Mysteries From the Amber Room

The Amber Room has quite the amazing story and history behind it. The Amber room started as part of the Charlottenburg Palace in Prussia for King Friedrich Wilhelm I.  The construction started in 1701 and concluded in 1709. Andreas Schluter, the German baroque scholar, came up with the idea and design of the Amber Room and Gottfried Wolfman a Danish amber craftsman constructed the room.  Wilhelm I built it becuase his second wife Sophie Charlotte pleaded with him to build it.

Forming an alliance with Russia, Wilhelm I gave the Amber Room to Tsar Peter the Great, who after on a visit, longingly sought after it.  In 1755 the Russian Tsarina Elizabeth had the Amber Room moved and placed in the Winter Palace. It was then later moved again to Catherine's Palace.  She had a new design for the room from her Italian Court Architect Bartolemo Rastrelli and therefore sent for more Baltic Amber from Frederick II the Great to fill it out.

This is where the Amber Room had rested until the Germans invaded Russia in 1941.  Hitler had relayed the message that he wanted the Amber Room brought back to Germany.  The Russians, fearing this, tried to dismantle the Amber Room but they found the amber too brittle to remove.  Just as the Germans got to St.Petersburg, they dismantled the Amber Room.  No one knows how they did it or how much damage was done to the amber.

According to reports, the amber was placed in hundreds of boxes and shipped out of St. Petersburg harbor.  From St. Petersburg, no one really knows where the amber went.  Some people believe it was shipped up to the Scandinavian countries or Austria and was purposely sunk.  The water shouldn't hurt the amber and the Nazis probably thought they would retrieve it after the war was over.  Unfortunately, the amber remains hidden to this day.  Many ships and treasure seekers continue to search but there has been no success as of yet.  The Amber Room remains one of the worlds unsolved mysteries.

There is an interesting postscript to this story.  In 2003, at the request of the Russian government, a second amber room was created.  It is remarkable copy but it is minus the semi-precious stones and some of the gold leaves.  If the old panels were still in Catherine's Palace, it is estimated their value to be around 140 million dollars.  It is no wonder that the Amber Room has been called the 8th wonder of the world!  I have been fortunate to visit the Amber Room in 2005 and it was so beautiful that it was hard to comprehend that the entire room was made up of amber!  I was so lucky to see this in person.

The Orlov Diamond

Sketch of the diamond circa 1904

The Orlov Diamond is an extremely famous and important diamond that is found in the Moscow Kremlin. Its size is 189.62 carats. The diamond reportedly came from an eye of a statue from Southern India around 1750.  The stone passed from merchant to merchant, then appeared for sale in Amsterdam. Count Grigory Orlov bought the diamond for 400,000 florins. Orlov was having an affair with Empress Catherine and later he gave the stone to her because she wanted it. This love affair took place in the 18th century. Catherine named the diamond after Count Orlov and had it placed in a new royal scepter. It is considered one of the most famous diamonds in the world.

History of the Hope Diamond

Marie Antoinette wearing what was known then as the "French Blue."

The Hope Diamond is the most famous stone in the world.  It is a strong indigo color which is the rarest of diamond colors and it is slightly more than 45 1/2 carats.  Supposedly it was taken from an eye of an Indian god statue.  It was bought by Jean Tavernier in 1669 and later sold to King Louis XIV for about $180,000 of our money today.  The Hope Diamond was re-cut from the Indian style into a more modern table-cut.  Marie Antoinette is known to have worn this stone. This was the start of the "unlucky" history of the stone.

During the French Revolution the "French Blue" was lost, not to show up until Henry Phillip Hope purchased it.  It then became known as the Hope Diamond.

A young Evalyn Walsh McLean.

The following is an interesting sideline to the history of the Hope Diamond.  This history adds to the mystique surrounding the Hope Diamond's bad luck. The Hope Diamond was sold to Cartier due to Henry Hope's bankruptcy.  Cartier then sold the Hope Diamond to Evalyn Walsh McLean in 1911. She had married Edward "Ned" McLean in 1908 who was heir to the Washington post.  McLean's father was a wealthy businessman who had made his fortune in the silver industry.

