SKU: 50494382893

Empire of Diamonds: Victorian Gems in Imperial Settings

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Description

Empire of Diamonds: Victorian Gems in Imperial SettingsIn 1850, the legendary Koh i noor diamond, gem of Eastern potentates, was transferred from the Punjab in India and, in an elaborate ceremony, placed into Queen Victoria's outstretched hands. This act inaugurated what author Adrienne Munich recognizes in her engaging new book as the empire of diamonds. Diamonds were a symbol of political power only for the very rich and influential. But, in a development that also reflected the British Empire's

In 1850, the legendary Koh-i-noor diamond, gem of Eastern potentates, was transferred from the Punjab in India and, in an elaborate ceremony, placed into Queen Victoria's outstretched hands. This act inaugurated what author Adrienne Munich recognizes in her engaging new book as the empire of diamonds.

Diamonds were a symbol of political power--only for the very rich and influential. But, in a development that also reflected the British Empire's prosperity, the idea of owning a diamond came to be marketed to the middle class. In all kinds of writings, diamonds began to take on an affordable romance. Considering many of the era's most iconic voices--from Dickens and Tennyson to Kipling and Stevenson--as well as grand entertainments such as The Moonstone, King Solomon's Mines, and the tales of Sherlock Holmes, Munich explores diamonds as fetishes that seem to contain a living spirit exerting powerful effects, and shows how they scintillated the literary and cultural imagination.

Based on close textual attention and rare archival material, and drawing on ideas from material culture, fashion theory, economic criticism, and fetishism, Empire of Diamonds interprets the various meanings of diamonds, revealing a trajectory including Indian celebrity-named diamonds reserved for Asian princes, such as the Great Mogul and the Hope Diamond, their adoption by British royal and aristocratic families, and their discovery in South Africa, the mining of which devastated the area even as it opened the gem up to the middle classes. The story Munich tells eventually finds its way to America, as power and influence cross the Atlantic, bringing diamonds to a wide consumer culture.



Binding Type: Hardcover
Publisher: University of Virginia Press
Published: 05/19/2020
ISBN: 9780813944005
Pages: 296
Weight: 1.10lbs
Size: 9.10h x 6.50w x 0.80d
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SKU: 50494382893

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Lowell, US
★★★★★ 5
Size up 1
Size: Medium, Color: Pink
Great dress! It is your typical athletic material. The pink is pretty and matches the picture. Definitely size up 1! My child is a S and I sized up to M based on other reviews. It fits well and is a great length.
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Reviewed in the United States on May 11, 2026
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Carnegie, US
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Good product. Worth the buy
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Reviewed in the United States on May 27, 2026
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Kristin Lane
Birmingham, US
★★★★★ 3
Runs Small
Size: Medium, Color: Pink
My daughter usually wears a 7-8. Size 8 pants have to have the elastic pulled tight. I got the size M (8 years). It was way too tight on her. Had to send it back. We did like the way it looked and felt, but just too small.
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Reviewed in the United States on February 19, 2026
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soheila
Belleville, US
★★★★★ 1
too small
Size: Large, Color: Pink
I returned this dress; it was too small, and they didn't give me back my money.
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Reviewed in the United States on March 2, 2026
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Elizabeth H.
Lexington, US
★★★★★ 2
Runs very small
Size: X-Large, Color: Navy
Good quality but runs very small, does not even come close to fitting
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Reviewed in the United States on May 9, 2026

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