The Tavernier Blue was the precursor diamond to the Blue Diamond of the French Crown (aka the French Blue). Subsequently, most scholars and historians believe that it was re-cut and, after a disappearance and reemergence into the public forum, was renamed the Hope Diamond. [1] [2] It is believed to have been a Type IIb diamond. [3]
Weighing 112 3/16 old French carats, [3] [lower-alpha 1] the crudely finished gem was described by the French gem dealer Jean-Baptiste Tavernier as being "violet" in color. [lower-alpha 2] and of perfect clarity.[ citation needed ] The diamond was certainly Indian in origin and likely sourced by Tavernier in 1666 [4] at the Kollur mine in the Guntur district, Andhra Pradesh. The stone, only slightly finished at this time, was eventually cut to present a more diamond-like appearance, in 1775. [5]
Tavernier was a French traveler and trader who returned to France from India with many of the largest gems of the era. He primarily sold merchandise to French royalty and the aristocracy. Tavernier sold the Tavernier Blue to Louis XIV of France for cash. He also received a Patent of Nobility as part of the sales price. [lower-alpha 3] [5]
The original stone was set into a cravat-pin in 1674, and became a central element in the elaborate Order of the Golden Fleece pendant in 1715. [1] [2] It and the fleece were placed into the French Crown Jewels in 1749. The Tavernier Blue was removed from the fleece and re-cut by court jeweler Jean Pitau into the 68-carat French Blue in 1775, [1] [3] on the orders of Louis XV. It was then returned to the Crown Jewels. [5]
The French Blue was stolen from the French Crown Jewels in 1792 during the turbulence of the French Revolution. [3] It is generally believed that after the theft, the stone was cut into the 45.52-carat Hope Diamond and several smaller stones in an attempt to prevent its proper identification. [6] This provenance was accepted by many historians and gemologists for years and was supported by research with 3D imaging and prototyping technology in 2005. [7] [6]
Another large blue diamond believed [8] [ self-published source ] to have been taken from the Tavernier was originally set in a ring for Empress Maria Feodorovna, wife of Russian Emperor Paul I. It was given to the State Diamond Fund in 1860 by her daughter-in-law, the Empress Alexandra Feodorovna. Later, it was mounted into a stick pin. [9] [ self-published source ] The 7.6-carat [9] stone is preserved in the collection of the Alexander Palace in Tsarskoye Selo, near St Petersburg. The Russian stone's provenance as part of the Tavernier Blue is disputed. [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.
Jean-Baptiste Tavernier (1605–1689) was a 17th-century French gem merchant and traveler. Tavernier, a private individual and merchant traveling at his own expense, covered, by his own account, 60,000 leagues in making six voyages to Persia and India between the years 1630 and 1668. In 1675, Tavernier, at the behest of his patron Louis XIV, published Les Six Voyages de Jean-Baptiste Tavernier.
The French Crown Jewels and Regalia comprise the crowns, orb, sceptres, diadems and jewels that were symbols of Royal or Imperial power between 752 and 1870. These were worn by many Kings and Queens of France as well as Emperor Napoleon. The set was finally broken up, with most of it sold off in 1885 by the Third Republic. The surviving French Crown Jewels, principally a set of historic crowns, diadems and parures, are mainly on display in the Galerie d'Apollon of the Louvre, France's premier museum and former royal palace, together with the Regent Diamond, the Sancy Diamond and the 105-carat (21.0 g) Côte-de-Bretagne red spinel, carved into the form of a dragon. In addition, some gemstones and jewels are on display in the Treasury vault of the Mineralogy gallery in the National Museum of Natural History.
The Imperial crown of Russia, also known as the great imperial crown, was used for the coronation of the monarchs of Russia from 1762 until the Russian monarchy's abolition in 1917. The great imperial crown was first used in the coronation by Catherine the Great, and it was last worn at the coronation of Nicholas II. It was displayed prominently next to Nicholas II on a cushion at the State Opening of the Russian Duma inside the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg in 1906. It survived the 1917 revolution and ensuing civil war and is currently on display in Moscow at the Kremlin Armoury's State Diamond Fund.
The Logan Sapphire is a 422.98-carat (84.596 g) sapphire from Sri Lanka. One of the largest blue faceted sapphires in the world, it was owned by Sir Victor Sassoon and then purchased by M. Robert Guggenheim as a gift for his wife, Rebecca Pollard Guggenheim, who donated the sapphire to the Smithsonian Institution in 1960. The sapphire's name is derived from Rebecca's new surname after marrying John A. Logan. It has been displayed in the National Gem Collection of the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., since 1971. It is a mixed cushion-cut sapphire, approximately the size of a large chicken egg, and set in a silver and gold brooch surrounded by 20 round brilliant-cut diamonds.
