HE
recent exhibition of the "Porter-Rhodes " in Bond Street, London, has
made this remarkable stone a familiar . object to connoisseurs. During
the winter of 1881, many ladies and gentlemen inspected it, and heard
from the lips of the owner, some of the details of its discovery. Notes
upon the question of its value have been published in the leading
journals, wherein it has been stated that while a syndicate of English
diamond merchants had offered him £60,000 for his treasure, he
estimates its value at more than ,£200,000. The history of the stone
(which is as yet uncut), and the opinions of Her Majesty the Queen, and
Her Imperial Majesty the Empress Eugenie, are set forth in the
following letter, written to Mr. Streeter by Mr. Porter-Rhodes.
"
In giving an account of the Blue-White Diamond, weighing 150 carats,
which is known as the ' Porter-Rhodes Diamond,' I am, since my visit to
you, more assured of the great worth of the stone,
