We are told that the great diamond weighed 700 carats; but, when its modern career began, it had been severed and weighed only 186 carats. In 1304 A.D. the stone was in the family of the Rajah of Malwa in India from whence most of the early diamonds had come. In the early sixteenth century, it was seized as a trophy of war by Beber, first of the Mogul emperors. This long and mighty line, including Shah Jehan who built the Taj Mahal for the jewel of his harem, preserved the great diamond. Jehan set it as one of the eyes of his Peacock Throne. Through the long years of the Mogul Empire, the legend grew that he who owns this diamond rules the world. But all dynasties fall and in 1739 Mohammed Shah, Mogul of Delhi, was conquered by Nadir Shah of Persia. Although the defeated Mogul managed to keep possession of his diamond he could not keep control of his harem. In a group of women there is bound to be one who curries favor with the champion, and one of Mohammed Shah’s harem whispered to the Persian king that the diamond lay hidden in her master’s turban. The etiquette of the day gave the shrewd monarch his opening. The treaty of peace having been signed, the Persian invited the Mogul to dinner and there, admiring his guest’s turban, suggested that they exchange. It was impossible to refuse. In his room, unwinding the silken yards, Nadir Shah saw the great diamond. It lay on the floor, an enormous cone-shaped gem, and he exclaimed “Mountain of Light!”—Koh-i-nur!—thus giving the stone its name. The legendary power of the stone declined, for it changed hands more times than history records. Nadir Shah was murdered by one of his bodyguards, whose most ingenious tortures could not wring the whereabouts of the diamond from the dead king’s son. It passed on through two generations, until Shah Suja was forced to flee for asylum to the court of Runjit Sing, the Lion of the Punjab, at Lahore (now part of Pakistan). The price of Suja’s safety was the delivery of the Kohinoor to Runjit Sing. And here it was in 1849, when the East India Company and the British took control. As partial indemnity for the damages of the Sikh wars, the Company took the stone, presenting it to Queen Victoria the next year at the celebration of the 250th anniversary of the Founding of the East India Company by Queen Elizabeth I. After its exhibition at the Crystal Palace, Queen Victoria decided to have the Kohinoor recut to improve its sparkle. She decided on brilliant faceting. A four-horse-power steam engine was set up in the workshop of the crown jewelers to turn the cutting wheel. Prince Albert set the stone on the mill, and the Duke of Wellington started the wheel. Thirty-eight days later, Queen Victoria was given the new-cut diamond, now weighing only 108 carats but superbly sparkling.