Iranian Crown Jewels

The Iranian Imperial Crown Jewels, also called the Imperial Crown Jewels of Persia, is the by far largest, most dazzling and valuable jewel collection in the world. The collection is comprised of a set of crowns and thrones, some 30 tiaras, numerous aigrettes, jewel-studded swords and shields, a vast amount of precious loose gems, including one of the largest collections of emeralds and rubies in the world and other items collected by the Iranian/Persian monarchs the Shahs of Iran (Persia) during the 2,500 year existence of the Iranian monarchy. Most of the items in the collection were however acquired by the Safavid shahs who ruled Iran 1502 - 1736 AD.

When the Afghans in 1719 AD brutally raided and pillaged Isfahan, which was the capital of Iran during the Safavid reign and had a reputation of being the most beautiful city in the world, the city was laid in ruins and most of the crown jewels vanished with the invaders. In 1729 the legendary and heroic Persian king, Nader Shah Afshar, regained Iran from the Afghans. In 1738 Nader Shah launched a campaign against Kandahar, Kabul and India. It is widely believed that the main reason that the Iranian emperor decided to take this route and end up in Delhi was because of his burning desire to regain the lost treasures of Persia which by now mostly had been dispersed throughout India and ended up at the court of the Moghul emperor as well as in the courts of numerous maharajas. Once Nader had obtained all that he came for, he withdrew from India and returned to Iran with several heavily jewel-encrusted thrones, large chests filled to the brim with diamonds, emeralds, rubies, sapphires and other precious gems. He also conquered the Koh-i-Noor diamond, which is the largest cut diamond in the world.

The crown jewels were last used by the last Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the Iranian empress Farah Pahlavi and other members of the Iranian Imperial family on official ceremonies and state visits.

So valuable are the Iranian crown jewels that they back the Iranian currency as a reserve. For centuries they were kept locked up out of the sight of the public. It was only during the reign of the last Shah of Iran that the crown jewels were put on display at the vaults of the Central Bank of Iran. It was also the last Shah of Iran, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who decreed that the jewels would be the property of the Iranian state and not the Imperial family.

Jewels

Jewels are inserted in, mainly watches, to reduce friction on the gear train. Until the 20th century, watch jewels were made of ruby, sapphire, aquamarine, garnet, and diamond. I have seen colourless jewels which might be quartz, or low grade (colourless) aquamarine. Pale blue ones are aquamarine or low grade sapphire, and pink ones can be low grade ruby, or possibly garnet. Sapphire and ruby used was usually not of jewellery grade. Diamonds saw limited use, but they show up as balance wheel cap jewels periodically.