HISTORICAL AND REMARKABLE DIAMONDS. 229
mentioned by this traveller carried off by Nadir Shah, and may
turn up either in Persia or Afghanistan.
The Nassack.— This trophy was gained by the English
during their war with the Mahrattas, and is said to have been
taken from one of the famous cave temples near Nassack, on
the Upper Godavery, to which it had been presented as a
sacred offering by the natives. The diamond was delivered to
the Marquis of Hastings, then Governor of India, who presented it to the East India Company. It was sent to England,
and sold to Messrs. Rundell and Bridge, of London, for a sum
far below its real value, and finally came into the possession of
the Duke of Westminster, who placed it in the hilt of his
sword. Its weight was reduced by re-cutting from eighty-nine
and three-fourths to seventy-eight and three-eighths carats,
but it gained vastly in brilliancy ; after this operation it
was valued at a price from forty thousand to fifty thousand
dollars.
The Ascott brilliants, or diamond ear-rings presented to
Queen Charlotte by the Nabob of Ascott, were bought by the
Duke of Westminster at the same time.
The Pigott.—This was a brilliant of the purest water and
one of the finest in Europe ; its weight has been variously
estimated, but the preponderance of testimony favors eightytwo and one-fourth carats. It was an Indian gem, introduced
into England by Lord Pigott, Governor of Madras, about the
year 1775, and sold at the beginning of the present century to
Rundell and Bridge, who estimated its value at one hundred
and fifty thousand dollars. There is a little romance connected
with this beautiful gem. It was purchased by AH Pasha, who
cherished it with remarkable devotion, and, when mortally
wounded, gave orders to have this diamond destroyed, and his
favorite wife strangled, to prevent their falling into the hands
