QUEEN VICTORIA'S GROWN.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LXIII, Issue 7563, 30 May 1885, Page 6

QUEEN VICTORIA'S GROWN.

The State crown of her Majesty, Queen Victoria, was made by Eandell and Bridge in 1838, with jewels taken from old crowns, and others furnished by command of the Queen. It consists of diamonds, pearls, rubies and sapphires, and emeralds, set in silver and gold; it has a crimson velvet cap with ermine border, and is lined with white silk and weighs about forty ounces Troy. The lower part of the'band above the ermine border consists of a row of 199 pearls and the npper part of the band a row of 112 pearls, between which.,ln front

of the crown, is a large sapphire, purchased for the crown by George the Fourth. At the back is a sapphire of smaller size, and six other sapphires (three on each side), between which are eight emeralds. Above and below the several sapphires are fourteen diamonds, and around the eight emeralds, 128 diamonds. Between the emeralds and sapphires are sixteen trefoil ornaments containing 160 diamonds. Above the band are eight sapphires, surmounted by eight diamonds, between which are eight festoons, consisting of 148 diamonds. In front of the crown and in the centre of a diamond Maltese cross, is the famous ruby, said to have been given to Edward, Prince of Wales, son of Edward 111., called the Black Prince, by Don Pedro, King of Castile, after the battle of Najera, near Vitto v ia, in 1367. This ruby was worn in the helmet of Henry V. at the battle of Agincourt, 1415. It is pierced quite through, after the Eastern custom,, the upper part of the piercing being filled up by a small ruby. Around this ruby, to form the cross, are seventyfive brilliant diamonds. Three other Maltese crosses, forming the two sides and back of the crown, have emerald centres,' and contain each 132, 124, and 130 brilliant diamonds. Between the four Maltese crosses are four ornaments in the form of the French' fleur delis, with four rubies in the centre, and surrounded by rose diamonds, containing respectively eighty-five, eighty-six, eighty-six and eight-seven rose diamonds.- From the Maltese crosses issue four imperial arches composed of oak leaves and acorns, the leaves containing72Brose, table and brilliant diamonds, twenty-two pearls forming the acorns, set in cups of fifty-four rosediamonds and one table diamond. The total number of diamonds in the arches and acoms is 108 brilliants, 116 table, and 559 rose diamonds. From the upper part of the? arches are suspended four large, pendant... pear-shaped pearls, with rose-diamond 'caps, containing twelve rose diamonds and stems containing twenty.four very small rose diamonds. Above the arch stands the mound, containing in the lower half 304 brilliants, and in the upper 244 brilliants, the zone and arc being composed of thirty-three rose diamonds. The cross on the summit has a rose-cut sapphire in the centre, surrounded by four large, brilliant diamonds and 108 smaller ones.