That explains the Sherlock Holmes story where the man was accused of tearing the tiara apart with his bare hands. I can see now how that might be possible.
I have a large gem collection. I wonder how much a crown frame cost, out of silver. I mean in weight it wouldn't be that much. Maybe 1.5 -2kg max. But not sure if the frams weigh this much without the stones or if this is the whight of the frames
That's a way of looking at it. I suppose it's only in modern times we made the distinction and that red corundum is true ruby and spinel is not. They could have done what they did with Jade but I think they like to have a true ruby. I think large red spinel are much more common and so I suspect what vlad tepes, vlad the impaler had was probably a spinel. Anyways ruby is corundum and spinel is a different family with different optical qualities.
I wish there was a photo of how this would have been worn. I can guess at it, but it would be amazing to see what it would have looked like on someone.
A few years ago, a story was going around that saphire, diamonds, and emeralds were the same thing, just different colors. This episode had me wikipedying and fixing some BAD "education". 🫨🫣 Thank you!
Marie Antoinette was very intelligent that .most would not accept. Too bad the rumor that she was trying to escape France if true failed. She is also linked in one of the origin stories for the Maine coon cat.
They are that delicate! They can be crushed with bare hands! They were designed to be as light as possible so one could actually wear the thing for more than a few moments.
The amber room must have been fantastic when it was first created. So many opulent places and rooms. All the gilding... How much was stolen and by who? Germany or the Allies? is it still buried in an underground bunker?
Peridot or Olivine is miraculous. Very, very old speciments fall to Earth in meteorites. Literally jewels from the stars. And the glowing green beauty unearthed in mines can be dazzling.
So I was thinking about your comment on torcs being found linked together at gravesites, and I can't help but wonder if when a wearer dies they take the torc off and put it at the gravesite, and when each successive family member dies they link the torcs and bury them together. Do you know if the torcs found linked had the same design on them? Friends of mine used torcs as their "wedding rings" and they were identical. Maybe the Celts used them to demonstrate family units? You have my mind racing with ideas on this!!!!
I have two lovely green tourmaline that are dead ringers for peridot, as well. I love vesivianite, the rare gem quality specimens are especially gorgeous!
It's really incredible how the propaganda and PR have followed her into the 21st century. Plenty of people are still certain she said "let them eat cake" and frittered away the country's money while her subjects starved. I'm excited to get the opportunity to talk about her in depth!
I love Anna Maria Lucia de Medici because she willed all of her stuff/all the Medici stuff to the city of Florence. (She told the Hapsburgs they could rule Florence, but nothing was allowed to leave Florence.) Napoleon respected her will too. Which has me wondering, how did her jewelry get sold? I imagine the examples shown here would be in the Palazzo Pitti? I probably saw them in 2008 when I took a month long art class in Florence. Unfortunately I don't remember them.
Thanks for including Mesoamerica in your deep dive. I honestly didn't think you would be able to fit it in, but even though their cultural impact on the world at large wasn't "significant" I think the argument could be made that since they had all the resources at hand there wasn't a need to conquer/impact other worlds. Always a pleasure listening
Thank you! I know the prevailing narrative is that they aren't worth the attention because they don't fit into the Greco-Roman classical world, and I've been told I need to stop comparing them to classical cultures because they weren't contemporary to them, *but* the fact that they came to all of these ideas, and sophisticated technologies, entirely on their own, without Eurasian influence, speaks volumes. They are tremendously advanced cultures that essentially existed in a cultural vacuum, so to speak, and to me, that is way, way more impressive than being yet another culture that adopted the styles and customs of their most powerful neighbors.
@haloone1130 thank you!!! I've been trying to really channel my excitement rather than just rattling off info- I'm naturally a very fast speaker so it's taken some time to get used to being conversational in a recording. Glad you enjoyed it!
This crown is very beautiful and special blue is from light reflection. There's no natural blue in nature in the bird species that makes it extra special
The caption for this one had a painfully short limit, so I had to omit the neat info about crystalline structure and color. As you said, it is light reflection, the same effect found on butterfly wings and peacock feathers!
Thank you for sharing this information. I have had an amulet since the 1970s and didn’t even know it. It’s one of the tilapia from the gift shop the King Tut exhibit in Chicago.
