There were several topazes in the former collection of the French Crown Jewels... and surprisingly, unlike most of the French Crown jewels, these topazes are still in the French public collections!
First, there is a large orange topaz of 28.10 carats from Brazil Its dimensions are 23.4 x 21.2 x 11.5 mms. It was acquired by King Louis XIV, probably in 1669 from a jewel retailer named Bazu, and was occasionally mounted on various jewelled ornaments for the Kings or Queens of France in the 17th and 18th centuries. In 1796, the revolutionary government appointed a commitee of scientists, who selected several gems in the remains of the Crown Jewels, according to their geological and scientifical interest, to be given to the collections of the National Museum of Natural History, in Paris, where it has remained until today.
It is displayed here at the top of the picture, with other Crown jewels belonging now to the National Museum of Natural History:
The Inventory of the Crown Jewels made in 1811 mentioned 89 pink topazes (under the name "rubies from Brazil"), which had probably been seized during the Revolution from emigrated aristocrats or in occupied countries. These topazes should not be confused with the ones visible on a parure worn by Empress Marie-Louise on one of her portraits: according to Bernard Morel, the topaz parure worn by Marie-Louise on this portrait was one of her personal parures (even though it was made by Crown jeweller Nitot in 1811), and not a Crown's parure:
The topazes of the Crown collection were not mounted on a parure. In 1818, there were only 78 pink topazes registered in the Crown's Inventory (Bernard Morel suggests that the 11 missing topazes could have been alienated by King Louis XVIII, in the turmoil of the post-Napoleonic time, but regarding their value, they "were not worth much"). In 1830, 4 topazes had been added (hence a total of 82 pink topazes).
In 1864, 4 pink topazes were included by Bapst into a large multigem jewelled belt, but the remaining 78 topazes still remained unused. The belt was auctioned off in 1887, but 19 of the 78 unmounted topazes were given to the National Museum of Natural History, while the 49 remaining topazes were given to the National Mining Higher School of Paris.
The gems attributed to the National Museum of Natural History in 1887 were long kept in a blue box and only occasionally displayed. Louis XIV's orange topaz can be seen in the bottom left corner, above the amethysts, while Napoleon's pink topazes are in the top right corner:
The national Museum of Natural History has made one year ago a new display of its mineral and gem collections. There is now a display box specially dedicated to the former Crown jewels (the following pictures are my own photos, made when I visited the Museum a few months ago):
King Louis XIV's orange topaz is displayed on the top row:
17 of the 78 pink topazes are displayed above a background drawing depicting a necklace "in the style of the 19th century" (the caption indicates that some of the topazes have been loaned by the Paris Higher Mining School):
As a bonus, I can not resist to post these pictures of two large blue topazes, which are also displayed in the National Museum of Natural History. These two stones were never part of the Crown Jewels, or of the personal collection of a French Queen, Empress or Princess. But, because of their size and intense colour, they are really worth a look anyway!