Imperial Crown of Austria, 1938 (colour litho)

Made in 1602 in Prague by the goldsmith Jan Vermeyen as the personal crown of Rudolf II (1552-1612) King of Bohemia (1575-1611) and Holy Roman Emperor (1576-1612); later this crown became the Imperial Crown of the Habsburg Empire of Austria; it was never used for coronations since, unlike the Holy Roman Empire, the Austrian empire was hereditary in the Habsburg family and a coronation was not considered necessary; the mitre form is a symbol of the divine right to rule and the spiritual rôle of the emperor; now on display at the Weltliche und Geistliche Schatzkammer, Vienna, Austria; Oesterreichische Kaiserkrone; from a series of illustrations of famous royal crowns published by the cigarette manufacturer, Godfrey Phillips, to coincide with the public interest in royalty and regalia after the coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth in 1937;