Famous Diamonds
A number of diamonds are well known and famous because of their size, beauty, or their adventurous past. (Glass replicas shown opposite)
- Dresden: Green, 41 carats. probably from India; early history not known. Supposedly bought in 1742 by Friedrich August II, Duke of Saxony, for 400,000 taler. Name driverd from its place of safe-keeping, the Green Vaults in Dresden, Germany.
- Hope: 45,52 carats. Appeared 1830 in the trade and was bought by the banker H. ph. Hope (hence the name). Probably recut from a stolen stone. Since 1958 in the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC.
- Cullinan I, or Star of Africa 530.20 carats. Cut from the largest rough gem diamond ever found of 3106 carats, the Cullinan ( name after Sir Thomas Cullinan, chairman of the mining company) together with 104 other stones, by the firm Asscher in Amsterdam in 1908. Adorns the sceptre of the English king’s insignia. Kept in the Tower of London; largest cut diamond of fine quality.
- Sancy; 55 carats. Said to have been worn by charles the Bold around 1470 Bought in 1570 by Seigneur de Sancy (hence the name) from the French am bassador to Turkey. Now on display at the Louvre in Paris.
- Tiffany; 128.51 carats. Found in Kimberley mine, South Africa, in 1878; rough weight 287.42 carats. Bought by the jewelers Tiffany in New York and cut in Paris with 90 facets.
- Koh-i-Noor 108.92 carats. Originally a round stone of 186 carats belonging to the Indian Raj. Plundered in 1739 by the Shad of Persia, who called it “Mountain of Light’ (koh-i-Noor). Came into possession of the English East India Company, which presented it to Queen Victoria in 1850. Recut, it crown made for the mother of Queen Elizabeth II; now in the Tower of London.
- Cullinan IV 11.50 carats. One of the 105 cut stones from the largest gem diamond ever found, the Cullinan (see 3 above). Also in the crown of Queen Mary; can be removed from this and worn as a brooch. Kept in the Tower of London.
- Nassak 43.38 carats. Originally over 90 carats and in a Temple of Shiva near Nassak (hence the name) in India. Looted in 1818 by the English; Recut 1927 in New York. Acquired by the King of Saudi Arabia in 1977
- Shah 88.70 carats. Came from India, shows cleavage planes, partially polished. Has three inscriptions of monarchs’ names (amongst them the Shah of Persia’s-hence the name). Given in 1829 to Tsar Nicholas I, Kept in the Kremlin, Moscow.
- Florentine 137.27 carats. Early history steeped in legend. In 1657 in the possession of the Medici family in Florence (hence the name). During the 18th century in the Habsburg crown, then used as brooch. Where about after 1919 are unknown.
