THE BOOK OF DIAMONDS
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to the year 1304, beyond which date it had a tradition giving it an
antiquity of some fifty centuries. Streeter does claim emphatically the
Koh-i-nur and Great Mogul are not the same diamonds, although at least
one authority has shown reasons to believe they were the same diamond.
This
is probably, at least among English-speaking peoples, the best known
of all diamonds. For centuries it has served as a symbol for supreme
beauty and worth. Several diamonds surpass the Koh-i-nur in size,
brilliancy, and transparency. None, however, equal it in the length and
eventfulness of its history. The story of the Koh-i-nur, begins far
back in the dim past. According to tradition, it was found in the
Godavery River, South India, four or five thousand years ago.
The
Koh-i-nur, by all means the most celebrated of diamonds, owes its
European reputation to its first appearance at the London Exposition
of 1851, when it already had a history in its own country—a history
which has its legendary roots in the dimmest antiquity. The first
historical accounts of the Koh-i-nur are from the 14th century when it
came through Ala-eddin into the treasury of Delhi (1304). When Sultan
Baber made himself Master of the Hindustan in 1526, the diamond as well
as other treasures was voluntarily presented to him by its possessors
of that period as a testimonial of gratitude for its not having been
taken by plunder.
It
occurred to Aurunzebe that the Koh-i-nur, like other diamonds, would be
better for some polishing and cutting. Unfortunately the diamond cutter
who received it in charge,
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