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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
Coloured Diamonds.                           139
came to light without a history, without any account being rendered as to whence it came, and what had been its travels and fortunes. Subsequently it is traced as the pro­perty of the late Mr. Hope, under the name of the " Hope" Diamond. The difference in weight between the original stone of 67-1/8 carats, and this actual stone of 44-1/4 carats, naturally suggests the question, "Was the weight lost simply in the cutter's hands, or were one or more pieces removed by simple cleavage, and preserved ? " The latter supposition, viz., that the Diamond abstracted in 1792 was reduced by cleavage and formed into three Brilliants, is not improbable. This deduction is indeed the more plausible, as Tavernier's Diamond evidently had one of the crystallographic faces largely produced on the one side, which gave the stone a "drop form," a formation frequently seen in rough Diamonds, especially in coloured stones (excepting always the yellow varieties), and leading to the inference that the cleavage plane must have lain as in the diagram between A and B. In the first cutting of the stone this original shape was to some extent preserved, which left an ill-formed, triangular-shaped Brilliant somewhat thin on one side. From this it would have been easy for an expert to cleave a triangular piece of about 10 or 11 carats, thus leaving the stone weighing about 56 carats, the re-cutting of which, as a perfect Brilliant, well proportioned, would reduce it to its present weight of 44-1/4 carats. It is observable that the " Hope " Diamond is even now straighter on one side than the other, and this strengthens the presumption of the stone having been cleaved as suggested.
Sec. II, Ch. 10: The Coloured Diamond Page of 366 Sec. II, Ch. 10: The Coloured Diamond
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