The Crown of Lombardy, 1938 (colour litho)

Also known as the Iron Crown (Corona Ferrea) or Charlemagne Crown; a circlet of gold fitted around an iron band, according to tradition beaten from one of the iron nails used to crucify Jesus and given to the Emperor Constantine by his mother, St. Helena; the beeswax and clay holding the precious stones of the crown were dated in 1996 by Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) to between 700 and 780 AD, which makes likely its traditional identification as the crown used at the coronation in Rome by Pope Leo III of Charlemagne in 800 AD as king of the Lombards; also used by Napoleon in 1805 to crown himself King of Italy in Milan; now held at Monza Cathedral, near Milan, Italy; from a series of illustrations of famous royal crowns published by the cigarette manufacturer, Godfrey Phillips, to coincide with the public interest in royalty after the coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth in 1937;