The Regent diamond is probably the finest and best cut stone in the world, though it is not the largest. It was named after the Duke of Orleans, who was regent during the minority of Louis XV. The regent bought it, in 1717, for one hundred and thirty-five thousand pounds sterling. It was sold to him by Governor Pitt, who paid twelve thousand five hundred pounds for it in India five years before. Its weight before cutting was four hundred and ten carats, and the process of cutting occupied two years. Its weight was reduced to one hundred and thirty-six carats, and its present value is estimated at a million dollars. Pitt was an unhappy man during the five years he owned the stone. He carried it with him constantly. He never made known his movements a day beforehand, nor slept for two nights successively in the same house. Another diamond, quite famous in its way, is the “Sancy.” It fell from the helmet of Charles the Bold at the battle of Granson, and was picked up by a Swiss soldier. The soldier disposed of it for two francs, and thought he had made a very good bargain. In 1589 it was bought by De Sancy, treasurer to Henry IV. of France. In 1792 it was stolen, and after various adventures, was bought, forty years afterwards, by Prince Demidoff, who paid for it seventy-five thousand pounds. It has since been sold for a much smaller sum. A few years ago a diamond was found in Brazil, and imported into France under the name of the Star of the South. It was found by a negress, and bought for a few dollars by a speculator, who obtained a large return for his investment. Its weight in the rough was two hundred and fifty-four carats; after cutting, it was one hundred and twenty-four carats. Another famous stone, known as the Grand Duke of Tuscany, is of a yellow color, and weighs one hundred and forty carats. It was lost at one time, and bought subsequently, it is said, for a few francs, out of a jeweller’s shop at Florence, the jeweller supposing that it was only a piece of colored crystal. [Sidenote: THE ORLOFF AND THE KOHINOOR.] A famous diamond in Russia is the Orloff. It is shaped like an egg, with an indented hollow in the smaller end. It was found at Landak, in India, and at one time formed the eye of an idol in a Brahmin temple at Pondicherry. An enterprising deserter from the French army managed to have himself shut up in the temple, and during his incarceration he gouged out this eye of the idol. He attempted to capture the other eye, but was unsuccessful. He was lucky enough to get away with his prize, which he sold to a jeweller at Calcutta. After passing through the hands of various purchasers, it was bought by a Greek merchant, who sold it to the Empress Catherine for four hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and an annuity of twenty thousand dollars, with a title of nobility. [Illustration: THE ORLOFF. STAR OF THE SOUTH. STAR OF THE SOUTH—ROUGH. THE NASSAC. THE SHAH. THE CUMBERLAND. THE SANCY. THE DRESDEN.