Interesting News interesting stories from around the world
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Monday, 03 September 2007 |
The Hortensia Diamond
This peach colored stone was named after Hortense de Beauharnais, Queen of Holland, who was Josephine's daughter and the step-daughter of Napoleon Bonaparte. The Hortensia had been part of the French Crown Jewels since Louis XIV bought it. You can see the Hortensia on display in the Louvre, Paris.
King Louis XIV was responsible for the addition of this pale orangey-pink diamond to the Crown Jewels of France. However, the Hortensia was not one of the diamonds which the King had purchased from Jean Baptiste Tavernier, because the largest stone of this particular color which he brought back from India weighed only 14 7/8 carats. The Hortensia was the foremost diamond in the third of the nineteen florets of buttonholes listed in the inventory of the Crown Jewels of France, made in 1691.
The diamond, which weighs 20 carats (20.53 metric carats) is pale orangey-pink, rather flat and rectangular in shape and is cut on five sides. In the 1791 inventory of the Crown Jewels it was valued at no more than 48,000 livres on account of a crack extending from the edge of the girdle to near the culet. It takes its name from Hortense de Beauharnais, Queen of Holland, undoubtedly because she wore it. Hortense was the daughter of the Empress Josephine, the step-daughter of Napoleon Bonaparte and the mother of Napoleon III.
The Hortensia was among the jewels stolen from the Garde Meuble in September of 1792. One year later it was recovered from the attic of an old house in the Halles district of Paris. The Regent Diamond was with it, as were a number of other jewels. As he was about to be executed, a man named Depeyron disclosed that he had hidden it in a bag containing gold and other diamonds, including the fore mentioned Regent, in the Halles district.
During the First Empire the Hortensia was mounted on the fastening of Napoleon's epaulette braid. Later it was set in the center of the headband of the great diamond-encrusted comb made by the Court Jeweler, Bapst, for the Empress Eugenie in 1856. In between, in 1830, the diamond was stolen again, on this occasion from the Ministry of the Marine, but it was quickly recovered.
When the French Crown Jewels were sold in 1887, the Hortensia was one of the items excluded, along with the Regent, because of their historic and artistic interest. The Sancy Diamond wouldn't join them in the Louvre until a little less than a century later.
"It is a very nice pink color with a slight orangey tone to it," writes Michael Hing, a jeweler from Great Britain. "You could describe it as peach-colored, but definitely on the pink side of peach. It has good clarity but there's quite a large scratch/crack on the pavilion."
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Monday, 03 September 2007 |
The Idol's Eye Diamond
A flattened pear shaped stone the size of a bantam’s egg. another famous diamond that was once set in the eye of an idol before it was stolen. Legend also had it that it was given as a ransom for Princess Rasheetah by the Sheik of Kashmir to the Sultan of Turkey who had abducted her.
The various published accounts of the early history of the Idol's Eye are worth of being included in A Thousand and One Nights, unfortunately, for the most part they must be considered to be entirely unauthentic. The diamond may have been found at Golconda around 1600, but seven years later it was certainly not seized from the Persian Prince Rahab by the East India Company as payment for debt. No such person is recorded in the history of Persia, and the East India Company was not created until several years later.
The first authenticated fact in the diamond's history was its appearance at a Christie's sale in London on July 14th, 1865, when it was described as "a splendid large diamond known as the Idol's Eye set round with 18 smaller brilliants and a framework of small brilliants." It was knocked down to a mysterious buyer simply designated as "B.B.". Later it is stated that the 34th Ottoman Sultan, Abdul Hamid II (1842-1918) owned the Idol's Eye. However the Idol's Eye would never, as has often been asserted, have been set in the eye of a temple in Benghazi because there are neither temples nor idols in that city, Benghazi having been Muslim since the 8th century AD.
When consideration is given to the shape of the Idol's Eye - something between an Old Mine cut and a triangular brilliant - it is not difficult to envisage its setting elsewhere as an eye. Indeed the stone compares favorably with others deemed to have been set in this manner which suggests that certain idols found in sacred buildings in the East have had very oddly-shaped eye-like orifices. The Idol's Eye weighs 70.21 metric carats and is clearly a Golconda diamond, possessing a slight bluish tinge so characteristic of many diamonds from that source.
Abdul Hamid II presided over the most autocratic regime that the Ottoman Empire had experienced since the 1700s. He was eventually defeated by the internal opposition which coalesced as the Young Turks. After his deposition in 1909 he lived in exile, first in Salonika, then in Instanbul where he died in 1918. It is said that the Sultan, sensing in which direction the politcal wind of his country was blowing, made provisions for his coming enforced retirement, which included the despatch of his jewels to a place of safety. Unfortunately the servant entrusted with them turned traitor and sold them in Paris. Whether or not this is the true version of events, it is known that the Idol's Eye was one of several large diamonds belonging to the deal Salomon Habib that came up for auction in Paris on June 24th, 1909. Afterwards a Spanish nobleman bought the diamond which he kept in a bank in London for some years.
