 A replica of the Great Moghul Diamond | |
| Weight | 280 carats (56 g) |
|---|---|
| Country of origin | India  |
| Mine of origin | Kollur Mine |
The Great Mogul was a large diamond that is believed to have been discovered around 1650, most probably around the Kollur Mine in the Golconda region of southern India. Tavernier described the diamond thus: "The stone is of the same form as if one cut an egg through the middle". [1]
The 787-carat (157.4 g) [1] rough diamond was gifted by Emir Jemla to Shah Jahan, the 5th Mughal emperor, as part of diplomacy between the two families. [2] [3]
Jemla described it as "that celebrated diamond which has been generally deemed unparalleled in size and beauty." [4]
A Venetian lapidary named Ortensio Borgio was assigned to cut the stone. It is believed that the Great Mogul Diamond exhibited several inclusions. Rejecting the idea of cutting the diamond into several fine stones, Borgio decided to address the inclusion problem by grinding away at it until the unwanted flaws were gone. Much to the horror of the Emperor, Borgio's work yielded very poor results, including a great loss of weight. Shah Jehan spared Borgio's head, instead fining him 10,000 rupees (all the money he had) for his ineptitude. Originally this story was believed to refer to the Koh-i-Noor Diamond; recent research appears to indicate that it instead refers to this stone. [5]
Around 1665 the Shah's son, Aurangzeb, showed the stone to the famous jeweler and world traveler Jean Baptiste Tavernier. At that time Tavernier wrote in his Six Voyages: "The first piece that Akel Khan (Chief Keeper of the King's jewels) placed in my hands was the great diamond, which is rose cut, round and very high on one side. On the lower edge there is a slight crack, and a little flaw in it. Its water is fine, and weighs 319+1⁄2 ratis, which makes 280 of our carats, the rati being 7⁄8th of a carat." [6]
Later, the Great Mogul Diamond was transferred to Lahore Subah and became part of the spoils of war when Mughal India was invaded and Lahore and then Delhi sacked by the Persian ruler Nadir Shah. Nadir Shah returned with the stone to his home in Isfahan in 1739 from the Nawabs of Punjab. However, Nadir Shah's ownership proved short-lived. He was assassinated in 1747 and the stone disappeared. [ citation needed ]
Most modern scholars are now convinced that the Great Mogul is actually the Orlov Diamond, today part of Catherine the Great's imperial Russian sceptre in the Kremlin. [7]
The Koh-i-Noor, also spelled Koh-e-Noor,Kohinoor and Koh-i-Nur, is one of the largest cut diamonds in the world, weighing 105.6 carats (21.12 g). It is part of the Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom. The diamond is currently set in the Crown of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother.
The Hope Diamond is a 45.52 carats diamond extracted in the 17th century from the Kollur Mine in Guntur, India. It is blue in color due to trace amounts of boron. Its exceptional size has revealed new information about the formation of diamonds.
The Peacock Throne was a famous jewelled throne that was the seat of the emperors of the Mughal Empire in India. It was commissioned in the early 17th century by Emperor Shah Jahan and was located in the Diwan-i-Khas in the Red Fort of Delhi. It was named after a peacock as two peacocks are shown dancing at its rear.
The Orlov, also known as The Great Mughal Diamond, is a large diamond of Indian origin, currently displayed as a part of the Diamond Fund collection of Moscow's Kremlin Armoury. It is described as having the shape and proportions of half a chicken's egg. In 1774, it was encrusted into the Imperial Sceptre of Russian Empress Catherine the Great.
Kollur Mine was a series of gravel-clay pits on the south bank of the Krishna River in the state of Andhra Pradesh. It is thought to have produced many large diamonds, known as Golconda diamonds, several of which are or have been a part of crown jewels.
