Braganza jewels – indian set & other gold jewelsArchived Message
Posted by Jorge on April 23, 2014, 5:02 am
As some of you may know Portugal has a long tradition in making gold jewels. It’s our heritage, since according to some sources it was found in Portugal solid gold jewels from the 3rd millennium BC. With so many years of practice, the Portuguese filigree became probably the most perfect around the world. Another curiosity is that traditionally the popular Portuguese jewels are basically made only of gold, with no gems at all or with some color stones with few or no value. Everything in those jewels is about the art of modeling the precious metal. In some cases, however, the jewels include some gems, even though it is very rare nowadays.
A final curiosity is that the Portuguese gold (in jewels or coins) is one of the most valuable in the world with 19.2 carats (80% pure gold). Above us I think that only India with 22 carats gold (91.6% pure gold). So many carats, both in Portuguese and Indian case, make extremely difficult to use the metal, hence the filigree as an art. Note that pure gold is very soft.
Said that, it will be no surprise that the Portuguese Royal Family has in its vaults jewels made of solid gold.
The first one is an Indian Set comprising at least a necklace and a pair of earrings. Allegedly, it was a present from D.Duarte to his wife after a trip the Duke made to India. I have no certain about its origin but the design seems to confirm the suspicious. However I have to say that, in my opinion, it is an imposing (and certainly very valuable) set.
The second gold jewel I have to present to you is one of my favorite jewels of HRH not only because of the jewel itself but also because of its name. Is a very traditional piece that goes back to the XVIII century and is called «Brincos à Rainha» (in a free translation «Queen style earrings»). Very appropriate in my view: «Brincos à Rainha» for a «Rainha» (Queen).
As it is a very traditional piece we can make estimation on the price: depending on the size this kind of earring can easily cost over 1500 euros. If we talk about original XVIII century pieces the value may, in my opinion, easily double.
on April 23, 2014, 5:02 am
