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 Each outstanding
diamond has its mystic and magic effect on the surrounding; it really costs a
lot to people who have passion to diamonds. The giant
Cullinan is one of the most famous and the largest diamonds in the world. The
Cullinan weighed a massive 3,106 carats as a rough diamond crystal. It was
named after Thomas Cullinan (later Sir Thomas) who was a South African
businessman, before a successful Johannesburg building contractor and amateur
geologist.
Thomas became interested in the area because of the alluvial
diamonds that were being found in nearby stream. The Cullinan diamond was
discovered at the Premier Diamond Mine in 1905. Mr. Frederick Wells, the
superintendent of the Premier Mine found the crystal when he was making a
routine inspection of the mine, eighteen feet below the ground. Specialists
suppose that the diamond is the part of the bigger stone. Yet, nothing was determined
and the diamond was presented it to King Edward VII on his 66th birthday and the
masters were brainstorming on what to do with the stone. Finally they decided to
cut it into several finer parts. The largest part, called ‘Star of Africa' is
set in the Royal Scepter.
Unfortunately,
the second largest known diamond in the world is Excelsior that was just broken
into pieces. The jewelers explained that ridiculous event by the wrong shape of
the diamond. Finally, this magnificent diamond was cut into 21 separate stones.
The other magnificent
stone called ‘Great Mogul' was also cut into several pieces by the fault of
inexperienced jeweler who failed to do the cutting. Shah Jahan forced the
jeweler to pay the great compensation for the broken stone.
The owners of
treasures were also folowed in other way. Thus, in 1739 the Iranian troops
attacked Delhi. One of the purposes of that attack was the wonderful pink
diamond ‘Delia-Nur'. Since that time, the
diamond was in the treasury of the Iranian shahs incrusted in the Crowns of the
Rulers. The diamond was last displayed to wide public in 1967 during crowning
of the last shah of Iran and in twenty years the shah had to leave his country
escaping from the Islamic revolution.
The
legendary ‘Kohinoor' is known from the year 1304. It belonged to the father of
the Great Mogul Dynasty and decorated the ceremonial throne of Shah Jahan, the
builder of Taj Mahal. Crowned owners of ‘Kohinoor' died one after another. Once the
diamond arrived to Afghanistan with the bodyguard to Nodir Shah who escaped
with the stone after the shah was killed. Finally, the diamond came to East Indies
Company that presented the stone to Victoria, The Queen in 1850. The Queen used
the diamond as a broche and later on it was fixed in the center of the frontal
cross of the State Crown. Later the whole world enjoyed that diamond at the coronation
of Her Majesty Elizabeth, The Queen. Now ‘Kohinoor' is kept in the London Tower
together with other royal jewels.
But it is
not only the British Queen who can show off wearing marvelous jewels. The well-known
diamond ‘Orlov' stored in the treasury of the Diamond Fund is one of the
outstanding diamonds in history and from esthetical point of view. The stone has
its initial Indian cutting made in the form of the Indian rose with a huge
number of layered facets. First the diamond belonged to Shah Jahan and was put
in the eye of the Indian God Brahma statue in Madras. In the early XVIII century
a French soldier, the guard to the temple, stole the diamond and sold to a
British captain. Yet, the diamond appeared in Amsterdam after all adventures
where he was bought by the Duke Grigoriy Orlov for the fortune. And the only
person in Russia who could afford such a jewelry was an Empress of Russia, and
thus, the diamond ‘Orlov' was presented to her. The gem was mounted in the
carved silver and put in the upper part of the Russian Supreme Scepter.
The fate of
the reputed ‘Sancy' is unknown till now somewhat belonged to the Russian
manufacturer Pavel Demidov. The Sancy was kept in the treasury of the Indian
rules for a long time and then it appeared in Europe. Under the legend, the bearer
of the gem was invulnerable to the weapons, and one of the owners, Carl Brave,
caused the gem to be installed into his helmet. Alas, but the helmet was lost
in one of battles and the day after the Duke was killed. The Swiss soldiers
sold the diamond for a gulden since they did not have an idea of its real
value.
Finally, the
gem was acquired by the Marquis de Sancy to have its name. Once the diamond was
hardly stolen, though the faithful servant swallowed the gem scarifying his
life. Soon after the diamond went to the French king and for a long time the agraffe
of Louis XIV - the Sun King. During the French Revolution ‘Sancy' was stolen
again. The Great Napoleon ordered to find the gem but the searches were
unsuccessful. Though Pavel Demidov succeeded in that. He acquired the diamond for
his wife who widowed soon after that. After her death ‘Sancy' was found in the treasury
of the Lord Astor and later it magically went to Elizabeth Taylor. Though
nobody is confident on what happened to the diamond and where it is today.
One of the
unhappy and powerful stones was the famous blue ‘Hope Diamond'. They say that earlier
the gem decorated the forehead of the Indian God and longs to return to the
place. In 1792 during the revolution it was lost from the treasury of the
French kings and was later put to London auction. It was permanent in changing owners.
One of them, Eveline Walsh took the diamond to the church to clear the gem. It
did not help, her husband was put to psychiatric hospital, her bother died
young, and her little son was killed in the car crash, her daughter died from
over-dosing of medication. Even after Mrs. Maclinn died, the damnation worked
to the further generation and her granddaughter Evelyn died at the age of 25. In the end, the last
owner of the gem took it to the Smithson Institute where the diamond is kept
till now.
Nevertheless,
the rich and famous are not really anxious with the fate of their antecedents. Elisabeth
II owns so many diamonds that she had to take a separate room in the Buckingham
Palace to keep them. And only personal jewels are kept in that room. The treasuries
of the British Crown are kept in the secure Tower and are provided to Her
Majesty if and when necessary. The total cost of the personal collection of
stones belonging to Elisabeth II is estimated to reach 57 million US dollars.
And the majority of diamonds were presented to her. One of the prominent jewels
of the royal collection is the diamond necklace by the Queen Mary. Also the Queen
possesses some pieces of cut Cullinan stone. It is known behind the scene that
Elisabeth called them ‘grandmother's stones'.
Elisabeth
Taylor, the Queen of Hollywood Show-biz competes with the British Queen. The former
has in her collection ‘Krupp' diamond (33,19 carat) and ‘Taylor-Barton' diamond
(69,42 carat). Her husband, Richard Barton, copying the generous gesture of the
Shah Jahan, presented his wife with a magnificent heart-shaped yellow diamond.
The other billionaire,
Aristotle Onassis, presented his wife-to-be Jacqueline Kennedy marvelous
diamond jewels as his wedding present that cost $ 5 million USD. The church ring
was estimated by experts to cost $2 million USD.
However, all
these celebrities are far and away to wonderful Muna-al-Rashid whose collection
is estimated to cost $100 million USD. It is no wonder since the women of the
East can take their jewels away in case of divorce. And nobody can ever guess
what treasures belong to these small figures wrapped in modest shawls. It is only well-known that almost all Indian actresses
are crazy about jewels. On the top of it, they secretly compete on who is
richer, and so far Rekha, splendid actress, and beautiful Shridevi are in the
top winners. They are told to keep a special guard for the jewels since a small
diamond necklace they wear may cost over $6 million USD.
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