Sessional papers online

contract. They petitioned the British Government, in
the year 1800, to be permitted to dispose of it by way of
lottery for £30,000, in 15,000 tickets at £2 each. The
family could only dispose of about 10,000 tickets, and
the prize was obtained by two gentlemen who joined in
the purchase of the lucky ticket. This diamond was
of an oval form, and a tolerably perfect brilliant, and its
weight was 47^ carats, consequently only worth, accord-
ing to the table of calculation, £18,040. Report says



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123

that the two London tradesmen who obtained this prize 1816
had much dispute which of the two should hold it in
possession, and what value should be put upon it to
obtain a purchaser for it, and thereby turn it into specie,
which would be the more acceptable and useful ; and
report said that the difference ran so high, that a law-
suit was contemplated, when the jury might have recom-
mended the stone to be cut in half, which would have re-
duced its value to less than £9»000 in point of weight, and
probably would have rendered the forms of inconvenient
sizes for cutting into any other saleable stones. During
the discussion Messrs. Rundell, Bridges, and Rundell
made an offer of 8000 guineas, which was accepted.
Messrs. Rundell, Bridges, and Rimdell had no means of
disposing of it ; the funds of all the different sovereigns
in Europe being engaged in the general war, their ex-
chequers were too low to think of it. It was said that
it was sent through the great commercial house of
Messrs. Thulleson, in 1804, to be offered for sale to
the Emperor Napoleon, and the war being renewed,
it was kept by the then ministers until the conclusion of
the war, in 1814, when, after great difficulty, and the
demand of it being strongly insisted upon by our Am-
bassador at Paris, it was delivered into the hands of Mr.
Edmund Rundell. It remained in this house, there
being no purchaser, until the year 1830, when the Pasha
of Egypt commissioned the Consul-General, Mr. Briggs,
to contract with Messrs. Rundell, Bridges, and Rundell
for the purchase of it, in the year 1830 or 1831, for the
sum of £30,000; the Pasha requiring it to make a
present of it to Mahmoud II., Grand Seignior and Sultan
of the Ottoman empire.



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^®^^' 4th. The Sanci.

The Sanci Diamond, so called from Nicholas de
Harlai de Sanci, its former owner ; hence its name. It
is as near as possible of the same size and oval form as
the Figgot brilliant, only about one-eighth thicker,
which allows it a superior brilliancy ; it weighs about
55 carats, and cost £S5,000. There was a long account
of the history of this diamond in the Morning PosU
revised and corrected by John Murray, F.S.A., whose
account of it I will relate.

This diamond belonged to Charles the Bold, the last
Duke of Burgundy, who wore it in his cap at the battle
of Nancy, and it was found by a Swiss soldier among the
spoils of battle after the famous defeat of his army in
1445, near Moral, in Switzerland, and in which battle he
himself was killed. The Swiss soldier sold it to a priest
for a florin, and the latter again disposed of it for 2s. 6d.
In the year 1589 it was in the possession of Antonio,
King of Portugal, and by him was first pledged to a
French gentleman named De Sanci for 40,000 livres, and
was subsequently sold for 100,000 livres. The family
of that gentleman preserved the diamond for nearly a
century, and till the period when Henry IIL of France,
after having lost his throne, employed a descendant of
this family, who was commander of the Swiss troops in
his service, to proceed to Switzerland for the purpose of
recruiting his forces in that country, and having no
pecuniary resources at command, he persuaded the same
gentleman to borrow of his family the Sanci diamond, in
order to deposit it with the Swiss Government as security
for the payment of the troops. Accordingly the diamond



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125

was dispatched by a confidential domestic, who dis- 1816.
appeared, and could not be heard of for a great
length of time. At last it was however ascertained
that he had been stopped by robbers, and assassinated,
and his body buried in a forest ; and such confidence had
his master in the prudence and probity of his servant,
that he searched, and at last discovered, the place of his
burial, and had the corpse disinterred, when the diamond
was found in his stomach, he having swallowed it when
attacked by the robbers. The Baron de Sanci subse-
quently disposed of this diamond to James II. of England,
then residing at St. Germains, from whom it passed to
Louis XIV., and now remains among the crown jewels of
France.

5th. The Pitt.

