Paper Trail Behind the Unsolved Liechtenstein Ducal Hat Mystery

Summary: The Liechtenstein ducal hat mystery has a paper trail in correspondence, drawing, inventories and wills that heads mystery-solvers to dead-ends.

Karl I (July 30, 1569-Feb. 12, 1627), first Prince of Liechtenstein, began his reign Dec. 20, 1608, and commissioned Daniel de Briers for the Liechtenstein ducal hat, which went missing in the 18th century: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The Liechtenstein ducal hat mystery arises despite an avowal of unalterability and unattachability in the gouache inventory number 360 Sep. 1, 1756, annotating the "complete jewelry belonging to the Princely Liechtenstein Primogeniture."

Nothing bears the likeness of the Liechtenstein ducal hat except the gouache and the replica from 1976 in the Liechtenstein National Museum (Liechtensteinisches Landesmuseum) in Vaduz. The replica captures the gouache's colors and configuration and celebrates the 70th birthday of Franz Joseph II (Aug. 16, 1906-Nov. 13, 1989), 15th prince of Liechtenstein. The drawing in opaque pigments ground in water and thickened with a binding agent displays the Liechtenstein ducal hat, the eldest-born's princely jewelry and descriptive text.

The gouache's exact exhibition of the headpiece's front encourages Liechtenstein ducal hat mystery-solvers to expect an extraction sometime, somewhere even though re-purposing exists as an outcome.

Gouache inventory number 360 fits diamonds, pearls and rubies onto the gold finial atop the velvet hat, the gold circlet and the front's eight gold standards.

Svenja's article in the blog Luxarazzi Sep. 5, 2014, gives Liechtenstein ducal hat gem and metal breakdowns as old pieces of gold jewelry and 23 pearls. It has 6 table-cut diamonds, 3.25 carats as 45 diamonds, 5.5 carats as 35 diamonds, 10 carats as 16 diamonds and 19 carats as 16 rubies. The book Lichtenstein: The Princely Collections by The Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York identifies the Liechtenstein ducal hat's individual contributions and costs.

Gems in the possession of Liechtenstein ducal hat commissioner Prince Karl I (July 30, 1569-Feb. 15, 1627) joined those in the Herzogshut ("ducal hat") creator's collection.

Daniel de Briers, art dealer and jeweler for the Habsburg imperial court, kept in Prague hardstones and rock crystals purchased from the imperial Kunstkammer ("curiosity cabinet").

Princely archives listed paying 4,500 florins in May and June 1626 to Jobst von Brüssel (died 1635) and 9,000 florins Sep. 7, 1626, to de Briers. Habsburg imperial court goldsmith Gottfried Nick (died 1640) made the Liechtenstein ducal hat frame in Frankfurt-am-Main and moved it to Prague for 27 florins 30 kreutzer. Completion needed Frankfurt-am-Main-based crown case-maker and cutler Martin Jürgen, furrier Lorenz Hainrich, hat-maker Adam Michael, hat-trimmer Mathes Gabriel, purse-maker Hans Berckman and velvet case-maker Anselmo Sardati.

De Briers operated as Habsburg imperial court jeweler in Frankfurt-am-Main even as his Netherlands-born brother-in-law, von Brüssel, operated as court jeweler in Prague to three emperors.

The documents that pertain to the Liechtenstein ducal hat commission and completion in the princely archives preserve total estimated expenditures at over 16,000 florins or gelders.

Absence of the Herzogshut from the first nine reigning princes' portraits qualifies as big a mystery as absence of the Liechtenstein ducal hat from entailed collections. The 27.5- by 18.875- (69.8- by 48-centimeter) pencil, pen and ink and gouache on vellum recalls the expensive, extensive efforts relating to the Liechtenstein ducal hat. Perhaps the Herzogshut's significance stopped when its commissioner's direct male line stopped, despite the gouache stating crown jewelry "shall remain for all times unchanged and unaltered."

Who took the Herzogshut without telling whether the Liechtenstein ducal hat turned into melted metal, recut gems and retailored velvet after temporary turbulence among competing heirs?

A replica of the Luxembourg ducal hat, presented by the people of Liechtenstein to Prince Franz Joseph II on his 70th birthday August 1976, is displayed in Vaduz's Liechtenstein National Museum; (left to right): Countess Georgina von Wilczek and her husband, Prince Franz Joseph II; Countess Marie Kinsky von Wchinitz und Tettau and her husband, Hans-Adam, now 16th Prince of Liechtensten: Luxarazzi @ Luxarazzi, via Facebook Nov. 13, 2014

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Karl I (July 30, 1569-Feb. 12, 1627), first Prince of Liechtenstein, began his reign Dec. 20, 1608, and commissioned Daniel de Briers for the Liechtenstein ducal hat, which went missing in the 18th century: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Karl_I_v_Liechtenstein.jpg

(left to right) Countess Georgina von Wilczek and her husband, Prince Franz Joseph II; Countess Marie Kinsky von Wchinitz und Tettau and her husband, Hans-Adam, now 16th Prince of Liechtenstein: Luxarazzi @Luxarazzi, via Facebook Nov. 13, 2014, @ https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=836522963034742

For further information:

Dotson, Samuel C. 2003. Genealogie des Fürstlichen Hauses Liechtenstein Seit Hartmann II (1544-1585). Falköping Sweden: Rosvall Royal Books.

Kräftner, Johan; Isabel Kuhl eds. 2004. Liechtenstein Museum: The Princely Collections. Prestel Museum Guides. Munich, Germany; London, England; New York, NY: Prestel.

Liechtenstein: The Princely Collections. New York NY: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1986.
Available via Google Books @ https://books.google.com/books?id=A1f7lsIFyu0C&pg=PA31&source=gbs_toc_r&cad=4#v=onepage&q&f=false

Luxarazzi @Luxarazzi. 13 November 2014. "25 years ago today, Prince Franz Josef II of Liechtenstein died just weeks after his wife, Princess Gina." Facebook.
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=836522963034742

Marriner, Derdriu. 17 August 2018. "Liechtenstein Ducal Hat Unsolved Mystery Since the 18th Century." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/08/liechtenstein-ducal-hat-unsolved.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 24 August 2018. "Liechtenstein Ducal Hat Mystery: Collateral Lines, Competing Heirs." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/08/lichtenstein-ducal-hat-mystery.html

Svenja. 5 September 2014. "Luxarazzi 101: The Ducal Hat of Liechtenstein." Luxarazzi.
Available @ http://www.luxarazzi.com/2014/09/luxarazzi-101-ducal-hat-of-liechtenstein.html

Wilhelm, Gustav. 1960. "Der historische Liechtensteinische Herzogshut." Jahrbuch des Historischen Vereins für das Fürstentum Liechtenstein 60: 7-20.
Available via Liechtensteinische Landesbibliothek @ http://www.eliechtensteinensia.li/viewer/image/000000453_60/9/LOG_0006/