A gold cap with ten large ornaments fashioned like brooches, five of which are each of six pearls and a balas-ruby, and the other five each of five pearls and two balas-rubies, and between each ornament there is a balas-ruby. This is appraised at 2159 florins ($5613).
A head-dress garnished with balas-rubies and sapphires and tassels of large pearls, each of six pearls, and with a row of larger balas-rubies, larger sapphires and larger pearls. This was estimated at 2030 florins ($5278).
A gold necklace, enameled white and green, garnished with nine rubies, thirteen diamonds and thirteen pearls, with a clasp of three small rubies, and three large pearls with one large diamond in the center. The worth of this necklace is given as 1923 florins ($5000).
The jewels and ornamental objects in this inventory are appraised at the sum of 56,129 florins,—about $145,000,—equivalent to a much larger sum to-day in consideration of the greater purchasing power of money in the fifteenth century.
In 1480, during the reign of Louis XI, an inventory was made of the objects preserved in the treasury of the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris.[[469]] We select the following items from this inventory:
A very beautiful cross, covered with gold, bearing on one side a crystal reliquary which contained a piece of the True Cross. On supports attached to the cross were images of the Virgin Mary and of St. John, each holding a reliquary. The cross itself rested on a square silver-gilt base bearing the images of the four evangelists. The ornamentation consisted of fifty large Scotch pearls and 142 small ones, intermixed with garnets and emeralds; there were also many balas-rubies and sapphires of different sizes. The inventory says: “The goldsmith Nicholas Roet declares that the stones are genuine and that the pearls are from Scotland.”
Another gold cross, resting on a silver-gilt base which bore the arms of France and Burgundy, was decorated with fourteen sapphires, twenty balas-rubies, and twenty-four Scotch pearls. On the base were the figures of St. Louis and of the queen, kneeling in prayer.
Still another cross, covered with gold and of Venetian workmanship, bore thirty-nine pearls, twenty-seven balas-rubies, and four sapphires. A clasp attached to this cross was set with four large perforated pearls surrounded by small emeralds and sapphires.
A silver-gilt ornament, consisting of a golden image of St. Louis seated on a silver throne and holding in his hand a reliquary decorated with twelve pearls, six emeralds, and six Alexandrian rubies. The crown of the image was set with four large oriental pearls, three balas-rubies, etc.
An ivory image of the Virgin Mary, supported by a silver-gilt base with the arms of France. This base was borne by four lions. On the head of the Virgin was a crown of gold adorned with eight large, round, oriental pearls and four small ones, as well as four emeralds and four balas-rubies. On the breast of the image was a very large, square emerald.