Re: What is/is not part of the Royal Collection? (edited) Archived Message
Posted by Nellie  on January 11, 2014, 5:39 pm, in reply to "What is/is not part of the Royal Collection?"
Bob - your question is not easy to answer.
Higher up here http://members2.boardhost.com/royal-jewels/msg/1389304936.html I identified about five categories of royal stuff. One of them, the Royal Collection, used to be fairly simple, more or less, to describe. They used to describe it as a collection of collections, that is, personal collections built up by many kings and queens over the centuries. I still think that is the core of the Royal Collection.
However, when we go to the Royal Collection (RC) website we see RCIN everywhere - Royal Collection Inventory Number. Everything gets a number.
Because the Royal Collection Trust (RCT) holds exhibitions and lends pieces to other organisations to exhibit, everything gets recorded thoroughly these days, in computer inventories. However, the exhibitions extend beyond just showing pieces from the RC.
Exhibitions have included -
* pieces from The Crown Jewels,
* heirlooms of the Crown, and
* private property of the Queen - the Queen's Diamonds for example.
An RCIN on a piece on the RC website does not mean the piece belongs to the RC.
But I feel sure that pieces belonging in the RC are clearly identified in a computer inventory somewhere
Edit:
Bob - I do think there would have been a time when the monarch viewed it all as their own, and it probably was, but sentiments began to change.
Perhaps it was after the wars that attitudes changed in the most marked ways and the royals began to see the collections as for the benefit of the wider public.
I also think that discussions with governments over property arrangements, to alleviate impact from death duties, required assets to be identified as private or "royal".
With the arrival of computer cataloguing the process was speeded up.
Previous Message--
: The question of ownership is a very
: fascinating and complicated one.
:
: What is or is not part of the Royal
: Collection, for example?
:
: It appears to be somewhat arbitrary. For
: example, if you do random searches on the RC
: website, you'll find stuff one would expect
: could be private property (things like
: recent family photographs, for example, or
: small nicknacks). But searches on jewelry,
: tiara and similar terms only returns
: "old" stuff and things like the
: Regal Circlet (which is an heirloom of the
: Crown).
:
: For example, Queen Alexandra's little
: Faberge animals vs her jewels. It is well
: documented that QA went to the Faberge store
: and bought the little animals with her own
: money (I'm intentionally simplifying here).
: This is fairly clear indication to me that
: they were QA's private property, yet they
: are listed as part of the RC. On the other
: hand, the Cartier collier resille for which
: there is a receipt in Cartier's archives
: showing it was sold to Queen Alexandra (a
: similar indication that it was QA's private
: property), is not. (A search on
: "Cartier necklace" only returns
: two items; a photograph of Queen Mary
: wearing the collier resille, and toy jewelry
: given to young Princess Elizabeth).
:
: Who decides what belongs to the RC and what
: doesn't, and what are the criteria?
: Interesting.....
:
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