British princes, kings and dukes buy jewels of great value. Which over time are re-evaluated.
The jewels of the British royalty, the crown jewels, consist of more than 140 pieces. The entire collection uses 23,578 precious stones, including Cullinan I, the largest cut diamond in the world with its 530 carats: its value is estimated at 400 million pounds, about 440 million euros or 521 million dollars. The most recent addition to the collection was a 22-karat gold bracelet that was presented by the late Queen Elizabeth II at the time of her coronation in 1953. Giving a global price to the jewelry collection is difficult, not least because there is no possibility that the jewels are put up for sale. Some time ago, however, a rough calculation estimated the real collection at over 3 billion pounds or 3.3 billion euros or almost 4 billion dollars.
The collection is kept inside the Jewel House in the Tower of London with the exception of the jewels usually used by the royal family. The ring was worn by Kate Middleton and, before her, by Diana Spencer, it was arguably the most recognizable royal engagement jewel in history and is now priced appropriately for her fame. The 12-carat Ceylon sapphire surrounded by 14 diamonds worn by the Duchess of Cambridge has been valued at £ 300,000 (about € 360,000), ten times the amount paid 34 years ago. The ring, which originally belonged to the mother of Prince Williams, Princess of Wales, was purchased by King Charles of England in 1981 for £ 28,000.
Even the one that belonged to Queen Elizabeth, a 3-carat solitaire diamond mounted on platinum and surrounded on each side by five small diamonds, has been revalued: it was purchased for 28,000 pounds in 1947 and is now valued at 100,000 (about 120,000 euros). From the Queen Mother to the new Queen: the Camilla ring received by Charles in 2004 is also revalued. It is an Art Deco example from 1930, consisting of a large emerald-cut diamond flanked by three baguette-cut diamonds on both sides. It was valued at 100,000 pounds in 2004, 250,000 (300,000 euros) today.
