Some Famous Diamonds

	Kooh-I-Nor Believed to have been presented by Sultan Ala-ed-in to two brothers but captured on 4th may 1526 by Humayin, at which point it was stated to be valued at half the daily expense of the whole world. It arrived in England in 1850 and was presented to Queen Victoria on 3rd of July. It originally weighed 186carats(190metric). and took 38days to cut to its present form at a cost then of £8000.  It is currently an Oval Brilliant of 108.93metric carats. The name means Mountain of Light.The stone is currently set into the Maltese Cross in the crown made for the Queen mother in 1937.
	Hope The unusual Blue diamond that became the Hope, appeared in Europe in 1669 and is believed to be from Golconda. In its original state it is belived to have weighed 110.5 metric carats. After being cut into a heart of 69.03metric carats, the Stone disappeared in a robbery in 1792, possibly reappearing in Spain 7 years later. A dark blue diamond appeared in London in 1812 and is reputed to weigh "above 44cts". It aquired its name from Henry Philip Pope a banker, It was displayed in 1851 and 1855 but was sold in 1901. It was sold again in 1909 and again in 1910, by Cartier who had repoished it and set it.The new owner, a Mrs McLean immediately had the stone blessed. At her death in 1947 it was valued at $176,920 Harry Winston purchased the stone in 1949 and he presented it to the Smithsonian in 1958
	DeBeers Found in March 1888, weighing in the rough 439.86 metric carats. After cutting, which reduced this to 228.5carats, it was exhibited at the Paris Exhibition of 1889. It was at this time called the Victoria. It is the fourth largest cut diamond in the world. Cartier set it in 1925 when it was first purchased and it was sold again in he 1930s when its present owners aquired it. In 1982 it came up for auction but was withdrawn at £1,750,000 which was below its (undisclosed) reserve
	Eureka The stone that has become known as Africa's First Diamond although this is somewhat inaccurate.It was found in December 1866 and was a childs plaything. It was originally given away as its identity as a diamond was unrecognised. It was pronounced to be a diamond in 1867, weight at that time was stated to be 21.25 carats and worth £800 if cut and £500 in the rough at which figure it was sold. It eventually returned to Africa having been most of its polished life in England and is now on display near the old Kimberly Mine. It now weighs a "mere" 10.73cts, is off colour, has numerous internal imperfections and is not even well cut, but its historical importance cannot be overemphasised.
	Hortensia An unusual pale pink diamond, originally owned by Louis XIV. It weighs 20.53metric carats and was stolen, along with the Hope in 1792 but recovered a year later.When the Crown Jewels were sold in 1887, this stone was excluded on historic grounds and is on display in the Louvre
	Idols Eye A confused history surrounds this stone, It has been stated that it was set in the eye of an idol in Benghazi, however, as the city has been Muslim since the eighth century, there are no temples or idols in Benghazi. It weighs 70.2 metric carats and is obviously a Golconda stone, having a slight bluish tint. It was bought by Harry Winston in 1946 having been in a bank for some years after disappearing from the collection of Abd al-Hamid of the Ottoman Empire. It is reported that the subsequent buyer, Mrs May Bonfils Stanton, wore the stone to her solitary breakfast every morning. The stone was sold in 1962 after her death and again in 1979 when it was aquired by Laurence Graff of London. After a display in New York to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Harry Winston in 1982, the stone was sold as part of what is said to be one of the highest diamond transactions ever.
	Jubilee A colourless cushion cut stone weighing 245.35 metric carats, ranking as the third largest cut stone in the world. It weighed 650.8 carats in the rough and was discovered in 1895. Originally called The Reitz, It was renamed The Jubilee in 1896 in honour of The Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1897. It was planned to present it to her but this never happened. Shortly after being displayed in The Paris Exhibition of 1900, the stone was sold at a value of 7,000,000 francs to an Indian Industrialist and Philanthropist, Sir Dorabji Jamsetji Tata
	Marie Antoinette Blue When Marie Antoinette arrived in France she brought this stone with her, a greyish blue heart shaped diamond of 5.46 metric carats. As private property it never went with the Crown Jewels and was not not therefore stolen in 1792. Just before her execution the Queen presented the stone to a close confidant who was Polish and the stone went to Poland where, other than ocasional appearances it lived until being sold in 1967 to a private European buyer.
	Red Cross A typical South African Diamond, found in 1901 at the De Beers Company Mine. It now weighs 205.07 carats but is reported to have weighed 375cts in the rough although contemporary records do not support this. It was sold in 1918 on behalf of the British Red Cross Society and brought a massive £10,000 for that worthy society. It came up again in 1973 but was withdrawn at £820,000, it had been expected to fetch over £2,000,000, It appeared again in Geneva later that year and again in 1977 but its present whereabouts and owner is not clear.
	Regent A wonderful stone of Indian origin, this was origially known as the Pitt Diamond after Thomas Pitt who aquired it after 1701 under circumstances that remain murky to this day. He claimed to pay £20,000 for it and it cost £5000 and took 2 years to cut. The cleavage and dust from this process was valued at between £7000 and £8000. It finally came to France in 1717 where it was sold for £135,000, in installments. It was renamed the Regent at this point. After being stolen in 1792 (see above) along with the Hope and the Sancy (see below) it was recovered a year later and became The National Diamond of France and was pawned and became part of many complex financial deals during this turbulent period. When Napoleon Bonapart came to power it was mounted in the hilt of his sword and after his downfall in 1814, the stone travelled around quite a lot but by 1824 was back in France and worn at the coronation of Charles X. The stone is now on display at the Louvre, fortunate indeed not to have been sold with many other stones in France in 1887 and having survived the Second World War hidden behind a stone in a chateaux at Chambord.