The beautiful diamond in France, called the Pitt, or
Regent Diamond, was purchased by Thomas Pitt, Esq.,
grandfather of our late illustrious William Pitt. Thomas
Pitt was Governor of Bencoolen, in Sumatra, and after-
wards of Fort St. George, at Madras. It is said that
the slave who found it concealed it in an aperture cut or
made in the fleshy part of his leg, wearing over the
wound a pitch plaister.

In the French paper, called the Journal de Savans,
published for July, 1774, is the following account of it :
— That one of the principal diamonds of the Crown of
France, and which was purchased of an Englishman,
was one of the eyes of the God Jagrenat, a famous
idol, which stands in a pagoda, at Chandemagor, in the
province of Bengal ; that the said idol had since con-
tinued with one eye ; but since, the idol has been better



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138

1816. as by my books appear/' Calculating tbe pagoda at
8s. 6d., the rough stoue cost £20,400 sterling. It was
sent to England in I7OI. The editor of the Museum
Britannicum states, that the cutting and polishing of the
stone cost £5000. Jefferies states that it was sold to the
Regent Duke of Orleans during the minority of Louis
XV., in the year I717, for £135,000. Its weight is
1S6^ carats ; whilst cutting, the chips, and what are
termed the filings, were valued at from £7,000 to £8,000
sterling.

In 1791> there was a commission of jewellers convened
in France to set a value upon it, when they valued it at
12,000,000 of livres, or £480,000 sterling, in conse-
quence of its being faultless, and the true form and
thickness of an oblong brilliant. It is the prime orna-
ment of the crown jewels of France, and is allowed to
be the finest diamond in the world, though not the largest.
The Kings of France wore this diamond in their hats.
Napoleon Buonaparte had it fixed in the pommel of his
sword. Report says that this Regent Diamond was played
with such success before the King of Prussia, by the
Abb6 Sieyes, as to produce for the service of France
40,000 horses, with their equipments. This diamond
was found in the famous mine of Porteal, in the kingdom
of Golconda ; its form, in the rough, an inch and one-
eighth long, and three-quarters of an inch thick.

6th. Blue of France.

The Bourbons of France possess the most superb blue
diamond known ; it belongs to the Crown jewels of
France. It is nearly a perfect round brilliant, and of a
rich sky blue colour. It weighs 67^ carats, and is



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129

estimated at three millions of livres, or £140,000 sterling. ^®^®-
You will perceive, that when a blue diamond is found of
a form and thickness that will cut into a true brilliant,
its price is not governed by the accustomed rule, be-
cause it is believed that there are only three or four
in Europe ; and a white brilliant diamond of the weight
of 67 carats only produced £36,000.

I should like to hear of a blue diamond submitted to
combustion, that the colouring principle might be ascer-
tained, for there must be a something found besides
carbonic acid gas, whether it would be from cobalt, or
alumine lime and iron, or what metallic oxyde so
vitrified.



7th. The Holland Cone.

The Sovereign Prince of the Netherlands is only in
possession of one large diamond, called the Cone^ from
its figure. It is of the finest water, but the form of it
precludes it being, without great deterioration, cut into
a brilliant for ornament. It came from the East Indies,
and weighs 36 carats, and is valued at £10,368.



8th. The Austrian Brilliant.

The Emperor of Austria is in possession of an im-
mense and beautiful brilliant diamond, which weighs
139^ carats. It formerly belonged to the Grand Duke
of Tuscany. Tavemier says, that this diamond, although
of exquisite beauty, has a little hue of the citron colour.
It is valued at £155,682.



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130

1816. 9th. The Ottoman Brilliant.

The Grand Sultan of the Ottoman Empire is in pos-
session of a similar one, both in size and beauty, which
weighs 140 carats, just half a carat more than the Aus-
trian. It is a perfect brilliant, and has rather a citron
tinge, and is valued at £156,800. Robert de Baquen
says, that this diamond, with that of Austria, formed one
stone, and that it was absolutely cut into two to satisfy the
two potentates. This Robert de Baquen was the grand-
son of Louis de Baquen, who invented the art of cutting
diamonds ; and I think this very probable, as the dia-
monds are as nearly as possible of the same size and
hue ; for a diamond weighing near 300 carats would be
too large to be conveniently worn as an ornament.

10th. The Russian Sceptre.

The Emperor of Russia is in possession of three large
diamonds, of the largest and finest class.

