Delhi,
and it may be still amongst the Persian jewels. It is noteworthy that
De Boot mentions a stone of 187-1/2 carats as an Indian one, of which
there is no other record unless it is identical with the Koh-i-noor,
which weighed 186-1/2 carats before it was recut. In this case it seems
likely that the Great Mogul was not divided.
The
Koh-i-noor also passed from the Mogul Empire at the conquest of it by
the Persians in 1739. Later it was in the possession of Runjeet Sing,
who wore it, alone, on his arm; at times it was used to decorate the
trappings of his horses. On the annexation of the Punjab it passed to
the East India Company, by whom it was presented to Queen Victoria in
1850. It was exhibited at the Great Exhibition and recut in London by
Dutch cutters in 1852, the work costing some £8,000. In its recut state
its weight is 106 carats.
The
Orloff Diamond has also a mysterious past; it is reported to have
formed an eye for an idol in a Brahmin temple at Seringham, to have
been stolen by a French soldier, and passed by the hands of an English
sea captain to Amsterdam, where it was bought for Catherine II. of
Russia by Prince Orloff. It is now set on the top of the Imperial
sceptre of Bussia. Its weight is 195 carats.
Another
famous Diamond from the Kollur Mines was the blue stone lately
belonging to Mr. H. P. Hope. It also was exhibited at the 1851
Exhibition, set, with a border of twenty brilliant-cut Diamonds of the
first water, as a medallion. It is of a rich Sapphire blue with great
fire and brilliancy ; its weight is 44-1/4 carats.
The Regent, or Pitt Diamond, is usually considered one of the finest and most perfectly cut stones in existence, It was
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