Imperial State Crown Collectors Edition Boxed

The Imperial State Crown

The best known of all the crowns, the present Imperial State Crown was made for King George VI in 1937. For the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953 the shapes of the arches were altered to reduce the height.

It is fitted with a purple velvet Cap of Estate turned over with ermine and is mounted in gold and silver. It weighs 2 pounds 13 ounces and is set 2,868, 17 sapphires, 11 emeralds, 5 rubies and 273 pearls.

The most important and mystical of these stones are:

St Edward's Sapphire
This is a square sapphire set in the top cross. This sapphire is said to have been taken from a ring found on the finger of Edward the Confessor by Abbot Lawrence on 13th October 1163, when the body was being reinterred in Westminster Abbey. Henry II was present at the time. It was presented to the King, and it has been used by the Monarch ever since.

The Black Prince's Ruby
This is a spinel (170 carats) of Moorish origin that has been pierced in the Eastern style. The traditional story is that Pedro the Cruel, King of Castile, presented it to the Black Prince after the battle of Najera in 1367.

Throughout its history it has been called the 'Great Balas Ruby', and it has been in many State Crowns It was in the helmet of Henry V at the battle of Agincourt, and it was King Henry VIII who added it to the Crown Jewels. It is known to have been set in the State Crown of Charles II and later in that of his niece, Queen Mary II who ruled as joint Sovereign with her husband, William III. The Second Star of Africa in the front of the band, otherwise known as Cullinan II

In 1905, a worker was finishing off for the day in the Premier Mine in South Africa and he was walking out when something in the wall caught his eye. Prising it out of the wall, he realised what he was holding, and ran to the office of Mr Cullinan, the chairman of the mine. Mr Cullinan laughed and threw it out of his window. It was retrieved and represented to him. His first words were, "Either you have found the largest diamond in the world, or you're fired!" It did indeed turn out to be the largest diamond in the world, weighing in at a staggering 3,025.75 carats. The Transvaal Government purchased the diamond from the Premier Mine in 1907 and presented it to King Edward VII as a birthday present and as a gesture of goodwill in the aftermath of the Boer War. The following year, the stone was cut by Mr Joseph Assher of the Assher Diamond Cutters in Amsterdam. In total, the stone yielded 9 major stones, 6 brilliants, and 96 chippings. Cullinan 2 in the front of the Imperial State Crown weighs in at 317.4 carats is the second largest top-quality diamond in the world.