Evalyn had four children, two of which died tragically.  Her nine year old Vincent was run over by a car, and her daughter at 24 died of a drug overdose. He husband was an alcoholic and was later institutionalized where he died.  Evalyn herself also suffered from alcoholism. Evalyn Walsh McLean died in 1946 from pneumonia. Was this simply fate, or the negative power of the Hope Diamond?

Later, in 1949, Harry Winston bought the Hope Diamond to settle the debts of the estate.  It went on a nine year goodwill tour of the United States then he donated the diamond in 1958 to the Smithsonian.

Temporary setting of Hope Diamond.

Original and permanent setting for the Hope Diamond.

  

Quick Myths! : Peridot-Gem of the Month

Peridot is my favorite stone of course because it is the stone for my birthday. Peridots are the birthstone for August. It is also the Zodiac sign of Libra. Peridot is the gem form of the mineral olivine and is sometimes called Chysolite. Peridots in small crystals can often be found in the rocks created by volcanoes and also can be found in meteors that have fallen on earth.  Also during the Crusades it was brought back to the Mediterranean area and used to decorate European cathedrals.

Now for some myths! Peridot was called "Gem of the Sun" by the ancients and they believed it had the power to dissolve enchantments and to drive evil spirits away. It is thought to bring the wearer good luck, success,and peace, while its powers include health, protection, and sleep. For a peridot to work as a full talisman it had to be set in gold which was thought to drive away terrors of the night. When ground up into powder it was used as a remedy for asthma and when held under the tongue it was thought to lessen the thirst in fever. When peridot was used as a protection againt the tricks of evil spirits it was pierced and then strung on the hair of a donkey and attached to the left arm. The advantages of peridot are to attract love and calm anger while also soothing nerves and getting rid of negative emotions.

Random Fact!- Legend has said that one of Cleopatra's favorite stones was peridot and that some of the "emeralds" worn by her were actually peridots.

Also many people make the mistake of pronouncing peridot like pear-i-dot whereas it really should be pronounced as pear-i-doe.

The Black Prince's Ruby

The Castille (a medieval kingdom from the Iberian Peninsula) was ruled by a terrible and justifiably named king in  the fourteenth century.  One day, Abu Said who was an Arab cheiftain who still ruled Spain came to surrender. After hearing that Abu Said had with him jewels of great worth, including a exquisite ruby, in which Peter welcomed him amiably and invited the chieftain to dinner.  During the banquet Peter had Abu's servants killed while he personally stabbed Abu to death. The infamous ruby was found on the corpse.

Peter called England to his aid when his subjects and his brother rebelled against him. Peter was also called the Black Prince. In return of England's aid, Peter rewarded them with Abu Said's ruby.  The ruby was made into a part of the Crown Jewels of England and was worn by Henry V on his helmet in 1415 when he crushed the French forces at Agincourt.  Later at the Battle of Bosworth, Richard III wore the ruby in his helmet.  Under Oliver Cromwell the Puritans destroyed, dispersed, and melted the Crown Jewels. The Black Prince's Ruby was bought by a jeweler who resold to Charles II after the reformation of the Stuarts in 1660.

Interesting enough, later testing of the ruby found it to be not a ruby but a precious spinel, which is a natural stone.  This spinel  has almost the same value as a ruby and is very distinctive in shape and size.


 

Quick Myths!: Rubies-Gem of July

• Rubies are considered to represent passion, devotion, and desire, and also eternal love.
• Ancient Hindus believed it was the "lord of all gems".
• Rubies were thought to counteract poison.
• When rubbed on the skin, a ruby is thought to restore youth & vitality.
• In the Middle Ages it was viewed as the stone of prophecy and people believed it would darken when in anger.
• Royalties many times turned to rubies for help to predict oncoming danger.
• It is said that the wearer of a ruby is blessed with health, wealth, wisdom, and outstanding success in love.
• They are said to help live in peace with enemies.
• It is the most commonly named precious stone in the Bible.

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