Kimberly Elise

There were some advantages to marrying the Emperor Napoleon, if you like jewelry, that is! The Tiara Marie-Louise, who is now part of the collection of the Smithsonian, was a wedding gift from Napoleon I to his second wife, the Empress Marie-Louise in 1810. The diadem was originally part of a package that also included a necklace, a comb, belt buckle and earrings, all of emeralds and diamonds set in silver and gold. They have all been made by Etienne Nitot French jeweler and Son of Paris.

In the diadem of origin, there were 22 large and 57 small emeralds, with 1002 brilliant-cut diamonds and 66 pink. The central emerald weighs 12 carats. After the fall of the Emperor, Marie-Louise fled to Vienna and took his personal jewelry with her, including the diadem and other pieces that were made through a set including a necklace a pair of earrings and a comb.

The Empress Marie-Louise left the crown to her aunt Habsburg, Archduchess Elise. Habsburg Archduke Karl Stefan of Sweden, a descendant of the Archduchess sold all of Van Cleef & Arpels in 1953. Between May 1954 and June 1956, emeralds were removed and sold separately to jewels like emeralds "of the historic Napoleon Tiara."

Between 1956 and 1962, Van Cleef & Arpels turquoise cabochons mounted in the crown. In 1962, the crown was displayed in the Louvre in Paris with the necklace, earrings, and a comb in an exhibition on the Empress Marie-Louise. In 1971, Marjorie Merriweather Post, heiress of Post cereal fortune, purchased the diadem of the Smithsonian Institution. There are 1006 mines cut diamonds weighing a total of 700 carats and 79 Persian turquoise weighing a total of 540 carats. In a sense it is a shame as the original was dismantled to sell the emeralds. But the diadem, reset with cabochon turquoise is also beautiful and even more distinctive with the use of the turquoise waters of lesser value.