Yesterday in the weekly program "Blauw Bloed" (Blue Blood) there was a reportage about the jeweller Bonebakker in Amsterdam. Willem II ordered the crown in 1840 at the firm Bonebakker. The original drawing is still there:
The crown is made of heavily guilded "Bonebakker Silver" said the spokesman from the jeweller. The arches were provided with 8 fake-pearls. I thought the pearls were still fake but the man from Bonebakker said that Queen Emma had these fake pearls replaced by real ones. Because there were not enough same-sized big pearls, the present crown has real pearls but only 5 per arch. That is why one can see "filled holes" on the arches. Apparently the pearls are real. I thought these were still fake? But the explanation of Bonebakker was plausible. If you replace fake pearls by other (better) fake pearls, why not replace all 78?
The original design had 72 pearls: 8 arches x 8 pearls = 64 pearls + 8 pearls on the base. The present design has 24 pearls less: 8 arches x 5 pearls = 40 pearls + 8 pearls on the base.
Anyway, because the jewels were never meant to be used but purely as an attribute for "the theatre of state" the King did not spend too much money on the regalia.
on April 28, 2013, 10:26 am