First, the round brilliant which adorns the sceptre of
the Russian Empire, under the eagle at the top of the
sceptre. From the accounts given by Bomare, Magellan,
and Dutens, it weighs 779 carats ; and, in conformity to
the table of calculation, it amounts to the enormous sum
of £4,854,728 sterling. It is stated that this diamond
was one of the eyes of the Malabarian idol, named
Scheringham, and it was stolen therefrom by a French
grenadier, whose trade had formerly been a jeweller.
He, by some means, obtained the knowledge that this
idol carried for the eyes two immense diamonds ; he
deserted from the India service, and went up the country
as far as the pagoda which contained this idol God, and



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131

there contrived to become one of the priests of that idoL 1816,
He took an exact measure of the size, form, and cutting
of the eyes ; he formed a piece of ebony wood to the
exact dimensions, with all the facets marked thereon»
and managed to send it to Europe to have a piece of
glass, called paste, cut exactly to match it in form,
size, facets, and bezel, which was conveyed back to
him in India. He then cleverly took out one of the
eyes of the idol, and, in a workmanlike manner, placed
in the socket or bezel the glass eye, which remained
undiscovered by the ignorant guards. He ran away to
the English, who were stationed at Trichinopoly, and
thence to Madras^ A captain of one of the East India
large ships, who was preparing to sail for England,
bought it of him for 20,000 rupees, and agreed to bring
the French grenadier to England. On conversing with
a Jew, the captain sold it before he sailed for £18,000
sterling. The following year (I766) a Greek merchant
offered it for sale at Amsterdam. The Russian consul
residing there informed the Russian Government that
such a stone was for sale, and in the hands of a Greek
merchant, at Amsterdam. Prince Orloff immediately
started for Holland, and was introduced to Mr. Gregory
Suffras, the name of the Greek, when, after much treaty,
he bought it for his sovereign, the Empress, for the sum,
in gold, of 135,417 guineas.

llTii. The Russian Ovoid.

The second large diamond of Russia is called the
Ovoid. It is in form and size of a hen's egg^ or rather
half of a hen*s egg^ latitudinally sliced from top to the
bottom, and is cut en brilliant, and of the purest water ;



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1816. it weighs 193 carats, and is valued at £297f992. This
diamond belonged to Nadir Shah, and was bought by a
Russian merchant, who offered it for sale at St Peters-
burg. After along treaty a bargain was struck with the
Russian merchant for £90,000 sterling, in cash, and an
annuity of £4,000 per annum, and also a patent of
nobilitv.



12th. The Russian Table.

The Russian Table Diamond, which was purchased
from a Persian merchant, is without a flaw, and weighs
68 carats. It adorns the grip of the dress sword of the
Emperor Alexander, and is valued at £36,992 sterling.

Although the King of Portugal and the Brazils is the
present possessor of the most lucrative diamond mines in
the world, situate at Serro do Frio, and other places in the
Brazils, he only possesses three large diamonds, what are
called crown diamonds. The two smallest are consi-
dered of the first water, and are perfect brilliants, with-
out flaw or shuke. These, of com^e, are already cut and
polished ; the large one is in its rough natural state.

13th. The Portugal Brilliant.

The large one that is cut and polished weighs 215
carats. This brilliant is valued at £369,800.

The smaller cut stone weighs near 60 carats, particu-
larly thick for its spread, but cut as a brilliant of intense
lustre, set in wrought gold, and in the top of the walking
Brazilian cane of King John VI. This diamond is
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pyramid top, which allows a beautiful horizontal play of igig.
colour. It is valued at £80,000. I have no model of
this stone.



14th. The Portugal Uncut.

The large uncut diamond is in form amorphous, but
still it assumes the polyhedral figure of two pyramids
joined base to base. There is a piece chipped off th^
centre, which was done by the slave to try if it were a
real diamond. Report says that it weighs 1680 carats ;
and, if a real diamond, would, according to the admitted
table of calculation, be valued at £5,644,800. I believe
that it was shewn to Lord Viscount Strangford, the
English Ambassador at the Brazilian Court, but its
being in a rough state, it would be difficult to decide its
reality. It has rather a yellow tinge. The Portuguese
Government refused to shew it to Mr, John Mawe, the
mineralogist, who was at Rio with letters from the
British Minister about the year 1806. Mr. Mawe
doubts whether this stone may not be a white topaz.

