In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, George Spencer, the 4th Earl of Marlborough, collected a collection of 800 extremely valuable gems, which later generations fondly called the Marlborough Collection.
It is no exaggeration to say that it is the most valuable privately owned jewelry collection in history because of its unbelievable price.
Earl George Spencer’s Marlborough collection was completely bought by David Bromilow for a sum of up to 35,000 pounds (equivalent to more than 62 billion VND).
In 1875, Count John Winston Spencer-Churchill sold that set of gems to fund the repair of Blenheim Palace.
Lost on the black market, the unique ring was sold by David Bromilow’s daughter in 1899 at an auction in London to dealer Julius Goldschmidt.
Its origin was unknown until it appeared in London in 1971, for only 750 pounds (21 million VND) at a second-hand shop!
The ring then miraculously appeared in a Frenchman’s collection before being acquired by Wartski, who was the jeweler to Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Charles.
The nearly 2,000-year-old sapphire ring has a charming and mysterious blue color. It is not simply an aesthetically beautiful piece of jewelry but also contains historical value.
Sapphire is a very hard and precious stone that ranks just below diamonds. What surprises people is why at that time, artisans were able to cut and polish the stone so perfectly, not only So, they also engraved a delicate portrait on the front of the ring.
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So who is the beautiful woman solemnly engraved on that precious ring?
Scientists say that precious blue ring is believed to be owned by Roman emperor Caligula, who ruled for 4 years, from 37 AD until his assassination. And this woman is Caesonia, Caligula’s fourth wife.
Kieran McCarthy, director of Wartski, said: “We believe this ring belongs to Emperor Caligula and the face appearing on the ring is his fourth wife, Caesonia.”
Caesonia is a beauty that thousands of people love, she possesses a beauty that tilts water and rocks. Emperor Caligula even once forced his wife to be naked and walk around in front of his friends to “show off” her beauty. But just after Emperor Caligula was assassinated, Caligula also passed away for unknown reasons.
The reason Caligula was assassinated may have stemmed from his wasteful spending, especially spending money on precious stones, which depleted the Roman treasury.
Up to now, only a quarter of the jewelry in the “Marlborough Gems” collection has had its owner publicly known, the rest are a mystery.
In October 2019, the sapphire ring was said to be the object that attracted attention in an exhibition of more than 100 gemstones organized by the Wartski jewelry company in London, England.
Its value ranges from 7,000 USD – nearly 1,000,000 USD (equivalent to 23 billion VND).
The auction became a great concern for gem collectors around the world. People from Japan even lined up outside Wartski’s facility days before the exhibition was first approved.
