Am I correct in thinking that the nuptial crown was made by Catherine the Great from a diamond belt? Grandduchessella, the photo in which the jewels are laid out is in fact only half of the picture. Most of the jewels are State jewels but I think that I am correct in saying that there are some of Alix's personal jewels laid out on the table, notably the tiara at the very end on the right which I think was given to her upon her marriage. I'll have to take a look at the wonderful Geoffrey Munn before I attempt to remember who made it (possibly Kochert?) and what it was set with (maybe emeralds?). This must have been the most dazzling display of jewellery; such a shame that we don't have a record of these remarkable jewels in colour apart from the few pieces that survive.
i don't know if anyone has mentioned this yet, but, in fact, everything on the table (and, indeed, everything that was eventually to find it's way to the auction-block) was painstakingly documented & photographed (presumably in color). the son of Peter Karl Fabergé was "persuaded" to do the documentation (how could he refuse those who were killing everyone around him?). he removed all the stones from their settings, weighed them, cleaned the stones & their settings, replaced them, and then had them photographed (he may have done the photographing himself, but i'm not sure).
i'm assuming those in power had this done for several reasons....
A). to determine the ACTUAL (intrinsic [sp?]) value (regardless of their
possible historical significance) of all the jewels & artworks they
now controlled and in what form;
B). as preparation for their eventual sale, done to raise capital;
et cetera.
just imagine: somewhere, in some Russian archive, there exists an album or folio --- i'd guess there are several --- probably covered in layers of dust, that contain the images of EVERY JEWEL (state property and personal) along with the carat weights of the stones and
weight of the gold/silver/platinum of the settings! however i doubt if they did this with every confiscated collection (the task would just be too overwhelming. as it was, it took the younger Fabergé around 2 years to do what had been "asked" of him...)
i think i could die happy if i were able to liesurely leaf through them all...
(btw, one of the interesting things Fabergé's son discovered during the course of his work concerned the fabulous pieces of colored diamonds {such as those from the 18th century that have the foliage & bees}..... most of the stones weren't colored. they were diamonds alright, but there was colored foil on the back of them to give them the desired color {he surreptitiously scratched a few with his fingernail {he considered them just too good to be true. and he was right.!})
some of the "colored" diamonds in question:
