For many centuries the collecting of precious gems and the jewelry fashioned from them was the exclusive prerogative of kings and queens, emperors, popes, and maharajahs. But in the last hundred years movie goddesses, opera singers, industrialists, real-estate investors, and rock stars have joined t[...]
This book surveys one of the worlds most important collections of jewelry, that of the Imperial Romanov family, rulers of Russia for more than three centuries. Through his work at Sothebys and Christies and his own extensive research, the author Stefano Papi has spent years unravelling the mysteries[...]
For many centuries the collecting of precious jewels was the preserve of kings and queens, emperors and maharajahs. But in the aftermath of the First World War, with the fall of several European monarchies, royal gems passed into the hands of a different kind of elite that included celebrities from [...]