CELEBRATED DIAMONDS 79
soldiers
who looted his tent had no idea of the value of the things they found.
They supposed his vessels of gold and silver were tin and copper, and
they parted with his diamonds for trifling sums.
Another
account says that he wore the Sancy in his helmet at the battle of
Nancy in 1477 and that the Swiss soldier who found it on his dead body
two days after the battle, sold the precious stone to a priest for 2
francs. With charming indifference to historical facts, one writer then
places it in the hands of a king who never existed and who passes it on
to de Sancy nearly a century after that gentleman died, describing in
detail the method by which he acquired it and at what cost. Other
writers say the Sancy was bought by King John II of Portugal in 1479,
but as Alfonso did not die until 1481, he must have bought it either
before he became King or acquired it with the Crown jewels at his
accession. It is said he sold it to the Baron de Sancy in 1489. At this
point the absurdities of history begin. One writer says that de Sancy
bought the diamond in 1489, raised an army of Swiss for the service of
Henry III in 1589 and in 1604 sold the stone to James I of England.
Another writer states that de Sancy sold the diamond to Queen Elizabeth
of England in 1600. Another describes how de Sancy sent the diamond by
a servant to Henry III that he might pawn it to the Swiss Government.
The servant disappeared. Search was made and it was found that the man
had been assassinated in the forest of Dole and his body buried by a
cure in the village cemetery. Knowing his man, de Sancy ordered his
body to be opened and the diamond was found in his stomach. This writer
links the 53-3/4 carats diamond of Charles
