Object

The Imperial Sword of Iran, in Persian Shamshir-e Imperial, is the principal ceremonial sword in the Iranian National Jewels collection, held in the vault of the Central Bank of Iran in Tehran. The current sword in this designation was assembled in the Pahlavi era, between roughly 1925 and the mid-1960s, using gemstone material drawn from the Qajar and earlier collections. The Pahlavi assembly produced several major regalia pieces, including the Pahlavi Crown of 1925 and the Naderi Throne refurbishment, of which the Imperial Sword is part.

Construction

The sword has a steel blade with damascene inlay, a hilt and pommel of gold set densely with diamonds, emeralds and rubies, and a scabbard of gold also set with major gemstones. The total gemstone count is in the high hundreds, with several individual stones in the multi-tens of carats. Specific weights for individual stones in the sword are not publicly catalogued in detail, although the Iranian Treasury inventories include the piece in summary form.

The principal coloured stones are emeralds of probable Colombian origin, drawn from the Mughal-period Iranian collection that traces back to Nadir Shah's 1739 sack of Delhi. The diamonds are old-mine and old-European cuts of Indian and South African origin, mounted in characteristic late Qajar and Pahlavi setting style. The rubies, including some larger stones, are Burmese in origin, again drawing on the historical Persian luxury supply chain.

Place in the regalia

The sword is part of the broader assembly of Iranian Imperial regalia, which includes the Pahlavi Crown of 1925 used in the coronation of Reza Shah, the Empress Farah Crown made by Van Cleef and Arpels for the 1967 coronation, the Naderi Throne, the Peacock Throne (in fact a misnomer for the Naderi Throne, which is distinct from the original Mughal Peacock Throne destroyed after Nadir Shah's death), the Sea of Light spinel of Kuh-i-Lal origin, and the Darya-i-Noor diamond. The collection as a whole is one of the most concentrated assemblages of historical large gemstones globally, comparable in scale and gemmological importance to the Diamond Fund of the Russian Federation.

Survival and current custody

The Iranian National Jewels collection survived the 1979 Islamic Revolution because the new government, despite political opposition to the Pahlavi monarchy, recognised the collection as national patrimony and preserved it intact. The collection is held in vaults of the Central Bank of Iran in Tehran and is on partial public display under controlled access. The collection serves as collateral backing for the Iranian rial, a function that has been continuous through the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.

The political constraints on access have limited the gemmological documentation of individual stones in the collection. Major laboratories have not had systematic access in the manner that the British Crown Jewels and the Russian Diamond Fund have permitted. The published documentation of the collection is therefore principally drawn from Pahlavi-era inventories, V. B. Meen and A. D. Tushingham's Crown Jewels of Iran of 1968, and limited subsequent academic publications.

Trade significance

For the working trade, the Imperial Sword of Iran represents one of the densest concentrations of Mughal-derived emerald material in any modern collection. The historical chain from Colombia through Mughal Delhi through Nadir Shah's removal in 1739 through the Qajar collection through Pahlavi reassembly is the principal context for understanding the collection's gemstones. The reattribution of large red stones from ruby to spinel in royal European collections, and the parallel question of which Persian collection rubies are corundum versus spinel, has not been fully resolved given the limited modern laboratory access.