The Crown of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, also known as the Queen Mother's Crown, is the crown made for Queen Elizabeth to wear at her coronation in 1937 and State Openings of Parliament during the reign of her husband, King George VI. The crown was made by Garrard & Co., the Crown Jeweller at the time, and is modelled partly on the design of the Crown of Queen Mary, though it differs by having four half-arches instead of the eight that Queen Mary's Crown originally had. As with Queen Mary's Crown, its arches are detachable at the crosses pattée, allowing it to be worn as a circlet or open crown. It is the only crown for a British king or queen to be made of platinum.
The Crown of Queen Mary is a consort crown that was made in 1911 for the coronation of British queen Mary of Teck. Mary thereafter wore it on occasion in circlet form. It is part of the Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom. It was used again, in a slightly altered form, at the coronation of Queen Camilla on 6 May 2023.
The Daria-i-Noor, also spelled Darya-ye Noor, is one of the largest cut diamonds in the world, weighing an estimated 182 carats. Its colour, pale pink, is one of the rarest to be found in diamonds. The diamond is currently in the Iranian National Jewels collection of the Central Bank of Iran in Tehran. However, another theory posits that it is currently in a private collection within Bangladesh.
The Shah Diamond was found at the Golconda mines in what is now Telangana, South India, probably in 1450, and it is currently held in the Diamond Fund collection of Moscow's Kremlin Armoury.
The Tiffany Yellow Diamond is one of the largest yellow diamonds ever discovered. Its carat weight was originally 287.42 carats in the rough when discovered in 1878 in the Kimberley mine in South Africa. It was cut into a cushion shape of 128.54 carats with 82 facets—24 more than a traditional round brilliant—to maximize its brilliance. The facet pattern features eight needle-like facets pointing outward from the culet (bottom) facet. Jewelry and diamond historian Herbert Tillander refers to this as a "stellar brilliant cut", and lists the gem in his book, Diamond Cuts in Historic Jewelry – 1381 to 1910 (1995), among other such diamonds: the Cullinan Diamond, the Koh-i-Noor, the Polar Star, the Wittelsbach, and others.
The Noor-ul-Ain is one of the largest pink diamonds in the world, and the centre piece of the tiara of the same name.
Ratti is a traditional Indian unit of measurement for mass. Based on the nominal weight of a Gunja seed, it measured approximately 1.8 or 1.75 grains or 0.1215 g as standardized weight. It is still used by the jewellers in the Indian Subcontinent.
The Nassak Diamond is a large, 43.38 carats (8.676 g) Golconda Diamond that originated as a larger 89 carat diamond in the 15th century in India. Found in Golconda mines of Kollur and originally cut in India, the diamond was the adornment in the Trimbakeshwar Shiva Temple, near Nashik, in the state of Maharashtra, India from at least 1500 to 1817. The British East India Company captured the diamond through the Third Anglo-Maratha War and sold it to British jewellers Rundell and Bridge in 1818. Rundell and Bridge recut the diamond in 1818, after which it made its way into the handle of the 1st Marquess of Westminster's dress sword.
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The Timur Ruby is an unfaceted, 352.54-carat (71 g) polished red spinel set in a necklace. It is named after the ruler Timur, founder of the Timurid Empire and purportedly one of its former owners. It was believed to be a ruby until 1851.
The Great Table was a large pink diamond that had been studded in the throne of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan. It has been described in the book of the French jeweller Jean-Baptiste Tavernier in 1642, who gave it its name.
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Golconda diamonds are mined in the Godavari delta region of the present-day states Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, India. Golconda Fort in the western part of modern-day Hyderabad was a seat of the Golconda Sultanate and became an important centre for diamond enhancement, lapidary, and trading. Golconda diamonds are graded as Type IIa, are formed of pure carbon, are devoid of nitrogen, and are large with high clarity. They are often described as diamonds of the first water, making them among history's most-celebrated diamonds. The phrase "Golconda diamond" became synonymous with diamonds of incomparable quality.
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Tomb of Nader Shah is a building in Mashhad designed by Hooshang Seyhoun.