What
is the costliest gift that you brought for your better-half ? – this is a post
on what was auctioned for US $ 67,00,000
equivalent to Rs. 45,59,68,422/-
Queen dowager, is a
title or status generally held by the widow of a king. In the case of the widow
of an emperor, the title of empress dowager is used. A queen mother is a
dowager queen who is the mother of the reigning monarch.
Pic
: public domain - wikipedia
Elisabeth Farnese
was Queen of Spain by marriage to King Philip V. She exerted great influence
over Spain's foreign policy and was the de facto ruler of Spain from 1714 until
1746. From 1759 until 1760, she governed as regent. Elisabeth was raised in seclusion in an
apartment in the Palace in Parma. She could speak and write Latin, French, and
German and was schooled in rhetoric, philosophy, geography and history. Because of the lack of male heirs of her father,
her uncle-stepfather, and her youngest uncle, who all succeeded one another,
preparations were done for succession of the Duchy of Parma in the female line
through her. She was therefore made many marriage proposals. On 16 September
1714 she was married by proxy at Parma to Philip V of Spain. The marriage was
arranged by the ambassador of Parma, Cardinal Alberoni, with the concurrence of
the Princesse des Ursins, the Camarera mayor de Palacio of the King of Spain.
Sothebys the
International Auction house writes that discovering an unknown historical
diamond such as the Farnese Blue happens once in a lifetime. Apart from its
beauty, the stone symbolises 300 years of history. It has travelled around
Europe during these three centuries. And all this time, it was hidden away in a
royal jewellery box. Except for close relatives, and of course the family
jewellers, no one knew about its existence.
In 1714 King of Spain married an Italian princess:
Elisabeth Farnese - both members of illustrious European royal houses. The
idea of uniting two of the most powerful states of Europe under a single king
was considered too risky, so it was decided that the oldest of Louis XIV and
Marie Thérèse's grandsons, Louis, Duke of Burgundy, would inherit the French
Crown. The War of Spanish Succession started in 1701, and lasted 12 years. In 1713, the Utrecht Treaty
acknowledged the French succession, providing that France and Spain would never
be united.
The next year,
Philippe V's first wife, Marie Louise of Savoia, died at the age 25. Spain
needed a new queen, but for the same political reasons she had to be chosen
very carefully. She could not be French, or Austrian, or even English. She had
to be Catholic, and preferably a member of a minor royal house. Elisabeth
Farnese was the perfect choice. The Spanish finances were in a very bad state,
owing to the debts accumulated during the long years of war. In order to
provide a suitable dowry for the new queen, the Spanish government sent word to
the governors of all the Spanish colonies in the East and West, ordering them
to send wedding gifts to Madrid. It took one year to assemble the treasures. In
August 1715 the Golden Fleet sailed from Cuba: twelve ships carrying hundreds
of gold bullion and a case of enormous emeralds. Unfortunately, after 10 days
at sea, a hurricane destroyed most of the fleet in the Gulf of Florida, with
only one ship escaping. The story goes that the emeralds were lost in one of
the sunken ships. But one diamond found it’s way to Spain: a pear-shaped blue
diamond offered to the new Spanish Queen by the governor of the Philippines
Islands.
That provenance is
mentioned on a silver plaque, which is included in the diamond's box. It reads
in French: “Remarkable blue brilliant. This historical stone was offered by the
Philippine Islands to Elisabeth Farnese, Queen of Spain, wife of Philippe V, great
grandfather of the Comte of Villafranca, current owner of that stone.”
Such a rare blue diamond has been sold at auction in
Geneva for $6.7m (£5m) and it is reported that this 6.1 carat diamond
comes from the famous Golconda mine of India.
It sold after just
four minutes of bidding at Sotheby's, easily passing the auction house's
estimate of $3.5m-$5m. "We were expecting a good result but we started
from $3.5m and we ended up with $6.7m, so we exceeded our expectation,"
said Sotheby's jewellery specialist, Daniela Mascetti. The identity of the new owner has not been
revealed.
Before you close
your mouth opened in awe, the bigger
story was that two colorless diamonds of more than 50 carats each; and
possessing D Color, Flawless and Type IIa characteristics—making each of them
the second largest of their kind ever to come to auction—surpassed the sale of
the blue diamond, even with its exceptional royal provenance. It took
extraordinary large and pure stones to achieve this feat. The top lot was a 51.71-carat round diamond
that fetched $9.2 million. It ranks as the second largest D Flawless
brilliant-cut diamond ever to have appeared at auction.
One
lingering doubt is – who buys these, for whom, what do they do if they cannot
exhibit it even - It is a different league – you only ensure that your wife does not read
these news !
With regards – S.
Sampathkumar
16th May
2018.
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