Blog The Trickster in the Crown

[bcmacdonald]

John Pollard unmasks the ROGUE that fooled Catherine the Great!

John Pollard published a new blog post.

Meet The Imperial Crown of Russia​

Upon ascending to the throne in 1762, Empress Catherine II - also known as Catherine the Great - took all of the jewels in the royal treasury which didn't "suit her tastes" and commanded her artisans to create a new crown for her coronation. The result was something that...

Continue reading the Original Blog Post.

 

[Karl_K]

Fun read and interesting but,,, #fakerubies??
They did nothing, it was the experts who were bad not the stones! lol

 

[DejaWiz]

Did you know the red trickster would be a spinel?
No, I didn't!

Given how cool the crown is, does it matter?
I don't think so - it's still an amazing piece shrouded in historical significance.

Have you ever confused one colored gemstone for another?
Yep

Have you ever been fooled by a diamond simulant?
Yes.

If you have, which one…if you haven’t what gave it away?
A little over 15 years ago, my sister-in-law worked at a jewelry store that had just started a huge Moissanite campaign. Back then, I didn't know what to look for in order to differentiate between the visual aspects of Moissy and Diamond.

Did you know The Imperial Crown has a ‘stunt double’ which tours the world since the original isn’t allowed to leave Russia?
I did not know that!

Do you think Catherine the Great had a strong neck?
LOL, yeah probably...especially after donning that crown for the first week!

Who would win in a fight – Catherine the Great or Queen Elizabeth II in her prime?
Queen Elizabeth II - she joined the British Army during WWII and chose to become an auto mechanic (rumor says that HRM can and does still diagnose vehicle engine problems!)

 

[John Pollard]

Fun read and interesting but,,, #fakerubies??
They did nothing, it was the experts who were bad not the stones! lol

True that... #fakerubies, it's not your fault.

I was not casting stones at the stones @Karl_K - that'd be stone cold.

You shouldn't stone the experts either, though. They were not not bad. They simply lacked the technology to analyze optical anisotropy (bless their hearts).

 

[John Pollard]

Who would win in a fight – Catherine the Great or Queen Elizabeth II in her prime?
Queen Elizabeth II - she joined the British Army during WWII and chose to become an auto mechanic (rumor says that HRM can and does still diagnose vehicle engine problems!)

I had no idea! That lady never ceases to amaze.

 

[oncrutchesrightnow]

Did you know the red trickster would be a spinel? Given how cool the crown is, does it matter?

- Stuff like this only bugs me if someone was intentionally tricking someone else.



Have you ever confused one colored gemstone for another? Have you ever been fooled by a diamond simulant? If you have, which one…if you haven’t what gave it away?

- I don’t know. I went through the engaged-lady-looking-at-everyone-else’s-rings stage before moissanite. Funnily enough all my friends who didn’t get diamonds gave an explanation why they chose a different stone without anyone asking first. Curious to hear others’ answers.

 

[blingmeupscotty]

This is a great story!! Thank you.

 

[John Pollard]

Did you know the red trickster would be a spinel? Given how cool the crown is, does it matter?

- Stuff like this only bugs me if someone was intentionally tricking someone else.

I feel the same way. Especially in this case where the history makes it priceless, whether it was a 300ct ruby or a petrified apple in the crown.

Have you ever confused one colored gemstone for another? Have you ever been fooled by a diamond simulant? If you have, which one…if you haven’t what gave it away?

- I don’t know. I went through the engaged-lady-looking-at-everyone-else’s-rings stage before moissanite. Funnily enough all my friends who didn’t get diamonds gave an explanation why they chose a different stone without anyone asking first. Curious to hear others’ answers.

I stumbled into diamonds somewhat accidentally - by way of fascination with astronomy and geosciences - but I've always enjoyed their distinctive RI.

My first exposure to simulant was a local jewelry store (local to where I grew up), shopping for a mothers' day gift. The owner, a friend of the family, called me over to ask what I thought of lab created moissanite. I told him it looked fake. That was probably uncool - because he was showing it to another mothers' day shopper at the time - but hey, he asked.

I'd enjoy hearing more stories too. If anyone wants the conch, here it is.

 

[Wink]

In late 1975 or very early 1976, Resa and I were just back to Boise from our time at GIA and playing cards with another couple who were friends of mine from college. We were staying at my mom and dad's house while Resa and I were house hunting.

A friend of my mother came in with a big old honking ugly rock on her finger and kept asking me to appraise it for her. I demurred several times, saying I needed my tools to do it properly.

Finally she said I must not be much of a gemologist if I could not even give her an estimate without my tools.

I said I would do it and after fifteen to twenty seconds, gave her a verbal report. "This diamond appears to be between 2.2 and 2.5 carats. I cannot grade the color properly since I am sitting in a yellowish beige room under strongly yellow incandescent lighting. It is I1 in clarity and in today's market I am guessing between five to eight thousand dollars."

She threw a hissy fit and said she had paid 20k for it at (Name deleted to protect the guilty) jewelers in XYZ city. I wanted to say it was not my fault that she overpaid so badly, but I just said she should bring it to the store where I worked anytime she wanted to let me appraise it properly. She made some snotty comment about never trusting me with her precious jewelry and left the room.

Only then did I turn to my friends and said, "Hey, it is not MY fault she overpaid so badly.)