A Treatise on Diamonds, and Precious Stones/Chapter 1/Section 6
SECT. VI.
Notice of Peculiar Diamonds.
The largest of all the undoubted Diamonds is that mentioned by Tavernier, as being in the possession of the Grand Mogul. In form it is an oval, about the size of half a hen's egg. According to the same traveller, who weighed it, its weight was 296 carats; it was probably facetted all round in rose, as he does not state it was brilliant cut. This gem was found in the washings near Caldore, to the east of Golconda, about the year 1550.
A large Diamond of a singular form, weighing 193 carats, is said to have represented the eye of an idol, and to have been stolen from its position by a French soldier, who escaped with it to Madras, where he sold it for about £2000, to the captain of a ship; by whom it was disposed of in Europe for about £20,000. At length, it fell into the hands of a merchant, who sold it to Prince Orloff for the late empress Catherine of Russia, for the sum of £90,000 in cash, an annuity of £4000 more, and a title of nobility. In a former edition I stated that this diamond belonged to Nadir Shah; but this may be doubted, as the Asiatics rarely part with Diamonds of a large size; nor do I believe that a single instance of the kind is known to have occurred.
The Pitt or Regent Diamond is said to have been found in Malacca. It was purchased by Mr. Pitt, when Governor of Bencoolen, for less than £20,000; and weighed 410 carats.—He brought it to London, had it cut in brilliant, andsold it to the Duke of Orleans, regent of France, for £135,000, five thousand of which was expended in the negotiation, delivery, &c. The cutting and polishing this gem occupied above two years; the whole expense of which is said to have fallen little short of £3000. The fragments which were split or sawn from it were valued at some thousands. It weighs 136¼ carats, and may justly be deemed the FINEST BRILLIANT IN EUROPE, By calculation it is worth more than the sum paid for it, and in 1791 a committee of jewellers valued it at above £400,000.
The emperor of Austria possesses a fine yellow Diamond, the largest of that color known; itis oblong and cut in rose, weighs above 1394 carats. It formerly was in the possession of the Grand Duke of Tuscany.
The Pigott Diamond is a brilliant of great surface both in table and girdle, but is considered not of sufficient depth. Its weight is 49 carats. This gem is valued at £40,000, and was, about 20 years ago,made the subject of a public lottery. It became the property of a young man who sold it at a low price; it was again disposed of, and afterwards passed into the possession of a jeweller in the city, and is said to have been lately sold to the Pacha of Egypt for £30,000. It may justly be called a Diamond of the first water, and rank amongst the finest in Europe.
A superlatively fine blue Diamond weighing 44 carats, and valued at £30,000, formerly the property of Mr. Eliason, an eminent Diamond merchant, is now said to be in the possession of our most gracious sovereign. This unrivalled gem is of a deep sapphire blue, and from its rarity and color, might have been estimated at a higher sum. It has found its most worthy destination in passing into the possession of a monarch, whose refined taste has ever been conspicuous in the highest degree.
A green brilliant of exquisite beauty, and great size, but of irregular form, is worn by the king of Saxony, when in court dress, as a button to the plume in his hat.
A Diamond of great purity, but of a bad form, has lately arrived from India. It is called the Nassauc, having been taken in the Peishwa's baggage during the Mahratta war. It weighs 79 carats and 2 grains, yet it is valued at only £30,000. Its form is triangular, and it is cut and polished so as to retain the greatest possible weight; but it exhibits none of the qualities which it would so proudly display if it had been well proportioned.
The king of Portugal has a rough. Diamond, which weighs nearly an ounce troy. It was found in the allavium of the river Abaité; its form approximates to the octahedron. No potentate is so rich in Diamonds as this monarch: I had the honor of being shewn his suit and estimated it at more than two millions.
A fine stone, weighing 101 carats, called the Nizam Diamond, was brought from India by Governor Hastings; it made a most perfect brilliant, and was presented to our late gracious Queen Charlotte.
An individual lately received a rough Diamond from Brazil, above 90 carats; which, when formed into brilliant, weighed nearly 32: it cost £200 in workmanship.
In the crown jewels of France is afine light blue brilliant, which weighs 674 carats, and was estimated at above £100,000.
In commerce Diamonds of magnitude rarely compensate the possessor, there being so few purchasers. A friend of mine told me, that his father bought a fine brilliant for £12,000, and kept it twenty years without being able to dispose of it. Circumstances at length arose which rendered it necessary for him to part with it, on the best terms that could be obtained; it was sent all over Europe for two years and was at last sold for £9000!
There are in the hands of individuals brilliants of considerable magnitude, from 20 to 30 carats, and a rough Diamond has lately been imported that weighs above 80[1].
- ↑ Models of the principal Diamonds in Europe may be had of the author.