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THE DIAMOND
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the
Bold, by this story, with the Sancy diamond inventoried among the
French jewels in 1791, which weighed 33-3/4 carats. It is said also
that the Sancy was sold by Baron de Sancy to James I in 1604, and that
during the Civil War in England, Queen Henrietta Maria, wife of Charles
I, carried it to France and pledged it with another to the Duke of
Epernon. In 1657 Mazarin, with the Queen's consent, paid the duke and
took possession of the stone. He bequeathed it with others to Louis
XIV. This writer also thinks this to be the Sancy of the French Crown
jewels inventoried in 1791, and which was stolen in 1792, recovered in
1794, and probably disposed of in 1796 to meet the expenses of the
great campaign of that year. It was owned in Spain in 1809, and later
passed into the possession of the Demidoff family of Russia.
Another
account says that it was among the Spanish Crown jewels about 10 years
after it left France, and that Prince Demidoff owned it from 1828 to
1865, when he sold it for £20,000. In 1867 it was exhibited at the
Paris Exposition and is now owned by the Maharajah of Guttiola.
An
English writer says the King of France gave it to James II of England,
and that James sold it for $125,-000. It then passed into the Crown
jewels of France, was stolen as heretofore described, recovered by
Fouche for Napoleon, and sold by him to Prince Paul Demidoff. It was
next owned by the Earl of Westmeath and is now in the possession of the
heirs of the multimillionaire Parsee merchant, Sir Jamsetjee
Jejeebhoy. The latest rumor is that the Sancy has been presented by
William Waldorf Astor to his daughter-in-law on the
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