Queen’s Platinum Jubilee and the Crown Jewels

As the country heads into an extended bank holiday weekend to celebrate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee our private clients team have been finding out more about the crown jewels…

St Edwards Crown

One of the most widely viewed pieces in the Crown Jewels is St. Edward’s Crown, which has 444 stones, both precious and semi-precious. The nearly five pounds of gold used to construct the crown is today worth more than £85,000, while the collection of stones in the precious metal likely place the value of this crown around £31 million.

Her Majesty only wore the St Edward’s Crown for a few moments. At five pounds, the crown is quite heavy and cumbersome. “You can’t look down to read the speech, you have to take the speech up,” Queen Elizabeth told Smithsonian Channel. “Because if you did, your neck would break and it (the crown) would fall off,” she says.

The Jewelled Sword of Offering

Created in 1820, the Jewelled Sword of Offering is not as old as some pieces in the Crown Jewels. King George IV helped design the sword and paid for it at a cost of nearly £6,000 or about £525 million in today’s money.

Officially, the Crown Jewels are priceless. They are not insured either, which means they’ve likely never been appraised. However, estimates put the entire collection at £3 billion.

At her coronation on June 2, 1953, Queen Elizabeth wore both the St. Edward’s Crown and the Imperial State Crown. She carried the Sovereign’s Sceptre with Cross and the Sovereign’s Orb. Her father, King George VI, also wore the Imperial State Crown at his coronation in 1937. It was the last time so many of the Crown Jewels were seen and used at the same time.

With this in mind……..

Ensuring that you have your jewellery valued correctly in a fluctuating market has never been more important. There have been significant price fluctuations in the past few years, and your jewellery insurance values could be too low… and in some cases even too high!

If you have any queries relating to the above, please contact our private clients team who will be happy to assist you here.