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Aurélia Turrall, Jewellery Specialist
Francis I, French king from 1515-1547, decided to differentiate personal jewels to those belonging to the State. At the time, jewels were used to finance wars and for political purposes. In 1530 he selected 8 gems and jewels. Kings and Queens would enjoy these gems and jewels throughout their reign but the collection would be inalienable and had to be passed down on their death. The collection included three spinels called “balais rubies”, from the north region of Afghanistan called Badakhchan. In many crown jewels, spinels are described as rubies.
The most important was the Côte-de-Bretagne, a 214 carat spinel, probably from Pakistan. Originally it was an odd-shaped stone, with three points.
The stone belonged to Anne de Bretagne, wife of Louis XII and are linked to how Brittany became part of France.
The Côte-de-Bretagne is the only “survivor” of the original collection put together by Francois Ier. It has been pawned several times, coming and going numerous times. It has stood the test of time but not intact; re-cut for Louis XV in the shape of a dragon, bringing its weight down to 107 carats. The stone is so large that it could have financed a whole city at the time.
The other spinels were the Oeuf de Naples (the egg of Naples, top) a 247 carat spinel added by Francis II, and l’A-Romain (the Roman A, for Anne of Brittany, bottom).
A diamond pendant was amongst the 1565 inventory of Mary Stuart. It was a diamond pendant with table cut diamonds, bought to her by her husband, Francis II, when she was Queen consort of France between 1559 and 1560.
He also purchased the Great Table, a 41 carat diamond, worth 212kgs of gold. 30 years after Francis I death, his grandson Henri III pawned the Crown jewels, against his grandfather’s wishes, in order to pay for the religious wars. Very few jewels were bought back but the Côte-de-Bretagne was miraculously recovered.
