The World's Most Famous Diamonds
This remarkable collectors set is definitely the best curiosity we've had here at Butter Lane in a long time. The set consists of 15 replicas (cut to size) of the worlds most notable diamonds, made from crystal, with a perfectly fitted box and diamond booklet. In the set we have, The Shah (89ct), Pasha of Egypt (40ct), Orloff (200ct), Piggot (49ct), Polar Star (40ct), Sancy (55ct), Florentine (137ct), Grand Mogul (280ct), Kohinoor Old Cut (186ct), Nassak (81ct), Blue Diamond - Hope (45ct), Kohinoor New Cut (109ct), Jubilee (245ct), Regent (141ct) and finally the South Star (129ct).
One of my favourites, the Sancy Diamond, a fiery stone of Indian Origin. It's pear shaped, pale yellow in colour and weighs 55 carats! -Just about the size of a strawberry. This stone has been passed through many royal families, pawned and even stolen. My favourite (but gruesome) story about this stone dates back to King James I in 1605 when he bought the stone from Henri IV of France and his minister of finance, Seigneur Sancy. He became broke due to his highly expensive and fancy lifestyle, and the servant delivering the stone to King James was held up by thieves, in which he swallowed the stone. I must say, it must have been hard to swallow. However, the loyal servant was killed anyway and the stone was removed from his body (yuck).
Another stone, the Pasha of Egypt. It's considered the finest gem of Egyptian treasury, weighing in at 40 carats!! It's of octagonal shape and is of amazing cut, quality and colour. The whereabouts of this beautiful gem is unknown, rumour suggests it was purchased for over 28k by Ibrahim Pasha (1789-1848), viceroy of Egypt under Ottoman ruling. Fast forward to 1933, an Englishman put this stone up for sale and it eventually made it's way back to Egypt in possession of King Farouk. The worldwide known jewellers BVLGARI bought it off him and sold it to the "Poor Little Rich Girl" aka Barbara Hutton, in which she had the stone cut and set into a ring. The stone now weighs 36.22 carats and is privately owned in Europe.
The Shah diamond. Often described as the shape of a coffin, the cut of this stone is technically called a lasque cut; typical of Indian diamonds and it weighs in at a great 89 carats!! It takes it's name from the Nizam Shahi, a dynasty of rulers from the kingdom of Ahmadnagar, who ruled the state of Deccan in the middle-west part of India between 1490 and 1633. This rare stone would bear three inscriptions:
“Burhan Nizam Shah II in the year 1000” – about 1591
“Son of Jahangir, Shah Jahan, 1051” – about 1641
“Kadjar Fath Ali Shah” – Shah of Persia in 1824.
Since nothing will cut a diamond, but a diamond, some sort of diamond carving tool must have been used to engrave it, and the first inscription is the name of the ruler of Ahmadnagar. The second tells us that the stone was held by the Mogul Emperor Shah Jahan, grandson of Akbar, in 1641 And finally the third shows it was looted (along with the along with the Koh-i-Noor) by Nadir Shah, and was taken to Persia when his armies ransacked Delhi in 1739.
The Shah diamond’s next destination came about because of the assassination of the Russian diplomat, Alexander Griboyedov. He had a powerful influence among the rulers of Russia and played a role in the defeat of Shah Abbas Mizra (1789-1833), the viceroy of Azerbayjan. Griboyedov successfully negotiated the treaty of Turkmanchai with Persia, gaining valuable Russian territory, after their 1827 dispute.
Griboyedov was appointed the Minister of Persia and he soon returned to Tehran, even with his unpopularity in Persia. He was then killed by an angry mob who stormed the Russian legation on January 30, 1829 and the 89ct Shah Diamond was sent to Russia as an apology and as a gesture of appeasement to Czar Nicholas I. The gesture was successful and further warfare was stopped.
The Shah was made a part of the Russian crown jewels until the Bolshevik revolution of 1917. It disappeared for a short time and was rediscovered in 1922. The stone was then placed on display at the Russian Diamond Fund in the Kremlin, Moscow as one of the “Seven Historical Gems,” where it remains to this day.
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