"The Crown" Jewels of London - 36 photos

 I wrote about "The Crown Jewels of Iran" two years ago. As I'm an Englishman by birth, I'm now going to be posting photos about the jewels of my country, namely England. 

 Originally I was very cautious in posting images of the royal families, in case of legality problems with the official 'His Majesties Printer'. All of the photos are now easily accessible from the Internet.

========================================================

  The jewels that will be seen in this essay are used during the Coronation events of the Monarchy. These have been used since early 1100A.D. additional pieces have been created since then. There are in excess of 100 objects on display in the "Tower of London" under the very watchful eyes of internal police.

 The "Cullinan Diamond" is in the tip of the shaft. 

 

 This photo is an enlargement of "St. Edwards Crown" shown below.

 In todays market, all of the jewels are worth a sizable amount of $5.8 BILLION. This is only an estimate as we are dealing with 2,868 diamonds, 17 Sapphires, 11 Emeralds, 269 Pearls and 4 Rubies.

 I've just read that this number went up to 20 Billion (UK currency) at one time.

 This is the Imperial State Crown; it is used for State occasions and has a "Great Ruby" that was given to the the "Black Prince" in the 14 century.

The name of these two items are "The Sovereign's Orb" and "Queen Mary 2nd, Orb".

  Since there were no electrical mechanisms to keep plates warm for serving hot food in the earlier days. The best way was to create a plate warmer as seen here, circa 1820.

                       

These 2 items are named the "Ampulla and Spoon".

 No, these two items (are not letter openers) but this is the "Hilt" that is worn around the waist and the Scabbard (sword) of the Jewelled State Sword ensemble.

This diamond encrusted  duo are named as "Hilt and Scabbard" of the Jewelled State Sword".

             This is the "Great Sword of State" with it's Scabbard.

This is the "Insignia of the Order of the British Empire" it is worn as a complete set of adornments.

 

 For a 'good cup of strong British ale', these cups served this purpose. These were crafted in 1661  and made of gold-plated silver.

   This little dinner adornment is the "Exeter Salt" container.

 

This bowl is used to moisten your finger-tips during eating.

These are some of the Coronation crowns.

 This jeweller is one of the three people (in the world) allowed to 'touch' any of the 100's of items during any of it's repairing process.

This is a wine goblet that is to be used on festive occasions.

These are candle sticks, this where the long wax candle that can be inserted on the pointed top.

The large diamond is the famous "Cullinan Diamond" it weighs 530.5 carats.

 Upon sitting on the thrown, the newly appointed Monarch will hold this 'orb' in their hand.

 This tiara is made of Diamonds & Silver.

This is a close-up of the "Cullinan Diamond" that is named after the diamond merchant who originally found the stone.