15th. The Great Mogul Rose.

The Great Mogul of Hindostan possesses a diamond
called the Mogul Rose, because it is cut as a rose dia-
mond, flat at the back, and the top in facets rising to a
point. This diamond being the weight of 279 carats, of
an immense spread for its weight, therefore rather thin ;
it is allowed, however, to be the largest and finest rose
diamond in the world. It is worn on state occasion^ as
an armlet, and is valued at £380,000.



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134
1616. 16th. The Rajah Mattax.

The Rajah of Mattan, in the Island of Borneo, is in
possession of a diamond rather egg-shaped, and of the
finest water, which weighs 367 carats. The Dutch Go-
vernment, about thirty years ago, was desirous to obtain
it, and sent Mr. Steward on a mission to the Rajah, with
an offer ; but the Rajah informed Mr. Steward that his
subjects attach miraculous power to this diamond, by
means of the water in which this diamond shall be
dipped, and with it they believe the fortune of the
reigning family is connected (it is valued at £538,756)
therefore he would not, under all the circumstances, part
with it for millions.

17th. The Nassac.

The East India Company, in Leadenhall Street, are
in possession of an uncut, yet plain polished, diamond,
of a curious amorphous form. It was taken from the
Pashwa of the Mahrattas, in the Mahratta war ; its weight
is nearly 90 carats, and report says is valued in their
inventory at £30,000 only, in consequence of its irre-
gular shape.

18th. The Blue Hope.

Mr. Elliason, the great diamond merchant, residing in
London, in 1821 (the year of the coronation of George
IV.), was possessed of a very fine oval diamond of a
sky blue, and of intense brilliancy. It was cut and
polished as a brilliant, and its play of colour was match-
less. In spread it was two-thirds the size of the Piggot

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135

diamond, being a little thinner, which the colour made 1816.
up for } and it was of the same oval form. Report said
that Mr. EUiason had visited the di£Ferent courts in
Europe, first asking £30,000, although it weighed only
27^ carats, and of course, if it had been white, the usual
colour of the diamond would only be valued at £6,050.
Before he left the continent he came down to £20,000,
but could not find a purchaser. George the IVth
was desirous to have this diamond to ornament the belt
of his plume of feathers at his coronation, on the 19th
of July, 1821 ; a treaty was commenced to have the loan
of this stone for three days. Mr. EUiason was very
adverse to lend any of his diamonds; the King's private
exchequer or privy purse was too low to make the
purchase, and an ofler was made to Mr. EUiason of 1,000
guineas for the use of it for the day. Mr. EUiason re-
quired to have some days to consider it, when, in the mean-
time, Mr. Hope called upon Mr. EUiason about it, as he
had frequently done in admiration of this beautiful gem ;
but Mr. EUiason always demanded too much. Hearing,
however, that it was Ukely to be hired out for the oc-
casion of the coronation, which circumstance of making
it thus public would, in his feelings, much reduce its
value, he observed to Mr. ElUason that he called upon
him once more respecting the sky blue diamond ; and
after having stated that he found the King would
not purchase it even for the approaching coronation,
another opportunity might not occur for years, and he
would make him a last ofier, conducted, as report says,
as foUows : — Mr. Hope called for pen and ink, and filled
up a cheque for 13,000 guineas, placed his watch upon
the table, and said he would give Mr. EUiason, five
minutes only, to determine to make up his mind, whe-

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136

1816. ther to take up the cheque or the diamond. When the
time arriyed within a few seconds of the five minutes,
Mr. Elliason pocketed the cheque, with much grum-
bling, declaring it more than " dog cheap.'* Mr. Hope
placed the diamond in his splendid collection of minerals
among the order of combustibles.

The King of Persia is possessed of six large diamonds,
not one of which is thick enough to have been cut into
a brilliant, nevertheless all ofwhich are of the first water
and brilliancy of their kind.



19th. The Mountain of Splendour.

The first, and most costly and beautiful, is rose cut,
and round, and measures two inches in diameter. It
weighs 135 carats, and is valued at £145,800. The
Shah wears this for an armlet, upon the right arm,
upon all state occasions, and it is called the Mountain
of Splendour.

20th. The Sea of Glory.

