Anyone familiar with the famous diamonds of the world will recognize names like the “Star of Africa”, the “Cullinan I” or the “Hope Diamond”. These stones are both legendary and world-famous. Some of the best known diamonds are also lost to the world, for example the “Centenary Diamond” which was on display in the Tower of London for many years until its owners mysteriously removed it. To date, no word has been heard of the remarkable stone’s whereabouts, and most believe that it was purchased by a private collector.
What about some other famous, and yet not so famous stones? What about those known by the true diamond enthusiasts, yet not on a wider scale as well? Certainly there are many which have fascinating histories and are remarkable wonders of the natural world. A brief listing would have to include the following famous diamonds.
The “Dresden Green” diamond is remarkable even among rare colored diamonds. Found in the early 1700s, long before irradiation made artificially coloring diamonds possible, this green stone has spent most of its public life in Germany, where it derives its name. It weighs in at a whopping forty-one carats and is housed in Staatliche Kunstsammlungen in Dresden, Germany.
Every person aware of legendary actress Elizabeth Taylor is also aware of her legendary love affair with jewelry of all kinds. She was in possession of one of the largest stones in the world before selling it and using the proceeds to build a hospital in Africa. There is another stone however that she will, doubtless, never sell. This is the fabulous “Krupp Diamond” which was originally owned by Vera Krupp. The stone was sold to Taylor’s husband, actor Richard Burton who presented it to her in 1968. She has regularly spoken of the diamond as one of her most prized belongings and she makes a point of wearing it in every single film she has appeared in since that time. It is a thirty-three carat stone mounted as a breathtaking ring, and the actress is seldom seen without it.
The “Eagle” diamond is one of those stones lost to common knowledge, and perhaps lost entirely. It was uncovered in Eagle, Wisconsin in 1876. Initially its finder thought it was a large piece of smoky quartz due to its yellow coloration. After a few years he decided to sell the stone, which earned him a single dollar, but the buyer wisely had it appraised and was able to sell the stone for a considerably larger sum.
Eventually, millionaire philanthropist J.P. Morgan acquired the “Eagle” and donated it to the Museum of Natural History where the sixteen carat diamond was famously stolen by Jack Roland Murphy (Murph the Surf) and his associates, along with several other famous stones. Though the “Star of India” and the “de Long Ruby” as well as all of the other stones were eventually recovered, the “Eagle” was never found. Most believe that it was sadly cut into many smaller stones after its theft, and therefore is no longer in existence.
Keeping a treasure hidden and in total secrecy can actually impact its value once it has been made known to the public, and such was the case when the famous “Tereschenko” diamond made its way to the auction block. It had been kept in total secrecy for more than a century when it was made available in 1984.
It was instantly an item of great interest to diamond collectors around the world, both for its size (nearly forty-three carats) and its rare blue color. The owners of the diamond had been the Tereschenko family, a wealthy sugar manufacturing clan from Russia. The stone went into exile just before the Russian Revolution, where it was sold to a private collector after 1916.
The provenance of the stone, its mysterious backgrounds, and the disbelief of knowledgeable experts that such a stone could exist in complete anonymity for such a lengthy period of time cased a delay in its sale as it was analyzed by the Gemological Institute of America. Once it had passed certification and was revealed to be all that the seller’s had promised, it was auctioned in New York City and earned a remarkable four and a half million dollars when the hammer finally fell.
Finally, though Brazil is now recognized as an active diamond producing area of the world, there was a time when no stones of note or renown had yet come from the region. In the mid-1850s however a female slave working in the mines of Brazil found what would become the “Star of the South” diamond. The enormous, one hundred and twenty-eight carat, stone earned the freedom of the worker, as well as a retirement income, and shone the spotlight on the potential for Brazilian diamonds.
The pink stone was displayed at several world exhibitions before being purchased as a gift. By the early years of the twenty-first century, around 2002, the world famous house of Cartier had acquired the legendary stone for its own collection.
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June 9th, 2011 at 8:38 am
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