After the end of World War II the Idol's Eye re-emerged when it was acquired by a Dutch dealer, from whom Harry Winston bought it in 1946. In the following year Mr. Winston sold the stone to Mrs. May Bonfils Stanton, daughter of Frederick G. Bonfils, the publisher and co-founder of the Denver Post. If many of the earlier characters associated with the diamond's history have proved to be ficticious, Mrs. Stanton goes some way to make up for them. Once a great beauty, she became a legendary figure in American life. From her early childhood she displayed an interest in jewels and began to assemble a famous collection. In addition to the Idol's Eye it was to include the Liberator Diamond and a diamond necklace studded with twelve emeralds weighing 107 carats, once owned by the Maharaja of Indore. She lived in beautiful isolation in a palatial mansion copied from the Petit Trianon in Versailles, and was said to have worn the Idol's Eye at her solitary breakfast every morning. The gem was set as the pendant to a diamond necklace containing 41 round brilliants totalling about 22.50 carats, plus another 45 baguettes weighing about 12 carats. Mrs. Stanton was also a supporter of numerous philanthropic causes in her native state of Colorado. After her death, in her eighties, in March of 1962, her jewels were auctioned in November by Parke-Bernet Galleries Inc. of New York; in accordance with the directions contained in her will the proceeds were distributed among various charities.
The Chicago jeweler Harry Levinson bought the Idol's Eye for $375,000, for his wife, Marilyn. In 1967 he loaned it to De Beers for an exhibition at the Diamond Pavilion in Johannesburg. Six years later in 1973, Mr. Levinson put the diamond up for sale in New York but subsequently withdrew it when the bidding failed to reach his $1,100,000 reserve. In 1979 Laurence Graff of London purchased the Idol's Eye. Harry Levinson loaned the diamond, before it was sold to Laurence Graff, for display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, at a 1982 reception celebrating the 50th anniversary of Harry Winston Inc. In the following January, Mr. Graff sold the Idol's eye, together with the Emperor Maximilian and a 70.54-carat Fancy Yellow diamond named the Sultan Abdul Hamid II and thought to have once been part of that ruler's jewelry collection. The sale of these three diamonds to the same buyer is considered to have been one of the highest priced transactions ever known.
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Monday, 03 September 2007 |
The Star of Sierra Leone
This diamond is the third largest ever found, 970 carats and weighing almost half a pound in the rough. The rough was eventually cut into seventeen exquisite individual diamonds, six of which are now set in the Star of Sierra Leone Brooch.
It was found on February 14, 1972, at the Diminco Mine in Sierra Leone. Harry Winston purchased the Star of Sierra Leone the same year. He had it cut into 17 stones: 13 were flawless.
Originally the largest stone was 143.20 carats of fine color, but flawed. After several weeks of careful deliberation he ordered it to be re-cut. The largest stone recovered from The Star of Sierra Leone rough was a flawless pear-shaped of 53.96 carats.
Lazare Kaplan, the famous cutter, had studied the rough for more than a year. It was cleaved in front of all American TV. From that day, every one knew about the "Sierra Leone." To commemorate the event, the President of Sierra Leone had a triangular stamp designed on which we can read:
"SIERRA LEONE - "The Star of Sierra Leone" - Harry Winston" |
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Monday, 03 September 2007 |
The Koh-I-Noor Diamond
First reported in 1304 as a diamond in the possession of the Rajah of Malwa, later, it fell into the hands of the Sultan Baber. For the next two centuries, it was one of the precious jewels of the Mogul Emperors. In 1739, Nadir Shah of Persia invaded Delhi. His systematic pillage of the city failed to uncover the huge stone, but then he was told by one of the harem women that the conquered Mogul emperor had hidden it inside his turban.
Taking advantage of an Oriental custom, Nadir Shah invited his captive to a feast and suggested they exchange turbans. Retiring from the feast, he unrolled the turban and released the great gem. Seeing it he cried "Koh-i-Noor!" (Mountain of Light). The gem went back to Persia with Nadir Shah, but he was assassinated in 1747 and the diamond was fought over by his successors. It was in the jewel chamber of Lahore, capital of Punjab, but when that state was annexed to British India in 1849, the East India Company took it as a partial indemnity for the Sikh Wars.
The Koh-I-Noor was presented to Queen Victoria in 1850 to mark the 250th anniversary of the founding of the East India Company. When the large stone was displayed at the Crystal Palace Exposition, people were disappointed that the diamond did not show more fire. So, Victoria decided to have it recut, which reduced the 186-carat diamond to its present size. In 1911 a new crown was made for the coronation of Queen Mary with the Koh-I-Noor as the center stone. In 1937, it was transferred to the crown of Queen Elizabeth (now Queen Mother) for her coronation. It is now on display with the British Crown Jewels in the Tower of London. |
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Monday, 03 September 2007 |
The Blue Hope Diamond
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. At that time it acquired its gruesome reputation for bad luck: all the Hope family died in poverty. A similar misfortune befell a later owner, Edward McLean. You can see the Blue Hope today at the Smithsonian in Washington.
 The history of the stone which was eventually named the Hope diamond began when the French merchant traveller, Jean Baptiste Tavernier, purchased a 112 3/16-carat diamond. This diamond, which was most likely from the Kollur mine in Golconda, India, was somewhat triangular in shape and crudely cut. Its color was described by Tavernier as a "beautiful violet."