Harry Winston was an American jeweler. He donated the Hope Diamond to the Smithsonian Institution in 1958 after owning it for a decade. He also traded the Portuguese Diamond to the Smithsonian in 1963 in exchange for 3,800 carats of small diamonds.
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.
Princess Zinaida Nikolayevna Yusupova was an Imperial Russian noblewoman, the only heiress of Russia's largest private fortune of her time. Famed for her beauty and the lavishness of her hospitality, she was a leading figure in pre-Revolutionary Russian society. In 1882, she married Count Felix Felixovich Sumarokov-Elston, who served briefly as General Governor of Moscow Military District (1914–1915). Zinaida is best known as the mother of Prince Felix Yusupov, the murderer of Rasputin. She escaped revolutionary Russia and spent her remaining years living in exile.
The Maharaja of Indore Necklace is a diamond and emerald-studded necklace. As of 2008, it is on display at the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., United States. It was originally named the Spanish Inquisition Necklace by the American jeweller Harry Winston, though it had no known connection with the historical Spanish Inquisition. The name was changed in 2021 by the Smithsonian Institution to reflect its actual provenance, having been first owned by Tukoji Rao III, Maharaja of Indore in the early 20th century.
The Napoleon Diamond Necklace is a diamond necklace commissioned by Napoleon I of France c. 1811–1812 from the Parisian jeweler Marie-Étienne Nitot. It is now in the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C.
The Wittelsbach-Graff Diamond is a 31.06-carat (6.212 g) deep-blue diamond with internally flawless clarity, originating in the Kollur Mine, India. Laurence Graff purchased the Wittelsbach Diamond in 2008 for £16.4 million. In 2010, Graff revealed he had had the diamond cut by three diamond cutters to remove flaws. The diamond was now more than 4 carats (800 mg) lighter and was renamed the Wittelsbach-Graff Diamond. There is controversy, as critics claim the recutting has so altered the diamond as to make it unrecognisable, compromising its historical integrity.
John Francillon (1744–1816) was a jeweler and lapidary, an English naturalist and an entomologist of Huguenot descent.
Jérémie Pauzié was a Genevan diamond jeweler, artist and memoirist, known for his work for the Russian Imperial court and the Imperial Crown of Russia, which he created with the court's jeweler Georg Friedrich Ekart.
The "Star of the East" is a 94.78-carat, pear-shaped, D-color stone of VS2 clarity grade. Its exact origin is unknown, but it likely originated from India. The Star of the East Diamond was part of the collection of jewels belonging to the Ottoman Sultan, Abdulhamid II, who ruled between 1876 and 1909. The Star of the East was stolen from Ottoman Sultan Abdulhamid II. The exact circumstances under which the diamond came into the possession of the Sultan are not known. Even the origin of the name and at what point in its history it was christened, remains a mystery. The diamond was part of the collection of the jewellery-loving Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, Abdulhamid II. It was later acquired by Pierre Cartier, who sold it to Evalyn Walsh McLean. After McLean's death, Harry Winston purchased the diamond together with McLean's entire collection. The diamond's current whereabouts are unknown.
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.
Blue diamond is a type of diamond which exhibits all of the same inherent properties of the mineral except with the additional element of blue color in the stone. They are colored blue by trace amounts of boron that contaminate the crystalline lattice structure. Blue diamonds belong to a subcategory of diamonds called fancy color diamonds, the generic name for diamonds that exhibit intense color.
The Marie Antoinette Diamond Earrings are a pair of diamond earrings on permanent display in the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., United States. They are so named for their assumed provenance: that they were commissioned by King Louis XVI of France for his wife, Queen Marie Antoinette. While there is limited documentation and circumstantial evidence attesting to the truth of this claim, the origin of the earrings has never been definitively proven.
The Marie Louise Diadem is a diamond and turquoise diadem on permanent display at the National Museum of Natural History in Washington D.C.. It is named for Marie Louise of Austria, the wife of Emperor Napoleon of France.
..as far as he can learn, the authentic history of this gem goes back only to 1830...
...new evidence unearthed in France's National Museum of Natural History shows beyond reasonable doubt that the Hope Diamond is the same steely-blue stone once sported by the Sun King...
Media related to Tavernier Blue at Wikimedia Commons