Mention the “Crown Jewels” and you’ll likely immediately conjure in your mind the pomp and ceremony of the British monarchy. In 2023, the world got a rare glimpse of a couple of impressive crowns from the collection on the heads of Charles III and his wife Camilla. The Crown of Queen Mary, worn by the new queen, is notable for having three large diamonds cut from the largest gem-quality rough diamond ever found, the Cullinan Diamond.
Of course, the Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom aren’t the world’s only collection of royal ceremonial objects. In the regalia of monarchies around the world, there are crown jewels that are equally dazzling and have a fascinating history stretching back centuries. One such example is the Iranian Crown Jewels, properly known as the Iranian National Jewels, which include various elaborate crowns, numerous tiaras, a dozen swords and shields, and a number of unset precious gems. If you’re visiting Iran, you can drop by the Treasury of the National Jewels, situated inside the Central Bank of Iran on Tehran’s Ferdowsi Avenue, and see for yourself some of the most precious bejewelled objects in the world.
Among the most important of the priceless jewels on display are the Daria-i-Noor, the world’s largest known pink diamond, and another pink diamond, the Noor-ul-Ain, with almost identical colour and clarity. These two storied diamonds are believed to have been cut from the same huge pink stone, named the Great Table diamond, which was once studded in the throne of Shah Jahan, the fifth Muslim emperor of the Mughal Empire.
THE DARIA-I-NOOR
The earliest mention of the diamond named Daria-i-Noor is in a work from the times of Nader Shah, the founder of the Afsharid dynasty of Iran who ruled as shah of Iran (Persia) from 1736 to 1747. In that work, the stone was listed among the jewels confiscated by Nader during his invasion of India in 1739. As payment for returning the crown of India to the 13th Mughal emperor Muhammad
