Crown jewels

Typical items in Europe include crowns, sceptres, orbs, swords, ceremonial maces, and rings, all usually in gold or silver-gilt and heavily decorated with precious and semi-precious gemstones, in styles which go back to the Middle Ages and are normally very conservative to emphasize the continuity of the monarchy.

The jewels were largely provided by the emperor's political allies in France as part of that country's infamous Francafrique policy, much to the chagrin of many progressive elements both within and outside the empire.

Traditionally Ethiopian emperors were crowned at the Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion in Axum, the site of the chapel in which is kept what is believed to be the Ark of the Covenant, in order to validate the new emperor's legitimacy by reinforcing his claim to descent from Menelik I, the son of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, who is believed to have brought the Ark from Jerusalem to Axum.

A golden zinc top ornament for a ceremony canopy, usually called "crown of the Queen Ranavalona III", can now be seen in the Musée de l'Armée in Paris.

A much earlier set of crown jewels, some dating back to the pre-Angkorian period, were stolen by Douglas Latchford, a British antiquities smuggler.

After Latchford died in 2020, the regalia, which includes crowns, belts, earrings and jewels, were recovered hidden in boxes in a car boot in London.

[7] The most important item for the assumption of the throne were the Imperial Seals (Chinese: 傳國璽; pinyin: chuán guó xǐ), which gave the emperor the mandate of heaven authority.

[9] although some has fallen into foreign posessions, with at least one crown belonging to the Buleleng kingdom being shown in display at the Museum of Fine arts in Houston.

However, in the early 20th century, the first Pahlavi Shah transferred ownership of the crown jewels to the state as part of a massive restructuring of the country's financial system.

Later in the 1950s his son and successor, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, decreed that the most spectacular of these items be put on public display at the Central Bank of Iran.

The crowns of Silla are noted for their exquisite gold and jade workmanship, which resulted from the spread of goldsmithing technologies from Egypt and Mesopotamia to Korea via the Silk Road.

When Bảo Đại, the last emperor of Vietnam, abdicated in August 1945 at Huế he is recorded to have surrendered the royal insignia to the new communist authorities.

Thus the inscriptions on the helmet may refer to the unsettled name by which Albania was known at the time, as a means to identify Skanderbeg's leadership over all Albanians across regional denominative identifications.

The crown eventually found its way into the collections of the Habsburg dynasty (via an Italian noble family) and currently resides in the Imperial Treasury in Vienna, Austria.

In 1931, King Zog I of Albania made a rare foreign tour and visited Vienna in an unsuccessful attempt to repatriate the crown, presumably for a future coronation (he considered giving himself the regnal name "Skanderbeg III").

The Austrian Crown Jewels (German: Insignien und Kleinodien) are kept at the Imperial Treasury (the Schatzkammer) located in the Hofburg Palace.

Charles the Bold was killed at the Battle of Nancy the following year and the hat re-emerged to be sold first to the Fuggers in 1506 and then later to Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor.

The gem was offered with other Bavarian crown jewels in a 1931 auction at Christie's in London, but apparently it did not sell, nor did it return to its display in Munich.

Its original Golden Fleece ornament can be seen today in the Treasury of the Residenz Palace in Munich, a blue glass replica of the Wittelsbach in place of where the diamond was set.

Its use as a national emblem was discontinued after the collapse of the German monarchy in November 1918; examples of the design can still be found on various buildings and monuments from that era, including the Reichstag.

In 1343, the empress and regent Anna of Savoy pawned the Byzantine crown jewels to the Republic of Venice for 30,000 ducats as part of an attempt to secure more finances for a civil war; they were never redeemed.

The best-known examples, and those with the strongest claim to authenticity, are a sceptre, some fittings for Roman standards, and other small items, all from a cache buried on the Palatine Hill c. the 3rd or 4th century AD, and discovered in 2006.

The archaeologists who excavated the find have suggested that the items might have belonged to the emperor Maxentius, and may have been concealed by some unknown loyalist followers after his final defeat, and subsequent death.

In Middle Ages, since 10th century Serbia had adopted diverse variants of crowns by Serbian Noble Families and Dynasties like Vojislavljević, Vukanović, Nemanjić, Dejanović, Lazarević, Branković and Mrnjavčević.

A document known as "The Swabian Mirror" or Schwabenspiegel (c. 1275) refers to the installation of the dukes of Carantania and in it mentions a crown of sorts called the "Slovenian Hat" (windischer huot).

Among the oldest objects are the sword of Gustav Vasa and the crown, orb, sceptre and key of King Erik XIV and numerous other sovereigns.

The Honours of Scotland were almost forgotten following their last use at the coronation of Charles II in 1651 until they were discovered in a chest inside Edinburgh Castle in the early 19th century.

Made of steel and containing stones from the Biobío River, it is on display at the Museum of the Kings of Araucania, outside the village of Chourgnac d'Ans, Dordogne, France.

[43] This crown was still being stored in the Royal Tomb at Pohukaina when Russian explorer Aleksei Vysheslavtsev visited the coral-house mausoleum during the funeral of John William Pitt Kīnaʻu in 1859.

This crown was kept in the Lunalilo Mausoleum until 1917 when it was stolen by two robbers named Albert Gerbode and Paul Payne from Key West, Florida and subsequently melted into a silver bar.