thread on the Dutch & Danish Royal families' Jewelry and the pieces are marvellous! But IMHO, the British Royal Family still has the best collection of the Ruling Houses of Europe, followed by that of the Swedish Royal Family. I wonder, which pieces in the British collection are from the Romanov collection?, - as claimed by one poster. I thought that Queen Mary bought a tiara and other pieces originating from the Romanovs but not a bulk acqusition that one might infer.

A trend that was obvious was - the royal brides would often bring pieces to add to the 'kitty' of the royal houses they were marrying into. It makes for interesting reading when one follows the way some pieces of jewellery have moved from one family to another.
 
Dear Members,

There is a wonderful story, I will get the numbers all wrong, but one time a king of Saudi Arabia, I think it may have been King Fahd, summoned Harry Winston to bring him some diamond bracelets. Harry went over in the morning and sent them-some fifty five diamond bracelets, up to the king while he was having breakfast, the king that is, and after a while the king sent back word he was buying all of them and wanted twenty five more!!! (or was it a hundred?) in any case you may be sure that the noble H W was for once in his life probably flabbergasted. Cheers.
 
LOSSEAN said:
I have gone thru the sites cited in this thread on the Dutch & Danish Royal families' Jewelry and the pieces are marvellous! But IMHO, the British Royal Family still has the best collection of the Ruling Houses of Europe, followed by that of the Swedish Royal Family. I wonder, which pieces in the British collection are from the Romanov collection?, - as claimed by one poster. I thought that Queen Mary bought a tiara and other pieces originating from the Romanovs but not a bulk acqusition that one might infer.

A trend that was obvious was - the royal brides would often bring pieces to add to the 'kitty' of the royal houses they were marrying into. It makes for interesting reading when one follows the way some pieces of jewellery have moved from one family to another.
Click to expand...
Queen Mary bought the Vladimir Tiara which was was previously owned by
Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna (the older), née Duchess of Mecklenburg and adapted the emeralds of her mother so that you can change the pearls in the Tiara with the emeralds.

But the british Royal family does not own so much complete Parures it are more Necklaces and Tiaras, if you compare the dutch Royal family has at last 5 perhaps 6 Parures
the Stuart diamond Parure, the Mellerio Ruby Parure, the Sapphire Parure, the Aquamarine Parure, the Emerald paruare and perhaps the Peacock Ruby Parure

the swedish Royal Family has at last 3
the Leuchtenberg Sapphire Parure, the Cameo Parure, the Ameythyst Parure
 
I think the Danes have six with two being the prominent parures.

Diamond & Emerald Crown parure
Queen Desiree Diamond & Ruby parure
Diamond demi parure
Diamond, Pearl & Ruby demi parure
Diamond belt demi parure
Diamond & Pearl Oranje-Nassau suite
 
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Yes the French used to have great jewels!I believe the British RF has the best collection today.What about Monaco's royals?Princess Grace used to have a nice collection too,i think that Caroline inherited them.
 
Madame Royale said:
I think the Danes have six with three being the prominent parures.

Diamond & Emerald Crown parure
Diamond & Pearl Oranje-Nassau parure
Queen Desiree Diamond & Ruby parure
Diamond demi parure
Diamond, Pearl & Ruby demi parure
Diamond belt demi parure
Click to expand...
But not all have a Tiara with it, i meant only these wo consists of Tiara, Necklace, Brooch, earrings etc. And the Orange-Nassau Pearl set is actually no Parure according to Bjarne Steen Jensen. It happes to be a Set of Jewelry in matching design.
 
TLLK said:
My guess that it would be the House of Windsor. Any other thoughts?
Click to expand...

I second that on you, there are vasts amounts that we have never seen, as ERII is simple in the way that she has her few favourates and has stuck with them over the years! She has Princess Alice of Greece's, the Queen mother, and Queen Mary's and Alexandra's personala and state owned jewels. Presents from various countries etc...Queen Sylvia, Margerethe,Beatrix, and Sonja have on the other hand not hidden any jewells
 
auntie said:
I second that on you, there are vasts amounts that we have never seen, as ERII is simple in the way that she has her few favourates and has stuck with them over the years! She has Princess Alice of Greece's, the Queen mother, and Queen Mary's and Alexandra's personala and state owned jewels. Presents from various countries etc...Queen Sylvia, Margerethe,Beatrix, and Sonja have on the other hand not hidden any jewells
Click to expand...

Queen Beatrix has hidden the Stuart Diamond Parure. she has never worn any Part of it and it was seen the last time when Queen Juliana paid a State Visit to the UK at the beginnin of the 1970's. And there is the mystery with the Peacock Ruby Parure whioch was obviously given to Princess Irene as a gift by her grandmother Queen Wilhelmina.
 
Stefan said:
Queen Beatrix has hidden the Stuart Diamond Parure. she has never worn any Part of it and it was seen the last time when Queen Juliana paid a State Visit to the UK at the beginnin of the 1970's. And there is the mystery with the Peacock Ruby Parure whioch was obviously given to Princess Irene as a gift by her grandmother Queen Wilhelmina.
Click to expand...

