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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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Monday, 03 September 2007 |
The Oppenheimer Diamond
This almost perfect yellow crystal was found in the Dutoitspan Mine, Kimberly, South Africa in 1964. It was acquired by Harry Winston, who presented it to the Smithsonian Institution in memory of the late Sir Ernest Oppenheimer of DeBeers Consolidated Mines.
The Oppenheimer Diamond is one of the biggest uncut diamonds on the globe. The Oppenheimer Diamond is a yellow diamond crystal weighing about 253.7 carat (50.74 g).
The Oppenheimer Diamond is a perfect octahedron. It is the common shape which most of the earth’s natural diamonds have. In fact the Oppenheimer Diamond has also been regarded as one of the huge crystals in the world. Many crystals have been found in the earth’s surface, but most of them have been cut into diamond gemstones. But the Oppenheimer Diamond still exists in its natural form. Thus it is a unique opportunity for the stone lovers to see this enormous crystal which is displayed at the Smithsonian’s. However the Oppenheimer Diamond cannot be called a gem as it is uncut. Only those mineral crystals that have been polished and cut can be regarded as gems. |
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Monday, 03 September 2007 |
The Cullinan Diamond
Willem Prinsloo, owner of the Elandsfontein farm in South Africa, discouraged prospectors from exploring on his property. He was, in fact, famous for discouraging prospectors. After Prinsloo’s death, Thomas Cullinan, a Johannesburg building contractor, purchased the farm. He bought it for 52,000 British pounds and registered the Premier (Transvaal) Diamond Mining Company Limited on December 1, 1902; mining on the farm began immediately thereafter. The Premier Mine was one of South Africa’s most productive, employing more than 2,000 people by the end of 1904.
The Discovery
As the sun was beginning to set on Thursday afternoon, January 26, 1905, Superintendent Captain Frederick Wells was making his daily inspection. A crystal caught light on the shaft wall; it was only nine meters from the surface. Thinking the miners were playing a joke, Wells took it for a piece of broken glass and pried it out with a pocketknife. The crystal weighed 1.5 pounds, was 37/8 inches long, 21/4 inches wide and 25/8 inches high. Wells was sure it was worthless…well, almost sure. So he sent it to be analyzed. It turned out that the uncut stone was a perfectly clear and colorless diamond weighing 3,106 carats and was twice the size of any other diamond ever found. There is talk that the stone was originally much larger; experts surmise that since one side of the crystal was smooth the stone was cleaved by natural forces. Named for Cullinan, the diamond was sold to the Transvaal Government for 150,000 pounds and Wells received 3,500 pounds as a reward.
 The Prime Minister of Transvaal, Louis Botha, suggested that the diamond be presented as a gift to King Edward VII. Due to lingering rancor after the Boer War, the gift did not sit well with Parliament, which only voted 42 to 19 in favor of its acceptance. After much debate and at Winston Churchill’s urging, the king accepted The Cullinan. In gratitude, Churchill was presented with a replica of the diamond; he enthusiastically displayed it to friends, sometimes exhibiting it on a silver platter. The Cullinan was presented to the king on November 9, 1907, for his 66th birthday.
Cutting
How The Cullinan was to be cut was of primary importance because the stone’s greatest value was in the number of stones that could be produced. The firm I.J. Asscher and Company of Amsterdam was chosen for the task. For three months, Joseph Asscher studied the stone and on February 10, 1908, at 2:45 pm, Asscher prepared himself for the greatest responsibility of his professional career — cleaving The Cullinan. Placing the cleaving blade at the prearranged point, he gave it a blow with his hammer. Snap…the blade broke. The stone was unharmed; it had not even moved. Another blade was quickly procured and Asscher struck the stone again. This time it split perfectly, just as he had hoped. Amidst cheers, shouts and pats on the back for a job well done, Asscher fainted.
Now there were two stones, weighing 1,977.50 and 1,040 carats, respectively. Additional cleaving produced nine major stones, 96 brilliants and 9.50 carats of unpolished pieces. The total weight was 1,063 carats; there was a 65 percent cutting loss. King Edward VII was given the two principal stones and he purchased an additional stone, the sixth Cullinan “chip” for Queen Alexandra, which weighed 11.50 carats. The rest of the diamonds were retained by the Asschers as compensation.
The pear shape, a 530.20-carat diamond commonly known as Cullinan I, but also known as the Star of Africa, now resides in the Tower of London and is set in the British royal scepter.
Cullinan II is a massive 317.40-carat cushion-shaped diamond that sits in the center front in the band of the Imperial State Crown of Great Britain. These jewels were specifically used for the coronation of King George V on June 22, 1911.
The stones that were in the possession of the Asschers were eventually purchased from them and presented to Queen Mary on June 28, 1910.
In 1910 Queen Mary set Cullinan III and Cullinan IV, known as the Lesser Stars of Africa, into a brooch. Cullinan III, a 94.40-carat pear drop, hangs from Cullinan IV, a cushion-cut diamond weighing 63.60 carats. Always impressively arrayed, Queen Mary would also hang the Cullinan I as a pendant from the Koh-i-Noor brooch.
As for some of the other Cullinan diamonds, Queen Mary had the Cullinan V, an 18.80-carat triangular-pear shape mounted in a platinum brooch with the silhouette of the design echoing the shape of the stone. The brooch was part of a very large stomacher that includes the legendary Cambridge emeralds, which the Queen received in 1910; each element of the stomacher can come apart and be worn as a separate brooch. Queen Elizabeth II frequently wears the Cullinan V brooch.
The Cullinan VII is an 8.80-carat marquise diamond, which Queen Mary added as a pendant to the 6.80-carat oval cushion Cullinan VIII brooch; this brooch was created at the same time as the Cullinan V. A photograph from 1919 shows Queen Mary wearing a platinum diamond pendant and chain that incorporates some of the 96 smaller Cullinan stones. Although she inherited the necklace in 1953, Queen Elizabeth II has never been known to wear it in public; the queen says, “It gets in the soup.”
The Cullinan IX is a 4.39-carat pear, which was placed in an engraved ring presented to Queen Mary. It now belongs to Queen Elizabeth II.
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Monday, 03 September 2007 |
Fiestas 2007 for the Patrona of the City
The Fiestas will begin at 20.30 on Tuesday 4th. September and will conclude Sunday 9th. September.
The program listing all the events of the Fiestas can be downloaded from the website of the Town Hall.... here
There are errors in the document online. Here is an amended list of the concerts organized for the Fiestas.
Wednesday, 5 - Manuel Carrasco
Thursday, 6 - Malú
Friday, 7 - Antonio Carmona
Saturday, 8 - Falete
Sunday, 9 - Antonio Orozco |
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