The deposits of India

 

GREAT MOGUL - 1655 - Kollur Mine - India

 

It is the largest diamond of Indian deposits. It was found around 1655 in Kollur; untreated it weighted 786.50 carats; it was given to Shah Jehan, fifth founder of the Mughal Empire of Indostan. It was rose cut by the Venetian cutter Ortensio Borgis who damaged the stone (in fact it looks like a half egg), and its weight was reduced to 280 carats; Shah Jehan, furious, deprived Borgis of all its goods. It was heard about this diamond from the descriptions and draws of Tavernier, an expert merchant of gems who, during his journey in India in 1665, saw it in the treasure of the Great Mogul in Delhi. It is not known what exactly happened. Today somebody identifies it in other diamonds, the Ko-hi-noor, the Orlow, and others assure that it is now belongs a part of the treasure of the Shah of Persia.

 

KOH-I-NOOR  - 1500 - Kollur Mine - India - 105.60 Ct

 

The Koh-i-noor n. I, [Saint Vincent-1989] also called Mountain of Light, was founded in India and it became part of the treasure of the kingdom of Great Moghal Aurengzeb and his empire. In 1739 it passed to the wrecker of this kingdom, Shah of Persia Nadir; afterwards it was given to Ranjit Singh, king of Lahore. In 1850 the English conquered Punjab, the son of the king was obliged to give it to the East India Company, which gave it as a present to the Queen Victoria of England. Today it is still part of the British Crown Jewels. The stone was firstly badly rose cut, with the upper faceting badly defined and a weight of 186 carats; it was afterwards again brilliant cut in 1852, in Amsterdam, and its weight was reduced to 106 carats (Koh-i-nur n. 2). Today it can be contemplated in the Tower of London together with the other wonderful jewels of the British Crown.

 

 

REGENT o PITT - 1701 -  Partial Mine- India - 136 Ct

 

The untreated diamond [Saint Vincent-1989] weighted 410 cts. It was discovered in an Indian mine by a slave who stole the stone, inflicted a wound on his leg and concealed it in the bandages. During the flee the slave offered the diamond to an English sea captain in return for a save passage to the freedom. During the voyage the slave disappeared and the stone was sold to Ramchud, an Indian merchant, who gave it to captain Pitt, governor of Madras. Afterward the first person who owned the diamond was the governor, who purchased it for 312,500 francs. In 1717 this rare and precious gemstone was sold to Philippe of Orleans, then Regent of France (that gave it the name of Regent) for 3,125,000 francs who gave it as a present to the future King Louis XV, to embed it into the royal crown. During the reign of terror, revolutionaries seized the jewel and made it disappear; fortunately it was rescued and the day of the coronation in Notre Dame the Regent Diamond embellished the hilt of the sword of Napoleon. Today it is part of the national heritage and it is preserved at the Louvre Museum.

 

SANCY (?) - India - 55 Ct

 

This diamond, discovered in India, not very large but a legendary stone, was owned by all kings of France. Found in India, nobody knows how and when, this stone was owned by Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy. During the fighting days the brave Duke wore that stone on the crest. In the disastrous day at Granson the gemstone remained with him on the battle field and it was founded by a Swiss soldier who sold it to a priest for two Tournois liras; he did not recognize its value and sold it back for three liras to a foreigner whose traces have been lost. In 1589, observing its shape, its weight and its quality it was identified with a diamond of the Court of Portugal. King Antoine pawned it to Nicholas de Harlay, lord of Sancy, treasurer of France, who at the end bought it for 100,000 francs. The diamond passed, after some vicissitudes, from the treasurer’s family to several other people until it reached the hands of King James II (Stuart). He was in exile in Saint German and he sold it for 625,000 francs to King Louis XIV. The diamond disappeared during the Revolution.

Some experts assert that is has been part of the treasure of Charles IV of Spain who pawned it to the Duke Demidoff, who owned it from 1828 to 1865, year in which he sold it for 500,000 liras. Afterwards the events related to this diamond are almost unknown: it seems that it went back to India and it was owned by the Indian Maharad, Shah of Guttiola. It was afterwards bought in 1906, by William Waldorf Astor. In 1978 the fourth viscount of Astor sold the Sancy Diamond to the Bank of France and to the Museum of France.

 

DRESDA VERDE - 1743 - India - 41 Ct

 

Magnificent almond - shaped apple green brilliant.

Probably it comes from India, but its origins are unknown. A day around 1700, it came into possession of Augustus II the Strong, Grand duke of Saxony. Today it is preserved in the Green Vault of Dresden that gives the diamond its name.

 

PIGOTT - 1750 - India. - 85 o 48 Ct

 

Wonderful stone of uncertain weight. It was discovered in India and it was brought to England in 1775 and given to the vice governor of Madras, lord Pigott. It was later given to the Vice-king of Egypt, Ali Pascià, who lost it. According to few experts, the king, seized with jealousy, ordered to reduce it in power.

 

ORLOFF - 1773 – India – 199,60 Ct

 

This diamond [Saint Vincent-1989], rose cut, almost certainly comes from Indian deposits.