Tavernier sold the diamond to King Louis XIV of France in 1668 with 14 other large diamonds and several smaller ones. In 1673 the stone was recut by Sieur Pitau, the court jeweler, resulting in a 67 1/8-carat stone. In the royal inventories, its color was described as an intense steely-blue and the stone became known as the "Blue Diamond of the Crown," or the "French Blue." It was set in gold and suspended on a neck ribbon which the king wore on ceremonial occasions.
King Louis XV, in 1749, had the stone reset by court jeweler Andre Jacquemin, in a piece of ceremonial jewelry for the Order of the Golden Fleece (Toison D'Or). In 1791, after an attempt by Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette to flee France, the jewels of the French Royal Treasury were turned over to the government. During a week-long looting of the crown jewels in September of 1792, the French Blue diamond was stolen.
In 1812 a deep blue diamond described by John Francillion as weighing 177 grains (4 grains = 1 carat) was documented as being in the possession of London diamond merchant, Daniel Eliason. Strong evidence indicates that the stone was the recut French Blue and the same stone known today as the HopeDiamond. Several references suggest that it was acquired by King George IV of England. At his death, in 1830, the king's debts were so enormous that the blue diamond was likely sold through private channels.
The first reference to the diamond's next owner is found in the 1839 entry of the gem collection catalog of the well-known Henry Philip Hope, the man from whom the diamond takes its name. Unfortunately, the catalog does not reveal where or from whom Hope acquired the diamond or how much he paid for it.
Following the death of Henry Philip Hope in 1839, and after much litigation, the diamond passed to his nephew Henry Thomas Hope and ultimately to the nephew's grandson Lord Francis Hope. In 1901 Lord Francis Hope obtained permission from the Court of Chancery and his sisters to sell the stone to help pay off his debts. It was sold to a London dealer who quickly sold it to Joseph Frankels and Sons of New York City, who retained the stone in New York until they, in turn, needed cash. The diamond was next sold to Selim Habib who put it up for auction in Paris in 1909.
It did not sell at the auction but was sold soon after to C.H. Rosenau and then resold to Pierre Cartier that same year.In 1910 the Hope diamond was shown to Mrs. Evalyn Walsh McLean, of Washington D.C., at Cartier's in Paris, but she did not like the setting. Cartier had the diamond reset and took it to the U.S. where he left it with Mrs. McLean for a weekend. This strategy was successful. The sale was made in 1911 with the diamond mounted as a headpiece on a three-tiered circlet of large white diamonds. Sometime later it became the pendant on a diamond necklace as we know it today. Mrs. McLean's flamboyant ownership of the stone lasted until her death in 1947.
Harry Winston Inc. of New York City purchased Mrs. McLean's entire jewelry collection, including the Hope diamond, from her estate in 1949. This collection also included the 94.8-carat Star of the East diamond, the 15-carat Star of the South diamond, a 9-carat green diamond, and a 31-carat diamond which is now called the McLean diamond.
For the next 10 years the Hope diamond was shown at many exhibits and charitable events world wide by Harry Winston Inc., including as the central attraction of their Court of Jewels exhibition. On November 10, 1958, they donated the Hope diamond to the Smithsonian Institution, and almost immediately the great blue stone became its premier attraction.
The Hope diamond has left the Smithsonian only four times since it was donated. In 1962 it was exhibited for a month at the Louvre in Paris, France, as part of an exhibit entitled Ten Centuries of French Jewelry. In 1965 the Hope diamond traveled to South Africa where it was exhibited at the Rand Easter Show in Johannesburg. In 1984 the diamond was lent to Harry Winston Inc., in New York, as part of the firm's 50th anniversary celebration.
In 1996 the Hope diamond was again sent to Harry Winston Inc., in New York, this time for cleaning and some minor restoration work. The weight of the Hope diamond for many years was reported to be 44.5 carats. In 1974 it was removed from its setting and found actually to weigh 45.52 carats. It is classified as a type IIb diamond, which are semiconductive and usually phosphoresce. The Hope diamond phosphoresces a strong red color, which will last for several seconds after exposure to short wave ultra-violet light. The diamond's blue coloration is attributed to trace amounts of boron in the stone.
In the pendant surrounding the Hope diamond are 16 white diamonds, both pear-shapes and cushion cuts. A bail is soldered to the pendant where Mrs.McLean would often attach other diamonds including the McLean diamond and the Star of the East. The necklace chain contains 45 white diamonds.
In December of 1988, a team from the Gemological Institute of America visited the Smithsonian to grade the great blue stone using present day techniques. They observed that the gem shows evidence of wear, has a remarkably strong phosphorescence, and that its clarity is slightly affected by a whitish graining which is common to blue diamonds. They described the color as a fancy dark grayish-blue. An examination on the same day by another gemologist using a very sensitive colorimeter revealed that there is a very slight violet component to the deep blue color which is imperceptible to the naked eye. Still, one can only wonder that the original 112 3/16-carat stone bought by Tavernier was described as "un beau violet" (a beautiful violet).
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