Tower of Jewels & California Diamond Jubilee Souvenir Items
Posted By whatsitworth on January 23, 2012
I’m wondering if you can tell me anything about this unusual piece of World Fair memorabilia? I bought it hidden in a box lot from a yard sale 30+ years ago. It is soft, supple animal skin with “Tower of Jewels, Panama Pacific Exposition, San Francisco – 1915″ etched into it. It also has some flowers etched in along with some applied velvet poinsettia and buds.

I just finished Simon Winchester’s 2005 work, “A Crack in the Edge of the World: America and the Great California Earthquake of 1906″ and found it riveting. It traces historic, geologic, sociologic and economic aspects that led to the development of continents, mountain ranges and the city of San Francisco. I learned a tremendous amount about California history and I’m better able to tie in your wonderful pillow with this history.
The 1915 San Francisco Panama Pacific International Exposition celebrated both the opening of the Panama canal in 1914 as well as the rebirth of a city destroyed by earthquake and fire less than a decade in its past.
The fair saw of 18 million visitors and featured a five-acre reproduction of the Panama Canal and a Ford Automobile assembly plant; the Liberty Bell was transported to the site and the fair was visited by Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell and other luminaries of the day. General Electric electrified the entire sight – the largest expanse of electrification to date.
The Tower of Jewels was one of the most iconic buildings of the fair. At 453 feet surmounted by a figure of a Phoenix, the tower was hung with more than 100,000 pieces of multi-faceted colored Bohemian glass. These “jewels” were suspended loosely so they glittered in the breeze; searchlights illuminated the building night and day.
Likenesses of the Tower of Jewels graced postcards, book covers, pins, scarves, spoons, plates and any other imaginable souvenir. Your two-part embossed leather pillow is one of the more unusual pieces I’ve seen. It isn’t clear to me from the pictures of the applied florals were part of the original pillow or if someone at a later date tried to add color to the monochromatic pillow.
PPIE souvenir items are always hot with collectors. The huge variety of items produced mean that collectors at any price level can afford items. Your embossed pillow is lovely and it would be a simple matter to reassemble it. At auction it would have a pre-sale estimate of $300-500.
I found this pin cleaning out an estate. I know it is not gold and a real diamond but I’m wondering what you can tell me about it. The pin is two inches long and reads, “California Diamond Jubilee.”

Interestingly, when a person or couple celebrates a Diamond Jubilee this signifies a 60-year accomplishment: England’s Queen Elizabeth will be honored this summer for her Diamond Jubilee. For an item or an entity to attain a Diamond Jubilee, however, it must reach the 75-year mark. Your pin commemorates the 1925 celebration of California’s 75th or Diamond Jubilee.
From a gem point of view, a diamond weighing in at 245.33 carats found in South Africa in 1895 was named the Jubilee Diamond. The rough stone weighed over 650 carats and was split into two stones. One was presented to the King of Portugal and the larger piece was cut in a manner that had the characteristics of both the brilliant cut and the rose cut diamond. The stone was so fine that the owners considered presenting it to Queen Victoria in recognition of her 1897 diamond jubilee. They thought better of it and subsequently displayed the stone at the 1900 Paris Exposition. The stone is still referred to as the Jubilee Diamond and the unusual and old-fashioned cut is still known as a jubilee cut.
Your lovely little piece of costume jewelry features a center stone closely mimicking a twelve-carat jubilee cut stone. Some of the enamel is worn and it looks as if the two stones flanking the center stone are missing. That being said, I love this pin. Not a lot of commemorative items were produced to celebrate California’s Diamond Jubilee – we mostly see medallions and a specially minted half dollar coin.
To the ardent collectors of California Historic memorabilia this is a great piece. I’d estimate it at $50 to $80.
Jane Alexiadis
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