The legends says that it is one of the eyes of Brahma’s statue situated in the Srirangam temple in India. It was stolen by a French soldier who sold it to an English vessel captain for £2,000, who sold it again in England for 300,000 francs. In 1767 it was bought by an Armen, by Shafras, uncle of the jeweller of the Russian Crown, Lazarev, who bought it on behalf of Prince Grigorievich Orlow for 400,000 florins.

The prince in 1773 gave the diamond to Catherine II for her name day. The Orloff Diamond has also adorned the sceptre of Tsars and it is now preserved with the treasure of the Russian government.

 

NIZAM - (?) - India -(450,00 o 340,27 ?) Ct

 

It was owned by Nizam of Hyderabad; its shape and cut are not very known. It was not reached an agreement even on its weight. Some authors say 450, others 340 or 277 carats.

 

NASSAK - 1780 - India - 90 Ct - also named Idol Eye.

 

It was also called Idol Eye because it was embedded on the front of Shiva’s statue in one of numerous temples rising around the city of Nasik, a place not very far from Bombay. In 1818, English troops occupied the city, plundered the temple and the Nassak diamond passed to the East India Company. Sent to London, in 1831 it was purchased by Brundell and Bridge jewellers who sold it back in 1837 to the Marquees of Westminster. In recent times it crossed the ocean and arrived to America; it was cut again in New York and now it weights 43.38 cts. It is now owned by a private.

 

SHAH (?) - India - 88.70 Ct

 

The Shah Diamond, [Russia -1971] is one of the most peculiar diamonds of the former Court of Russia. It has an extended prism shape and on three facets it has the name of its first three owners engraved: Burhan-Nizam-Shah II, then Shah of Ahmadnagar - Shah Jehan, then Great Mogol of Delhi -  Fath-Ali, then Shah of Persia. Today it is in Russia with the Treasure of the government.

 

 

FIORENTINO (?) - India - 137.27 Ct

 

It is a citron coloured diamond of old Indian origins. It is a wonderful stone of high value, characterised by a special refined manufacture. It has been reported that this diamond passed from the hands of the King of Narsinga to those of the governor of Portugal, Ludovico de Castro, Count of Montesanto, when his reign was conquered by Portugal in the sixteenth century. The stone, deposited in 1601 by the Castro family in Rome at Jesuits was purchased as untreated diamond by Ferdinando I de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany. Once cut as a double rose, a little bit like a drop, it became a wonderful diamond of 137.27 carats. Francesco Stefano, Duke of Lorraine sent the diamond to Vienna to be part of the Habsburg’s treasure. After the fall of the Austro – Hungarian Empire and the death of the Emperor Francesco Giuseppe the gemstone entered into possession of Carlo who brought it with him in exile in Switzerland when broke the World War I. Fixed on a pin, after 1918 the traces of the diamond were lost.

Few experts assert that after the World War II the diamond was returned to Vienna by the Americans.

 

HOPE 1830 - India - 44.50 Ct

 

Wonderful stone characterised by its blue-sapphire or sugar paper blue; it is the richest stone in history. It is said that once discovered in India it was brought by Tavernier, merchant of gemstones, to Louis XIV. Brilliant cut, the diamond, of 67 carats, belonged to the treasure of the Crown of France. It was stolen during the Revolution and it was cut again as a brilliant to make it hide its identity but its weight diminished to 44.50 carats. There are also other experts that think it is a fragment of a bleu diamond of 112 carats. In 1830 the banker Hope purchased it from a Londoner trader; in 1867 it left the collection of Hope and it achieved North America to come back to Paris in 1909, because it was purchased by the merchant Rosenau. In 1911 the diamond was sent again to America. The legend says that it brings bad fortune to people that own it.

The actress Miss May Yohe, who said to have owned it, blamed for example the blue diamond for her artistic misfortunes.

It is said that the last owner of the diamond was an American disappeared with Hope in the tragedy of the Titanic. However, at least this legend is false because the diamond has been found again in 1929. It was in possession of McLean of Washington who later sold it back to the jeweller Harry Winston of New York. In 1956 the jeweller Winston exhibited his jewels in Milan and Mrs Speranza Cavenago obtained the authorization to examine and photograph the Hope Diamond. Harry Wiston gave two beautiful ladies the privilege to adorn themselves with the diamond and to be photographed: Mrs Thomas Phipps with the gemstone in the pendant of a necklace and the actress Denise Darcel. The jeweller Winston has afterwards given the diamond to the Smithsonian Institution of Washington.

 

EMPRESS EUGENIA (?) - India or Brasil - 51 Ct

 

Wonderful stone with an unknown history before it was possessed by Catherine II of Russia, to which it belonged until the end of the eighteenth century, epoch in which she gave it as a present to Grigorij Potëmkin. Napoleon III purchased it from one descendants of this latter for his wedding with the Empress Eugenia. It was later sold to an Indian Marajah, but the stone is disappeared after being deposited by the English.

 

PASHA OF  EGYPT (?) - India - 40 Ct

 

Wonderful octagonal shaped diamond, purchased by the Vice-king of Egypt Ibrahim.

 

POLAR STAR (?) - India - 40 Ct

 

Found in India it belonged to Von Lussufov; today it is still in Russia.