Tea at Trianon: The Black Prince's Ruby

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Saturday, May 11, 2013

The Black Prince's Ruby

A dark history. To quote:

The ruby’s position at the very front of the crown today is based on an ancient belief that it is auspicious to have a red gem mounted in the main regalia, especially since rubies have always been scarce. Rubies are in fact rarer than diamonds: the only reason diamonds are more valuable is because of their hardness and luminosity. With that said, the Black Prince’s Ruby is actually not a ruby at all but a spinel, i.e. a less valuable type of ruby that was often mistaken for the real gem until modern times (it all has to do with hardness and colouring). This however does not decrease the Black Prince’s Ruby’s intrinsic value since its size and weight of 170 carats make it one of the largest uncut spinels in the world. Also, a tiny part of it is actual ruby material: the stone was perforated at some point in the past to wear it as a pendant and the hole is now filled with a real, tiny ruby, the so-called pimple on the stone. The whole stone is still traditionally referred to as a ruby. (Read entire post.)