	Sancy Another diamond with a very confused and chequered history, there have been 3 and possibly 4 stones with this name but the stone we know today as The Sancy is an Indian stone of 55.23cts, named after Nicholas Harlay de Sancy. It is believed that this stone was sold to Henry III of France as part of a larger deal in 1589, the year he was assassinated but even that part of the history is muddy. After 1642 it became part of the Crown Jewels of France and was known as Mazarin I and in 1691 was valued at 600,000 livres. The stone, like the Regent above has been pawned at several times, usually to finance wars, and after passing through several hands was purchased by Garrard & Co of London for £20,000. In 1867 it was exhibited in Paris and was on offer at 1,000,000 francs. It would then appear that the stone was sold to William Waldorf Astor and was worn by his wife who became Lady Astor in 1917, in a Tiara. In 1962 It was exhibited at the Louvre with the Hope and the Regent and in 1978 the fourth Lord Astor sold the stone to The Banque de France for a reputed $1,000,000 and it is now on display at The Louvre again with the Regent.
	Shah As the photo shows, this is not a cut diamond in the usual sense, it has been polished from its original 95cts to its present 88.7cts  and has been variously described as Table Cut, Portrait Stone and bar Shaped. It is unique because 3 of its polished faces are engraved with the names of 3 rulers who have owned it. The oldest dates the stone to around 1591 (AD) or 1000 in the Muslim calender and refers to Burhan II. The second inscription reads "Son od Jahangir Shah, Jahan Shah 1051" (1641 AD). The third inscription is that of the Persian Ruler Fath Ali Shah (1797-1834). The stone was probably acquired when Persia invaded India in 1739. There are many stories about how the stone then travelled to Russia and became part of the Russian Crown Jewels. In 1914 the stone was taken from St Petersburg to Moscow for safekeeping and it was found after the Russian Revolution in 1917 and put on display in the Kremlin.
	Star of South Africa It is hard to imagine, now that almost 140 years have passed since the discovery of the first stones in South Africa, that The Cape was being dismissed as late as 1868 as not being at all likely of bearing any diamonds. Those few found, were dismissed as being "salted" in order to enhance Farm Values or simply as "being dropped by ostriches" It is ironic then that in 1869 the stone we now call the Star of South Africa was discovered, weighing at that time 83.5cts, valued at "between £25 and £150" in the initial accounts but eventually sold for £11,200. It has been said that the stone was placed on a table before the SA parliament and the words "This diamond gentleman, is the rock upon which the future prosperity of South Africa will be built" were said. Its finding led in 1888 to the founding of De Beers and the hords of diggers who sweated for a living in that inhospitable land. The stone was cut in Amsterdam into a flawless pear shape of 47.69cts. It came up for sale in Geneva in 1974 expecting to fetch £100,000 but sold to an undisclosed buyer for £225,000, mounted as you see it here.
	Tiffany The company was founded in 1837 by Charles Louis Tiffany and quickly recognised the diamonds in South Africa were viable, being in the forefront of the buyers in the late 1800s.It is believed that this stone was found either in 1877 or 1878. It certainly went to France to be cut, yielding a cushion cut brilliant of 125.51cts. It was puchased by Tiffany & Co for £18,000 and the stone was shipped to the USA in 1879. It is one of the largest rare Deep Canary Yellows in the world. It has been on display almost continuously since 1896 at the Tiffany Store in New York and exhibited at many great international shows. In 1951, the new Chairman of Tiffany & Co decided to sell the stone for $500,000, a decision which shocked the board but fortunately the deal fell through. The stone was advertised again in 1973 for $5.000,000 but a story circulated that one salesman was asked what he would get if he did sell the stone and replied "Fired". The stone was valued again in 1983 at $12,000,000
	Wittelsbach This unusual stone was first recorded in the late 17th Century and must certainly be of Indian origin. It is of an unusual and rare dark blue colour and is believed to possibly  be part of the famous French Blue Diamond weighing 112.5cts, the principle remains of which is now called the Hope. This is a little unlikely. This stone weighs 35.5cts and has been cut in an unusual oval of 50 facets.It was sold in 1931 in an attempt to assist the fortunes of the deposed Royal family of Bavaria in whose possession it had been until the Rebublic was formed. It sold for £5400 and at that point it vanished. There were rumours but it was finally spotted in 1962 by a cutter who had been asked to view it with an eye to recutting it. Realising that this would be unwise, he formed a consortium and purchased the stone for £180,000 and the stone was eventually sold to a private collector in 1964.

And of course, How could I not include:

	Cullinan II The Cullinan Diamond was discovered on a Thursday, Actually 26th January 1905 and when weighed immediatly after discovery tipped the scales at 3106cts (metric) It was actually thrown out of the window initially, dimissed as being far too big to be a diamond but recivered by Fred Wells, the mine manager who had actually dug the stone out himself after his attention was drawn to it by the workers. The stone was cut into 9 principle stones and the Cullinan II yielded a cushion cut of 317.4cts. It is now set into the British Imperial State Crown
	Cullinan III & IV Cullinan III is the pear shaped stone shown left and weighs 94.4cts and together with Cullinan IV were originally set in the Crown for Queen Mary on the Coronation of GeorgeV in 1911. When Queen Elizaeth inherited them they were affectionately called "Granny's Chips". Cullinan IV is the Cushion cut shown left and weighs 63.6cts The 2 stones are now set as a brooch.
	The Great Star of Africa (Cullinan I) At 530.20cts, this is one of the largest cut diamonds in the world. it was named by Edward VII as The Great Star of Africa and ordered that it be set in the British Royal Sceptre, where it has remained ever since. The sceptre had to be re-design the whole piece in order to fit the stone.

I hope you enjoyed the potted histories, I may add to this list as time permits

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