Yes, but the British Royal Jewel collection, private and state owned, is by far larger!
 
Stefan said:
But not all have a Tiara with it, i meant only these wo consists of Tiara, Necklace, Brooch, earrings etc.
Click to expand...

Hence why I have appropriately referred to the lesser pieces as a demi-parure.

As for the Oranje-Nassau collection, yes, I do remember reading that it is not a parure...how it slipped my mind I do not know.
 
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it has to be the Brunei family...they are that way, they love jewels, it has to be them, followed by the Saudis. the European houses just dotn compare to the immense collecton of jewls that these families have. it is quite flabbergasting
 
kcc said:
hi. what noble or non-reigning families have the best jewel collections. i thought i asked this question before but cant find the thread.anyguesses and oppinions ?
Click to expand...

I think it would be too difficult to say because we never see the whole collection. We know that there's probably alot of jewelry that QEII has but never wears - just imagine if that were the case of every royal house!
 
Princess Gloria Of Thurn und Taxis

For the West:
When Princess Gloria of Thurn und Taxis had her magnificent jewellery collection she exemplified the best taste I have ever seen.Seeing the world through her jewels was an experience I shall not forget. The taste of the Princess had and has an aesthetic endurance against time.. it is hard to forget.
 
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the british collection is the largest as there are vaults of jewels that no-one has has access to for years and that the Queen has never worn eg the opal she received from australia.
 
For the East

For the East;
The jewellery collection of Rani Sita Devi of Kapurthala as photograhed by Cecil Beaton was & is my most coveted magnificent jewellery of the East.Photographic examples of the collection she owned can be found in a book called "Made for Maharajas:A Design Diary Made for Princely India" by Dr. Amin Jaffer [in print.]
 
The collection of Elizabeth II is unequaled.

The Saudis definitely GIVE the best jewels, but I don't know about the ones they own. Flashy, yes...but missing the history.

The Brunei jewels seem to be thrown together at random and without much taste.

Gloria von Thurn und Taxis, while she still owns some pretty impressive pieces, opted to sell much of the TuT collection. Nor could that collection stand at all on par with the British one.

The Iranian jewels actually make quite an impressive collection. My vote still goes to Lizzy Two, but I thought the Pahlavi jewels should be mentioned.
 
The Romanov's had quite a collection of jewels hidden in the Kremlin but over half was sold at auction. I know that Marjorie Merriweather Post bought a lot of jewels as well as artwork. I remember that much from watching Biography on A&E at least 10 years ago. However, most of the jewels' whereabouts are unknown.
 
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kerry said:
However, most of the jewels' whereabouts are unknown.
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Many heirloom jewels were (and probably still are) bought by jewellers to be broken up. How many engagement rings were made from former Romanov diamonds? :ohmy:
 
RubyPrincess168 said:
I think it would be too difficult to say because we never see the whole collection. We know that there's probably alot of jewelry that QEII has but never wears - just imagine if that were the case of every royal house!
Click to expand...

Also....at what point in history are we judging the collection? I ask this because some of the Savoy royal gems go up for auction this month as well as some yugoslavian/russian ones. We could argue for a particular country's collection before it was divided up among the family members, and/or sold at auction.

I just ask this cause I can't make up my mind!:w00t2:
 
of course jewels of iran are the best in the world which are kept in the museum in tehran.
very old and priceless
 
i love the russian family's jewels..also most of the maharajas of india had some interesting pieces of jewellery.
 
:previous:
Umm I did think the Russians had a stunning set of jewels. But for a reigning monarchy the British jewels aren't half bad. :flowers:
 
I think that Pahlavi Dynasty had a very nice and impressive collection of jewels (specially tiaras :D) to his disposition (the jewels belonged to the Iranian Central Bank).

Regards!
 
As it rains to-day , I am busy with my files about the Royal Houses: the royal of the past , the nowadays and their heirs.
I am now in Greece and am surprised how wonderful were the Princess Helène's of Greece jewels. Her mother was the Grand Duchess Wladimir of Russia.
I have (thanks to the RF) pictures of her daughter Olga , Princess Paul of Y.
The Olga's tiaras were sold to Albion/Japan and Dushan of Y., Barbara's von und zu Liechtenstein only son ,has now a flat in London!
 
I don't think I can choose a 'best' because thats like choosing a favorate child.:) but I really like the Ducal family of Luxemborg's jewels.and of course the British and the Dutch.......SEE I TOLD YOU!!:lol:
 
If a Grand Duchess of Russia maried a royal King or Prince they brought huge jewels.
This goes for Luxemborg's , greek's, Dutch's , Sweden's and more.
Queen Ingrid , the King of sweden 's only girl brought to Danemark her mother's jewelry (british) and her swedish.
Sorry that for belgian Royals , the jewelry of the past were sold or stolen.
Josephine Charlotte and Marie Jose's brought begian jewels in their country, lot of them were sold by her heirs but lucky the great people of a small country such as Luxemburg, obliged the Grand Duke to cancel the auction of his mother's jewels(most coming from belgium) in Paris. ( Sorry for my bad english!)
 
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