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THE BOOK OF DIAMONDS
secret.
It is said that he offered to give the diamond to the mariner, in
return for his liberty. The English skipper, professing to accept the
slave's proposal, took him on board his ship and, having obtained
possession of the jewel, flung the slave into the sea. The English sea
captain sold it for one thousand pounds sterling, not to Governor Pitt,
but in all probability to Jamchund, at that time the leading diamond
merchant in the East. Jamchund sold it to Mr. Thomas Pitt, Governor of
Fort St. George, Madras, East Coast of India for twenty thousand four
hundred pounds sterling. The Governor was the grandfather of William
Pitt, first Earl of Chatham. While it remained in possession of Thomas
Pitt he never slept two nights running under the same roof. At last he
was relieved of further anxiety by the negotiations, in consequence of
which the "Pitt" became the "Regent", passing from the English owner
into the hands of the Duke of Orleans, Regent of France, in 1717 for
135,000 pounds.
The
first name was given it because it was owned for some years by Governor
Pitt; the latter because it was bought by the Duke of Orleans while he
was Regent of France during the minority of Louis XV.
It
was sent to England and cut into a brilliant. In the process it was
reduced from 410 to 136-3/4 carats. The cutting required two years. It
cost 27,000 thalers, and 10,000 thalers worth of diamond dust were used
in the operation. The pieces ground off were worth 48,000 thalers.
During the reign of terror of 1792 it disappeared with the rest of the
crown diamonds, but was found again later. Under
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