l82 THE GREAT DIAMONDS OF THE WORLD.
pommel
of his sword, and Barbot tells us expressly that it was publicly shown
amongst the Crown jewellery at the Paris Exhibition of 1855.* Still it
is remarkable that this brilliant does not figure in the inventory of
the State Jewels, drawn up by order of Napoleon in 1810, nor apparently
in any of the subsequent official reports on the Crown jewels. This
circumstance, however it is to be explained, has doubtless, lent some
colouring to the many conflicting statements regarding its subsequent
vicissitudes. Kluge asserts that after its recovery in 1792, it was
pledged, not to the Dutch Government, but to Treskow a merchant in
Berlin. He also refers to the highly improbable report that, after the
battle of Waterloo, where the Prussians found it in the Emperor's State
carriage, it was carried off to the Prussian treasury. If it really was
taken to Berlin on that occasion, it was subsequently restored to the
French Government, for Ersch and Gruber, writing in 1833, distinctly
state that at that time it was " the first diamond in the French
treasury." f Barbot also justly regards it as the most conspicuous gem
in the now disused crown of France.
