THE CENTENARY DIAMOND Discovered at the Premier Mint, in July 1986. |
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THE ORLOFF The Orloff is thought to have weighed about 300 carats when it was found. At one time it was confused with the Great Mogul, and it is now held in the Diamond Treasury of Russia in Moscow. One tale told is that The Orloff was set as the eye of God in the temple of Sri Rangen and was stolen by a French soldier disguised as a Hindu |
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THE IDOL'S EYE A flattened pear shaped stone the size of a bantam's egg, its polished size is 70.20
carats. Another famous diamond that was once set in the eye of an idol before it was
stolen. Legend also has it that it was given as ransom for Princess Rasheetah by the Sheik
of Kashmir to the Sultan of Turkey who had abducted her: |
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THE REGENT A truly historic diamond discovered in 1701 by an Indian slave near Gokoona, it weighed 410 carats in the rough Once owned by William Pitt, the English Prime Minister, it was cut into a cushion shaped brilliant of 140.50 carats and until it was sold to the Duke of Orleans, Regent of France when Louis XV was a boy in 1717, was called The Pitt. It was then renamed The Regent and set in the crown Louis XV wore at his coronation After the French revolution, it was owned by Napoleon Bonaparte who set it in the hilt of his sword It is now on display in the Louvre. |
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THE BLUE HOPE More notorious than any other diamond The Hope was once owned by Louis XIV and was
officially designated 'the blue diamond of the crown' Stolen during the French revolution,
it turned up in London in 1830 and was bought by Henry Philip Hope after whom it is
currently named. It was while the diamond was in the possession of the Hope family that it
acquired its gruesome reputation for bad luck. All his family died in poverty. A
similar misfortune befell a later owner, Mr. Edward McLean It is now in the Smithsonian
Institution in Washington and weighs 45.52 carats. |
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THE SANCY It weighed 55 carats and was cut in a pearshape. It was first owned by Charles the Bold
Duke of Burgundy, who lost it in battle in 1477 The stone is infact named after a later
owner, Seigneur de Sancy, a French Ambassador to Turkey in the late 16th century. He
loaned it to the French king, Henry III who wore it in the cap with which he concealed his
baldness. Henry IV of France also borrowed the stone from Sancy, but it was sold in 1664
to James I of England In 1688,James II, last of the Stuart kings of England fled with it
to Paris. It disappeared during the French revolution |
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THE TAYLOR-BURTON 69.42 carats. This pear-shaped diamond was sold at auction in 1969 with the understanding that it could be named by the buyer Cartier of New York successfully bid for it and immediately christened it 'Cartier" However, the next day Richard Burton bought the stone for Elizabeth Taylor for an undisclosed sum, renaming it the "Taylor-Burton" It made its debut at a charity ball in Monaco in mid November where Miss Taylor wore it as a pendant. In 1978, Elizabeth Taylor announced that she was putting it up for sale and planned to use part of the proceeds to build a hospital in Botswana Just to inspect the diamond prospective buyers had to pay $2,500 to cover the cost of showing it. In June 1979 it was sold for nearly $3m and was last reported to be in Saudi Arabia |
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HORTENSIA This peach colored stone of 20 carats was named after Hortense de Beauharnais, Queen of Holland, who was Josephine's daughter the stepdaughter of Napoleon Bonaparte. The Hortensia had been part of the French Crown Jewels since Louis XIV bought it Along with the Regent it is now on display in the Louvre, Paris. |
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