Few historical objects surpass the beautiful Sancy Diamond in romance and importance. Its origin is involved in uncertainty prior to the early 15th Century. The first definite account concerning the famous gem states that after the battle of Nancy, January 5th, 1477, it was taken from the dead body of Charles the Bold, by a Swiss soldier. Charles adorned his dress with many diamonds, the Sancy holding the place of honour. The soldier not knowing the value of the gem he had stolen sold it to a minister of religion for a gulden. The minister sold it some years later to a dealer in Lucerne for 5,000 ducats. King Manoel, known as the Fortunate, of Portugal, purchased it in 1495, two years before he dispatched the navigator Vasco da Gama, on his voyage of discovery. Don Antonio, known as Prince of Crato and King of Portugal in partibus, sold the gem to Nicolas de Harlai Sieur de Sancy, whence it obtained its name. As the friend and treasurer of Henry IV of France, the Sieur in order to aid the King to protect his crown, raised a loan for him on the security of the stone, from the bankers of Metz. The servant entrusted with the safe delivery of the diamond being waylaid by robbers, swallowed his master’s precious gem to protect it; the thieves in fury at being unable to discover the stone, on the person or in the baggage, of the loyal servant, murdered him. The Sieur evidently knew what his messenger would do in an extremity, and he afterwards recovered the gem from the body of the murdered man. It was next sold to the English Crown when it was worn by Queen Elizabeth. It remained in possession of the Crown, and is mentioned in the Tower inventory of March 22nd, 1605, until the reign of James II, who took it when he fled to France to seek asylum at the court of the Grand Monarque. James then sold the Sancy to his sympathetic friend Louis, for £25,000 sterling. Another account states that the Sancy came into the possession of Cardinal Mazarin who had it recut and included amongst the twelve famous diamonds in the Crown of France, known as the Mazarins. Robert de Berquem says that Queen Henrietta Maria proudly wore it (“Merveilles des Indes,” 1669). Louis XV it is recorded, wore the Sancy at his coronation in 1715, and his Queen, Maria Lesczynska, daughter of the dethroned Polish King, Stanislas, afterwards wore it as a necklace pendant. When Marie Antoinette became Queen of France she had this royal pendant taken from the necklace and mounted in brooch form. With the tragic end of the unhappy Queen some uncertainty follows the wanderings of the Sancy. It is stated that the widow of Charles IV of Spain gave it to the “Prince of Peace,” Manuel de Godoi, Duke of Alcudia. One account states that Godoi sold it to Napoleon, another that Godoi’s son after vainly endeavouring to induce Louis XVIII to purchase it in 1822, sold it to Prince Demidoff. The Prince sold it to Monsieur Levrat, Director of the