The second is an extraordinary formed diamond, and
is termed a fiat table, being one inch and seven-eights
long, and one inch and three-eights wide, being a perfect
parallelogram, the four sides bevelled both in front and
back. It weighs 66 carats, and is valued at £34,848.
The Shah wears this as an armlet on the left arm.

This form of diamond, I am informed, is not be met
with in Europe, except one somewhat similar, as men-
tioned, in the Russian diamonds. I have been informed



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137

by an English Colonel, who is in the Persian service, that IS 16.
this flat diamond, which is there called the Sea of Glory,
has an extrordinary prismatic display of colours and bril-
liancy, at the distance of S,000 feet from the monarch.

21 ST. Persun Rose

Is the third, and is a rose diamond. It weighs 45
carats, and is valued at £16,200.

22nd. Persian Rose

Is the fourth, also a rose diamond. It weighs 46
carats, and is valued at £16,928.

23rd. Persian Rose

Is the fifth, also a rose diamond. It weighs 48
carats, and is valued at £18,432.

24th. Persian Rose

Is the sixth, also a rose, and the smallest of them. It
weighs SO carats only, and is valued at £7,300.
The Shah wears these rose diamonds in his turban

25th. The Yellow Austrian.

The Emperor of Austria possesses an oval rose-cut
diamond, perfectly of a straw colour, clear, and weighs
about 9^ carats ; but being of a yellow colour, it is only
valued at £50,000. It is called the Yellow Austrian,
and formerly the Maximilian.

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138

1816. It will, no doubt, be asked how it happens that pure
carbon crystallized, or what is called diamond, is so
scarce, while its compounds, in different states, are so
abundantly dispersed.

To dispel the astonishment of those who might con-
sider this a ground of distrust, I shall remind them of
the aluminous earth, which is likewise one of the com-
monest substances, and yet the adamantine (adamantine
spar) is no less rare than the diamond, and is composed
of alumine. We all are aware that iron exists every-
where, under every form, except in the state of purity —
for the existence of native iron still remains doubtful.

The subject, when considered in all its connexions, is
calculated to produce the most profound admiration, and
serves to convince us of the unbounded comprehension of
the Divine mind, which, in the act of creation, could
foresee and appoint such important effects to result from
the combination and changes of the most inodorous
and insipid substances.

We learn, also, that all the works of the Creator are
perfect, and perceive with astonishment that they are
composed of elements which are, in themselvesj incapable
of destruction.

Indeed the wonder respecting the diamond consists
only in the opposition between facts and opinions. It
disappears in proportion as we discover and appro-
priate the power of Nature to produce the same effects.

The diamond mine of Colourej the most famous and
ancient of them all, to which I have frequently referred,
is under the protection of the King of Golconda, and
it was during his reign that many large diamonds were
found, which had the effect of promoting such a spirit of
speculation amongst men whose fortunes were adequate

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139

to the employment of slaves, that a Portuguese gentle- 1816.
man went to Golconda with his slaves to speculate his
j capital in searching and digging for diamonds, and spent in

f money 100,000 pagodas, and converted everything he had

brought with him into money, even to his wardrobe ; but he
was monthly and daily unsuccessful, and whilst his slaves
I were at work in the mine for the last day's expense, he

\ had prepared a cup of poison, resolved that if during

' that day his slaves should prove unsuccessful, and not

I find anything, he would drink his last with the conclu-

' sion of his money. Late in the evening, however, the

slaves brought him a prodigious stone, weighing 795
carats, now the diamond of the Great Mogul. In con-
sequence, and in commemoration thereof, he caused a
pillar to be erected at Golconda, with an inscription en-
graven upon it, in the Hindoo language, to the following
effect, and which remains to be seen to this day : —
" Your wife and children sell, sell what you have.
Spare not your clothes ; nay, make yourself a slave,
But money get, and to Coloure make haste.
There search the mines, a prize you'll find at last."



In 1817, Matthew Wood, Esq., the Lord Mayor of 1817.
London, did, by his humane and timely interference,
save the lives of three unfortunate Irishmen, condemned
to be hanged. His Lordship's perseverance was the
theme of admiration throughout the country. I offered,
at my own expense, to make a medal to record the
humane act, and communicated my design to the Lord
Mayor, for his approval. I received the following letter
from Mr. Bates, his Lordship's Chaplain : —

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