THE "SANCY" DIAMOND. 67
to
the fifty-four carats of the Sancy. Corsi probably supplies the true
origin of many of the stories current respecting this much-talked-of
gem, in mentioning a large French Diamond as going by the name of the "
Cent-six " (from its weight of 106 carats), which he adds became
corrupted in common parlance into " Le grand Sancy." Corsi
unfortunately has not taken the trouble to give the name or date of the
owner : and no Diamond of that precise weight (or anything that might
be mistaken for it) is to be found in the inventory of the Eegalia
drawn up in 1792 : in which the true Sancy figures under its own name
at fifty-three and fifteen-sixteenths carats.
Its
almond form, facetted all over (a pattern quite unknown in De Sancy's
times or indeed in any other, in Europe), would, of itself, not require
this express testimony of E. de Berquem to declare that it was an Indian-cut stone.
In the very year when he was writing, Tavernier was remarking, upon the
spot, the fondness of the Gol-conda lapidaries for covering the entire
surface of the Diamond under their hands with small facets in order to
diminish as little as possible the original weight of the native
crystal. The " Royne d'Angleterre " at the date specified was probably
the dowager-queen Henrietta Maria, not the queen-consort Catharine of
Braganza. The former supposition would explain how the Sancy
subsequently appears in the possession of James IL, from whom when in
exile it passed to Louis XIV. for the consideration of 625,000 fr.
(25,000l.).
The
Sancy was stolen together with the other regalia from the Garde-Meuble,
in the great robbery of September, 1792, and being more convertible
than its companion the Eegent, was never recovered. But Barbot asserts
positively that a Diamond exactly agreeing with its description in all
particulars was afterwards sold by
F 2
