Freed states that "the inscriptions on the plaques have been dated for paleographical reasons as no earlier than the second half of the eleventh century", while the biblical verses that appear on three of the four plaques "were first cited in royal charters only in the late eleventh and twelfth centuries", and proposes that the crown was instead made in preparation for the imperial coronation of Conrad III in Rome (although Conrad was ultimately never crowned as emperor).

Freed also cites as evidence the title that appears on the crown, which is identical to how Conrad was styled in a "letter he sent in 1142 to the Byzantine emperor" John II Komnenos, and claims that "the selection of the otherwise odd text from Isaiah 38:5 on the Hezekiah plaque makes the most sense if Conrad commissioned the crown", since he had become "seriously ill during the Second Crusade" and was suffering from tertian malaria, which "hindered him [...] from carrying out his responsibilities from the end of August 1149 until April 1150."

in 1424, with Bohemia suffering the troubles of the Hussite Wars, Sigismund had them relocated to Visegrád and then to Nuremberg, where they were permanently kept in the Heilig-Geist-Spital except for the time of coronations (in Aachen until 1531, then in Frankfurt from 1562).

The crown and other Regalia remained in Vienna until the Anschluss of March 1938, when they were brought back to Nuremberg (this time in the Katharinenkirche) by Nazi Germany in line with their promotion of the city as repository of mythicized ancient German traditions.

During World War II the crown was placed in the Historischer Kunstbunker, an underground vault of Nuremberg Castle.

Led by art historian Lt. Walter Horn,[4] who joined the US military after becoming a naturalized citizen, American soldiers recovered the treasures in August 1945.

The smaller four plaques, or 'picture-plates' (Bildplatten), bear pictorial representations of figures and scenes from the Bible and inscriptions in cloisonné enamel in Byzantine "sunk" (Senkschmelz) style.

The top central stone of the front plate is a triangular sapphire which replaces a famous stone, now lost, which was known as the Waise (i.e., the 'Orphan', because of its uniqueness), probably a large white opal with a wine-red fire or possibly a singularly brilliant garnet or red zircon and the subject of medieval lore.

The medieval theologian and philosopher Albert the Great wrote about it in 1250:[citation needed] The Orphan is a jewel in the crown of the Roman emperor.

The gem shines powerfully and it is said that it once even shone at night, but not in our time, but it is said to preserve the honour of the empire.When and why it was removed from the Imperial Crown is not known.

[citation needed] The crown has a single arch (or hoop) from the front to the back plate with the name and imperial style which may have belonged to Conrad II ("the first German monarch to call himself 'king of the Romans' (Rex Romanorum)"),[8] in seed pearls.

These were a feature of the now-lost crown of Byzantine emperors, as in the mosaic portrait of Justinian I in the Basilica of San Vitale in Ravenna.