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Jewelry

Workers have installed a metal gate on the second-floor window of the Apollo Gallery, where thieves broke into the Louvre and stole valuable pieces of jewelry in October.

The Louvre Installs Metal Security Bars on Window Used During $102M Jewel Heist

The Paris institution, the busiest museum in the world, is also making other security upgrades

The Winter Egg was designed by Alma Pihl, one of the few female designers at the House of Fabergé. Czar Nicholas II gifted it to his mother, Maria Feodorovna, in 1913.

Fabergé Egg Gifted by Russia’s Last Czar Breaks World Record, Selling for $30.2 Million at Auction

For the third time in its history, the Winter Egg is now the most valuable Fabergé item ever sold

Charles I and his wife Zita, photographed around 1916, fled to Switzerland at the end of World War I.

The Florentine Diamond Was Thought to Be Lost to History. It’s Actually Been Safely Tucked Away in a Canadian Bank Vault All Along

Empress Zita of Bourbon-Parma wanted the jewel’s location to be kept secret for 100 years after the death of her husband, Charles I, in 1922. Their descendants now plan to display it at a museum

Archaeologists discovered an engraved intaglio that a Roman man stationed at Bremenium in northern England likely used to stamp his correspondence.

Archaeologists Excavating a Roman Fort in Britain Discovered a Rare Red Gemstone Engraved With a Surprising Design

The intaglio was likely set in a signet ring and used to stamp correspondence at Bremenium, a military outpost located roughly 25 miles north of Hadrian’s Wall

This 14th- or 15th-century aquamanile, a vessel for pouring water in domestic and religious settings, shows a sexual depiction of the legend of Aristotle and Phyllis.

See How These Medieval Artists Explored the Many Meanings of Love and Desire in a New Exhibition at the Met Cloisters

The show features more than 50 paintings, manuscripts, textiles and other artworks created in Western Europe between the 13th and 15th centuries

French police officers stand by the ladder that robbers used to enter the Louvre on October 19.

Burglars Just Broke Into the Louvre and Stole Historic Crown Jewels in a Daring Daylight Heist

In a matter of minutes, thieves climbed a ladder and smashed display cases before fleeing the scene with eight valuable artifacts. The jewels had been housed just 270 yards from the “Mona Lisa”

The Fabergé Winter Egg was designed by Alma Pihl.

This Rare Fabergé Egg Might Set a World Record at Auction for the Third Time in Its History

Commissioned by the Russian emperor Nicholas II, the diamond-covered Winter Egg is expected to fetch $27 million when it goes under the hammer in London on December 2

The wampum beads found this summer by Calum Brydon, an archaeology graduate student

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Unearth Seven Rare Wampum Beads at 17th-Century English Settlement in Canada

Indigenous groups created the small beads from mollusk shells. They’re the first artifacts of their kind ever found at the Colony of Avalon in Newfoundland

The "Vanderbilt Sapphire" by Tiffany & Company is estimated to fetch at least $1 million at auction.

You Can Buy These Gilded Age Jewels That Once Belonged to the Vanderbilt Family

The collection, which will hit the auction block in November, includes a fragment of the tiara that Gladys Vanderbilt received upon her marriage to a Hungarian count

The bracelet was taken by a staffer at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.

A 3,000-Year-Old Bracelet Belonging to an Ancient Egyptian Pharaoh Has Been Stolen, Sold and Melted Down for Gold

After the artifact went missing from Cairo’s Egyptian Museum in early September, authorities began carefully tracking down its whereabouts

The site was occupied by an unknown Celtic tribe.

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Unearth Ancient Celtic Settlement Filled With Jewelry, Amber and Coins in the Czech Republic

The 62-acre settlement was likely established in the fourth century B.C.E. Researchers think it may have served as a major trading hub

In 1893, a Spanish princess paid $2,500 (roughly $90,000 today) for a replica of this spun-glass gown.

How Do You Wear a Gown Made of Glass? Marvel at the Eye-Catching History of This Unlikely Fashion Trend

In the 20th century, actresses and royals alike donned delicate dresses woven with spun-glass threads. More recently, celebrities have sported impractically fragile handbags on the red carpet

Natalia Pavlovna Paley, also known as Natalie Paley, was the granddaughter of Alexander II of Russia and a cousin of Nicholas II.

This Exiled Romanov Princess Fled the Bloodshed of the Russian Revolution and Reinvented Herself as a Fashion Icon

A new exhibition spotlights Natalia Pavlovna Paley, the granddaughter of a czar. She built a new life for herself in France and the U.S., appearing in films and on the pages of glossy magazines

The fragment belongs to a gold arm-ring composed of eight braided gold rods.  

Cool Finds

A 1,000 Year-Old Gold Bracelet Fragment Found on a British Isle Dates Back to When Vikings Ruled the Land

Archaeologists believe the piece was made by a skilled goldsmith and was potentially used as currency

The rare diamond is now the centerpiece of a ring by Joel Arthur Rosenthal, a renowned jewelry designer better known by his initials, JAR.

Smuggled Out of France During a Bloody Revolution, Marie Antoinette’s Shimmering Pink Diamond Is Heading to Auction

The 10.38-carat gemstone, which carries an estimate of $3 million to $5 million, was owned by generations of European royalty

An unidentified man found the armlet in a wetland last fall.

Cool Finds

Eagle-Eyed Man Discovers Rare Viking Arm Ring That May Have Been Lost in a Marsh in Sweden 1,000 Years Ago

Archaeologists say the iron armlet could also have been buried deliberately in a sacrificial bog

The well-preserved ring was found by a retired firefighter.

Cool Finds

See the Stunning Sapphire Ring Belonging to a Medieval Bishop That Just Sold at Auction

Found by a metal detectorist in England, the item features a sapphire surrounded by two emeralds and two stones that are either garnets or rubies

The discoveries include gold-plated beads, eye-shaped amulets and a small statue of three Egyptian gods.

Cool Finds

See the Stunning Golden Jewelry, Amulets and Small Statues Unearthed at an Ancient Egyptian Temple

Found at the Karnak Temple complex in Luxor, the 2,600-year-old trove includes a necklace depicting a golden trio of Egyptian deities

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There's More to That

A Mystery Surrounding the Grave of JFK Is Solved

A sculpture recognizing a spontaneous gesture of affection towards the slain president vanished into thin air more than half a century ago. Here’s the story of how it was just recently rediscovered.

Researchers estimate the women were buried with more than 270,000 disc-shaped beads.

New Research

Why Were These Women Buried With More Than 270,000 Beads?

At a 5,000-year-old tomb in Spain, researchers found what is likely the largest known collection of beads ever discovered at a burial site

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