Quote:
Originally Posted by ComeCloser
Diamonds are not particularly rare - but those pearls are. Oceans don't make them as large as that main pendant pearl anymore.
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Pearls harvested from early recorded history through say 1800's or so were from oysters that lived long lives. That and thanks to less pollution waters were full of such old to ancient oysters which made pearl fishing happy hunting. Have seen old pictures/paintings of Indian royalty decked out in huge numbers of pearls, some the size of small nuts.
Mary, Queen of Scots had a famous pearl the size of a nutmeg as part of her jewel collection. After her judicial murder Elizabeth I "purchased" it and other jewels from her dead cousin's estate.
That jewel and others were part of the famous Medici pearls which Catherine de Medici brought to France.
https://www.beyondtheyalladog.com/20...english-queen/
https://www.awesomestories.com/asset...Queen-of-Scots
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Peregrina_pearl
Old diamond jewels from these old or ancient collections were cut differently than today. They were meant to sparkle under given lighting of the period (candles, lamps, etc...). In contrast new things are cut to reflect the bright and growing ever more so electric lighting.
The various balls, parties and other social events that preceded marriage of Prince Charles to Lady Diana Spencer saw both types of diamond jewels. Some obviously new, others centuries old hauled out of bank vaults.
A once favorite (and still may be for all I know) pastime of royal, noble and or otherwise wealthy ladies was having various bits of their diamond jewels "redone". Stones were placed into new (and more modern) settings, and or also recut to better reflect modern sources of light, and or deal with imperfections. This or a single large stone was carefully cut down into maybe two.
Also as certain pieces went out of fashion and or weren't worn/used that often stones might be removed from current setting and used elsewhere. Things like stomachers and tiaras were often ripe for this treatment.
Of course there is always just harvesting out the stones to raise ready money. When Lenin and his thugs took over Russia they confiscated (before murdering or afterwards) huge amounts of diamond jewelry from the Romanovs and others. Workers then sat down at vast tables and pried stones out of their settings. Russia was bankrupt and Lenin used those jewels to raise ready money.
Many fantastic collections were destroyed this way, but some in whole or part were sold (Lenin didn't care how he got his money, just that funds were raised), and made their way all over Europe and North America.
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