Gem-Stones and Their Distinctive CharactersSmith, George Frederick Herbert
Science
Gem-Stones and Their Distinctive Characters
Smith, George Frederick Herbert
Precious stones
The history of this diamond is very involved, and probably two or more
stones have been confused. It may have been the one cut by Berquem for
Charles the Bold, from whose body on the fatal day of Nancy, in 1477,
it was snatched by a marauding soldier. It was acquired by Nicholas
Harlai, Seigneur de Sancy, who sold it to Queen Elizabeth at the close
of the sixteenth century. A hundred years later, in 1695, it was sold
by James II to Louis XIV. The stone in the French regalia, according
to the inventory taken in 1791, weighed 53¾ carats. It was never
recovered after the theft of the regalia in the following year, but
may be identical with the diamond which was in the possession of the
Demidoff family and was sold by Prince Demidoff in 1865 to a London
firm who were said to have been acting for Sir Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy, a
wealthy Parsee of Bombay. It was shown at the Paris Exhibition of 1867.
It was almond-shaped, and covered all over with tiny facets by Indian
lapidaries.
(6) GREAT TABLE
This mysterious stone was seen by Tavernier at Golconda in 1642, but
has quite disappeared. It weighed 242-3/16 carats.
(7) MOON OF THE MOUNTAINS
This diamond is often confused with the Orloff. It was captured by
Nadir Shah at Delhi, and after his murder was stolen by an Afghan
soldier who disposed of it to an Armenian, by name Shaffrass. It was
finally acquired by the Russian crown for an enormous sum.
(8) NIZAM
A large diamond, weighing 340 carats, belonged to the Nizam of
Hyderabad; it was fractured at the beginning of the Indian Mutiny.
Whether the weight is that previous to fracture or not, there seems to
be no information.
(9) DARYA-I-NOR
This fine diamond, rose-cut and 186 carats in weight, is of the purest
water and merits its title of ‘River of Light.’ It seems to have been
captured by Nadir Shah at Delhi, and is now the largest diamond in the
Persian collection.
(10) SHAH
This fine stone, of the purest water, was presented to the Czar
Nicholas by the Persian prince Chosroes, younger son of Abbas Mirza, in
1843. At that time it still retained three cleavage faces which were
engraved with the names of three Persian sovereigns, and weighed 95
carats. It was, however, subsequently re-cut with the loss of 9 carats,
and the engraving has disappeared in the process.
(11) AKBAR SHAH, OR JEHAN GHIR SHAH
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account