There are so many women in the world who like jewelry ~ so who has the most jewelry? Is it the Queen of England?
Well.... Not really!
Because the Queen of England owns less than half of the jewelry that her grandmother, Queen Mary!
How many jewels does Queen Mary have? At that time, some people exaggerated that her jewelry was enough to illuminate half the world!
From the Star of Africa, the Mountain of Light, to the Black Prince, Pearl Tears, Cambridge & Delhi Emeralds, and more, these jewels that shocked the world are her collections:
Although she is the woman with the most jewels in the world, her experience is also quite bumpy. Unmarried and widowed, married to a little uncle, after six dynasties, and finally single-handedly supported the Queen of England to the throne...
After her death, she passed on a portion of the jewelry (said to have more than 300 pieces) to her granddaughter. Therefore, compared with her grandmother, the jewelry owned by the Queen of England is also a small witch.
△ Jewelry is worn, and only Queen Mary is gone
However, Queen Mary has so many jewels, wearing one or two pieces a day, and can wear them for 3 or 4 years without repetition, so which one is her favorite?
It should be a small conch bead brooch, because this brooch has accompanied her for a long time ~ especially after the age of 50, and it is worn more frequently:
△24.9ct (top), 28.1ct (bottom)
It was also because of this brooch that the conch beads rose to fame and became one of the most popular jewels in Britain at that time! The nobles tried their best to get a "queen of the same style":
Mrs. Harewood Floral was fortunate enough to get the brooch, but often worn as a pendant
Later, after several twists and turns, the brooch finally landed on Christie's Autumn Auction in Geneva in 1999.
After the fierce competition, it was sold for a high price of 850,000 yuan (excluding commissions), which was a full 4 times higher than the estimated price (150,000-200,000), which was amazing!
In fact, the legend of conch beads does not stop in the past, but still continues today.
At the Hong Kong Sotheby's Jewelry Autumn Auction, 3 pieces of conch bead jewelry were auctioned at once, which was very rare in the past.
Everyone has heard about the situation in Hong Kong.
In such an environment, the auction will inevitably be affected, and the turnover rate of this Sotheby's jewelry auction is less than 60%, I am afraid that it will hit a new low.
However, what is surprising is that the conch beads that have been in a "small transparent" state have achieved remarkable results, and 3 pieces have been auctioned at one time! Caused quite a stir:
△ "Ellington" conch bead earrings
Set with 2 conch beads, embellished with sapphires and diamonds
Realized price: HK$2,187,500
△ "Blue Magpie" platinum brooch
Set with conch beads, sapphires, diamonds, etc
Transaction price: HK$2 million
△ Orange conch bead pendant
The center stone weighs 110.14 carats
The transaction amount is 375,000 Hong Kong dollars, which is much cheaper than pink
After watching this auction, there must be many treasure fans who are surprised by the high value of conch beads, a small bead can actually be auctioned for such a sky-high price?
So why is it so expensive? Because there are so few people—
Conch beads, also known as "Kong Ke Zhu", like other pearls, conch beads also have their own mother shell - the big phoenix snail (queen conch):
Similar to the principle of pearl formation.
When a sea worm burrows into the body of the big snail, the big snail will instinctively wrap it up and secrete calcium, but the probability of eventually forming a sea snail bead is also very small.
Conch beads are produced in limited areas and are only found in the warm waters of the shallow seas of the Caribbean, the Florida Keys, Bermuda and Central America and northern South America:
There are not many production areas, and its production is even more pitiful.
Generally speaking, only about 2500 conch beads can be found a year, of which only 20%-30% of the beads can be used for jewelry processing and design, and high-quality ones are even rarer.
And what's even more unfortunate is that conch beads can not only produce beautiful beads, but also the meat is very tender, which is a rare delicacy, and has even been eaten to the point of "endangerment"!
In order to protect the conch beads, the giant phoenix snail is included in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, and most of the conch-producing countries have also established strict control schemes, either completely prohibited or strictly restricted, so that there are fewer conch beads circulating on the market.
In fact, conch beads are not only scarce in production, but more importantly, they cannot be cultivated on a large scale!
Since the 19th century, people have been trying to artificially cultivate conch beads, but due to the special exclusivity and sensitivity of conch beads, they have not been successful.
Until 2009, American researchers farmed about 50 conchs in captivity. After two and a half years of rearing, about 200 captive-bred conch beads were successfully obtained, and about 80% of the parent conchs survived.
Even if artificially cultivated conch beads are put on the market in the future, they will still not change the rare and precious characteristics of conch beads, after all, natural conch beads are irreplaceable.
In addition, the pollution of the sea is becoming more and more serious, and the future production of conch beads will also be affected, and its increasingly expensive price increase trend has become inevitable.
Although conch beads have become popular at auctions in recent years, many people mistakenly think that conch beads are a kind of valuable jewelry that suddenly appears.
△ Many stars like to match this delicate powder
But in fact, from the Victorian period, the Art Nouveau period to the ART DECO style period, the conch bead has never been absent ~ it has always been favored by everyone.
As one of the niche gemstones, it is pink, fresh and unique, always satisfying the girlish heart of women, and the rise in value is also obvious to everyone.
Such a set of appearance + collection in one of the beads, but it is really very rare ah ~ ~
For more fashion treasure consultation, pay attention to LiMing Jewelry.