22/09/2009
Considered the finest gem in the Egyptian Treasury, the Pasha “weighs 40 carats, is of octagonal form, is brilliant cut, and is of very good quality and lively”, according to reports.
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22/09/2009
The Nur-ul-ain is a brilliant-cut oval diamond of around 60 carats. Its name means “light of the eye” in Persian and Arabic.
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22/09/2009
The Nassak is one of those unfortunate Mogul-cut stones that has been re-cut throughout history to appease more modern tastes.
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22/09/2009
The Idol’s Eye is a 70.21-carat Golconda diamond, possessing a blue tinge characteristic of many diamonds from that source, and shaped like an Old Mine cut – but with nine main facets instead of eight.
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22/09/2009
According to the famous French diamond merchant and explorer Jean Baptiste Tavernier, the Great Mogul was discovered around 1550 in the Gani mine near Galconda (India), and weighed 780 carats in the rough.
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22/09/2009
Once the great yellow diamond of the Medici Family, this historic Indian stone was actually light yellow with a slight green overtone, and fashioned in highly irregular form; it was a double rose-cut diamond with nine sides and 126 facets weighing 137.27 carats.
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22/09/2009
Considered the most celebrated diamond in the Iranian Crown Jewels and one of the oldest known to man, the 186-carat Darya-i-noor is a crudely-fashioned, pink, table or taviz-cut diamond with a name that means river of light.
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22/09/2009
According to the legend, the 67.50-carat, cushion-cut Black Orlov is said to have taken its name from the Russian Princess Nadia Vyegin-Orlov, to whom it belonged during the mid-eighteenth century.
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21/09/2009
Between 1671 and 1673, well before it became the Hope diamond, the brilliant-blue French Blue diamond was cut from the Tavernier Blue diamond.
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21/09/2009
There are diamonds of many different colours that are of high value. There are diamonds as green as the Elysian Fields, as black as the night sky and as yellow as the sun's own fire, but few are as exquisite and as rare as diamonds blessed with the hue of a deep ocean blue.
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21/09/2009
It has been said that whoever owned the Koh-i-noor ruled the world. Indeed, it has been the centre of many bitter battles, particularly across India and Persia, and nations continue to lay claim to its ownership even today.
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