Saturday, January 1, 2011

Jousting for Jewels - Hobbies August 1942

What a quaint custom this was, you learn something new everyday as they say and this I learned today:

Just an Old Court Custom

"The traveler, Tavernier, in his records of his trips and adventures, makes mentions of the ladies of the court and how they obtained fine collections of jewels in their day.

He speaks of one custom that he observed at the festivities at Raitsborne when Ferdinand III was crowned emperor. Tournaments were waged for jewels, and jewelers from all over Europe came to these celebrations, for it was good advertising and often they were rewarded with good orders.

It was the custom of the manager of the festivities to have erected two platforms - one for the emperor, empress and ladies of the court, the other arranged to resemble an open shop in which many jewels of great rarity were displayed. The knighs and nobles would touch the jewels they were supposed to compete for - either in races or games. The losing contestant paid for the ornaments which the competitors won.

The conqueror would receive his jeweled trophy from the Prince, place it on a sword and offer it to the empress, whose custom it was to decline. The winner would then offer it to his favorite lady of the court."

I wonder would happen if the empress decided not to decline, I am sure a few pieces caught her eye as well.


We don't have jewels worthy of royalty but we do offer costume jewelry in our store with much more to be added as time permits. Just click on the BushellCollectibles in the header above to see all of our offerings!

1 comment:

  1. Very interesting, Jeanette! I had no clue, yes, I wonder too, if the Empress would have taken the jewels instead of passing!

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