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Sec. II, Ch. 10: The Coloured Diamond

Sec. II, Ch. 10: The Coloured Diamond Page of 366 Sec. II, Ch. 10: The Coloured Diamond Text size:minus plus Restore normal size   Mail page  Print this page
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Coloured Diamonds.
appear to have been somewhat flat and ill-formed. The figure given in our plate probably represents faithfully this stone in its condition at the time, and is a copy from an old French engraving. After its purchase by " Le Grand Monarque," it was apparently cut. It figured in a grand historic scene on the 19th February, 1715, when the Persian Ambassador appeared before Louis XIV., twelve days after his public entry into Paris. Le Grand Monarque, notwithstanding his great age and infirmities, exerted his remaining energy of will to appear before the illustrious stranger to the best advantage. He was dressed in a black suit, ornamented with gold, and embroided with Dia­monds stated to cost—the almost incredible estimate of ;£12,000,000. Suspended from a light blue ribbon round his neck, he wore a dark Blue Diamond as a pendant. And we find in the French regalia, a century later, a facetted Diamond, triangular in shape, and of an identical colour, weighing 67-1/8 carats, which would be about the weight of Tavernier's celebrated purchase, after it had been cut.
This stone was, with the rest of the French regalia, seized in August, 1792, and deposited in the Garde-Meuble. From this insecure place it was surreptitiously abstracted in September of the same year. What ulti­mately became of it remains a mystery. That it should have really been lost is incredible ; and from the sudden appearance of a stone of similar character, the extra­ordinary rarity of which is acknowledged, the belief may be fairly entertained that the new stone was only Tavernier's gem re-cut, and so altered in form as to render its identifi­cation very difficult. This hypothesis receives additional probability from the fact that a Blue Brilliant about the year 1830, was in the hands of Mr. Daniel Eliason, which
Sec. II, Ch. 10: The Coloured Diamond Page of 366 Sec. II, Ch. 10: The Coloured Diamond
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