Brunswick's collection, includes 7 diamonds ranging from 37 to 81 carats each.
It
is evident from the remarks of Pliny about the diamond, that from its
introduction by the Greeks into Europe until his time, over three
hundred years later, but little was learned of the stone, for his
accounts of it are absurd fables, and his statement that there were "
six varieties," of which the Indian and Arabian were of " unspeakable
hardness," indicates that softer stones were yet thought to be diamonds.
By
the traffic of Rome, the diamond was gradually carried westward, but
owing to the inability to cut and polish it until well on in the
fifteenth century, it was not classed as the equal of rubies and
emeralds. In the middle of the sixteenth century even, Benvenuto
Cellini ranked it third among precious stones, placing the value of it
as about one-fourth that of the emerald, and the emerald at half that
of the ruby. It may interest some who know little of the value of these
colored precious stones, to learn that he estimated a perfect ruby
weighing one carat at the equivalent of eight hundred dollars.
Reviewing
the information to be had, it appears certain that diamonds were known
and appreciated in India at least five thousand years ago. They were
brought into Europe twenty-two hundred years ago. During that period,
similar stones were thought to be diamonds, the Indian stones,
classified as superior on account of their hardness, probably being the
real diamonds. By way of Greece and Rome, a few drifted into the hands
of the monarchs and powerful nobles of countries farther west during
the next fifteen hundred years, then to a greater extent as Spain,
Portugal, England and others
