The Excelsior, 995 carats, and the Jubilee, 650 carats in the rough, both came from the Jagersfontein mine; the Jonker dia¬mond, 726 carats in the rough but since cut in New York, was found in 1934, near the Premier Mine. These and some other large stones of recent date have already been mentioned. (more…)
Since the expansion of the South African fields, a number of large stones has been found, a few of which have already been mentioned. The most notable is the Cullinan, which was dis¬covered near Pretoria in 1905. (more…)
The Savoy diamond once belonged to Queen Elizabeth, and later James II sold it to Louis XIV. It was shown at the Paris Exhibition in 1867. Other well-known large diamonds are the Empress Eugenie (51 carats), the Loterie d’Angleterre (49 carats), the Pole Star (40 carats), and the Excelsior, a huge stone of 995 carats in the rough, but which has been cut into several gems, the largest weighing 70 carats.
The Star of the South (124 carats, but over 254 carats before being cut), came from Brazil and was eventually bought by the Gaekwar of Baroda. It is said that the stone was found in 1853 by a negress slave, who was given her freedom and a life pension.
The Sancy diamond (53 carats) is often confused with another stone of 34 carats and, in fact, this name must have been applied to many stones of about the same size and weight. It was bought in Constantinople about 1570 by the French ambassador to Tur¬key and taken to France, where both Henry III and Henry IV borrowed it. The diamond was finally bought by Queen Eliza¬beth I of England. Later it passed into the possession of Louis XIV but disappeared during the 1792 jewel robbery in France. On its reappearance it was sold to a Russian prince. Before the last war it was acquired by Lord Astor and it is now in the posses¬sion of Lady Astor, American-born Nancy Langhorne.
The Dresden diamond is of a beautiful apple-green shade, and the Tiffany an orange colored brilliant of 125 carats. A ruby-red stone, known as Paul I, was amongst many of the fine Russian stones which belonged to the late Imperial Russian family. These stones all survived the Revolution of 1917, and they are exhibited to the public in the museums at Leningrad and Moscow.
The largest colored diamond is the Hope, a greenish-blue stone of about 44 carats. Originally larger, it was bought in India in 1642 by Tavernier, and sold by him to Louis XIV. During the French Revolution, it was stolen, but it reappeared in 1830 and was bought by a banker, Thomas Hope, for $90,000.
On the sale of Hope’s collection of gem stones, this diamond went to America and then to Turkey. Later, it was sold by auction in Paris, and from 1911 to 1947, it was in the possession of an American, Mrs. Evelyn Walsh McLean. Two years later, it was sold to the New York diamond merchant Harry Winston for $700,000, or over a quarter of a million pounds.
This stone is supposed to bring ill-luck to its possessor, and it must be admitted that Marie Antoinette, who once wore this gem, died by the guillotine; a French broker into whose hands it came at a later date also met an untimely death; while the Sultana of Abdul Hamid was shot by her husband when she was wearing the jewel. Another owner, Mr. Habib, was drowned at sea, and the McLean family could not be regarded as being lucky either, so the stories associated with the Hope are not all fables.
Another Indian stone of historical interest is the Orloff. This is a rose cut diamond of fine quality and weighing 193 carats. It is supposed to have come originally from a temple in India. A French soldier stole it and later sold it to a sea captain at Madras.
After passing through other hands at increased prices, it was bought by an Armenian, Shafrass, who sold it to Prince Orloff on behalf of the Empress Catherine II of Russia. In 1935, it was re¬ported that the Soviet Government had sent this stone to Amster¬dam to be cut into smaller stones as, on account of its size, no buyer could be found for such a large single stone. But later, the stone was said to be intact and still in the Russian State Treasures (National Fund of Metals and Precious Stones).
There are other tales about this stone, and it may be confused with another large diamond called The Moon of the Mountains, or the Shah. This stone of 86 carats belonged to the Great Mogul, later to Nadir, the Shah of Persia, and after his assassination in 1747, it was disposed of secretly with the crown jewels.
The Armenian Shafrass bought the stone, and some ten years later offered it for sale in Amsterdam, where it was also bought by Prince Orloff. But all accounts agree that the brilliance and qual¬ity of the stone are very fine, although its shape is far from per¬fect. The Moon of the Mountains, whose weight has been given as 183 carats, was sold by auction in London on August 20th, 1942, when it realised $14,500 (£5,200).
A conflicting report of more recent date asserts that the Shah is in the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics. Its weight is given as 88.70 carats, and it is in the national collection which includes many fine stones. Amongst these are some 70 diamonds of excep¬tional size, a pink diamond of 3.30 carats, a violet stone of about 10 carats, and a pink 10 carat diamond, which was bought by Paul I for $28,000 (£10,000) .
All the oldest and large known diamonds have suffered many viscissitudes, and their history, even if accounts differ, makes interesting reading. Some appear on the market for sale from time to time often by anonymous owners. An extended account of many of the older large diamonds will be found in “Great Diamonds of the World,” by E. W. Streeter, but as this work was first published in 1882, it does not describe the large South African diamonds which have been found during this century. A more recent work is “Famous Diamonds of the World,” by Robert M. Shipley. (more…)
There is one phenomenon which has caused further discussion on the causes of the formation of diamond. Stones have been found in meteorites, and they have received considerable attention in Arizona. U.S.A., where some were found. Fragments of metallic, iron of different sizes, believed to be the product of meteoric showers which occurred at some unknown date, have been found in Hungary and Russia as well as in the U.S.A. (more…)
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