Two large brilliants, of nearly forty-nine and thirty-nine
carats, respectively, are included in this magnificent collec-'
tion, the larger being known as the Dresden White, or the
Saxon white brilliant, which is classed among the finest in
Europe for perfection of form and superiority of lustre.
The Dresden Yellow diamonds are four brilliants of great
beauty, each weighing about thirty carats.
The English Dresden, taking the name of its owner,
Mr. E. Dresden, was discovered in Brazil, in the same region
which yielded the " Star of the South," and is supposed to
have formed a part of another diamond. This stone, weighing,
in its natural state, one hundred and nineteen and one-half
carats, was reduced by the lapidary to seventy-six and onehalf carats, and is described as of a drop-shape and absolutely
faultless, a distinction seldom known to belong to diamonds,
while its purity and lustre are so extraordinary that when
placed beside the Koh-i-noor, the latter appears of a yellowish
tint, and inferior in brilliancy. This magnificent jewel, failing
to obtain a purchaser in any European market, found its way
to India, and was bought by an English merchant of Bombay.
Its subsequent history, says Streeter, is, in a certain way,
mixed up with the American Rebellion. The purchaser was
a dealer in cotton, and this commodity, advancing in price in
consequence of the American war, brought him a large fortune, a part of which he invested in the diamond trade.
Among other specimens, he purchased the English Dresden,
for a great price, but, in consequence of the unexpected close
of hostilities, resulting in the fall of the price of cotton, the
Bombay merchant was ruined financially, and, soon after
dying of grief, his coveted treasure passed into the hands of
the Prince of Baroda.
It is a remarkable coincidence, or a series of coincidences,
