However, the diamond captured by force didn't bring luck to his new owner.
He managed to sell the stone only for thousand pounds of sterling to English governor of fort of Saint Georg, Pitt. Thus the stone received his name.
According to another version Pitt acquired the diamond from certain Yax Mund for 312.5 francs in 1701. At that time the regent of France was the duke of Orleans, who bought the diamond in 1717 for 3375 thousand francs for Louis XV. Therefore, the stone received the second name of “Regent”.
During pillage of Tyulry in 1792 the stone for a short time disappeared together with other jewelry and then mysteriously returned. When French Republic needed funds it pawned it to Moscow merchant Treskov. General Bonaparte returned the stone to France and the stone showed its gratitude to its owner. In 1799 the first consul of republic received a large loan against a pledge of “Regent”. He used this money to armor his aggressive campaigns. Then he made a revolution of 18 brumair, put the imperial crown on his head and then redeemed the diamond and decorated the hilt of his sword. But the imperia, sword, and “Regent” were lost during the battle at Waterloo. The diamond got to Prussia and only after several years it returned to Louvre. In 1886 on the auction sale of French crown diamonds the historical value of “Regent” saved it from public market. In 1940 when Nazi entered the Paris, the semiprecious stone was hidden behind the panel of marble fireplace in the Shamburg castle and after the war it was returned to Louver again.
There is an ill fame about some large Indian diamonds.
This is especially true for “Koh-i-noor” diamond. According to legends, the age of this unique semi precious stone is equal to the age of ancient Indian hero named Vikrmaditya. Namely the stone dates back to 56 BC. The most reliably the history of diamond is tracked only from the XII century. According to the writing of “Babur-name” of Sultan Babur (1483 – 1530) the diamond was found in the treasury of Delhi after sultan Ala Addin Hildji conquered the princedom of Malva in 1304. In this princedom the stone was an ancestral jewel of rajahs.
The founder of the dynasty of the Great Moguls and Muslim empire in India, the great grand son of Timur, Babur became the ruler of Hindustan in 1526. From his notes it is known that among numerous treasures, which were brought to the heir, the son Humayun in a form of the tribute there was a large diamond.
According to another legend the diamond was the property of rajah of the princedom of Gwalior. The rajah brought the stone to padishah Humayun. However, out of eighteen owners of this diamond the part of them was treacherously killed, another part was killed in action. Those who survived were expelled and died in poverty.
There is a suggestion that “Koh-i-noor” (“the mountain of light”) was found on the territory of state Andhra Pradesh in the mines of Golkonda and initially weighed eight hundred carats. After Humayun the owner of the diamond was shah Jehan. The diamond was decorating his ceremonial peacock throne. According to descriptions of J.B. Tavernie, the diamond was faceted again in a form of rose and resembled the egg cut in half and weighed 186 carats. The day before the diamond weighed 191 carats. Shah Jehan was very angry with Venetian stone cutter Gortenzio Borgio for improper faceting and deprived the latter not only of the reward but also of property. In 1739 Persian Shah Nazir captured Delhi. He was looking for the stone for a long time and all his efforts were unsuccessful until he pretended to be in love with one of the wives of Great Mogul named Mohammed Shah. The woman was sure that Nadir was serious in his intentions and told the conqueror that Mohammed Shah constantly carried the stone in his turban.
During his last visit Nadir-shah suggested to Mohammed Shah to exchange with turbans as a token of friendship and thus he became the owner of precious stone. When in impatience he uncoiled his turban he saw a solar shine of diamond and exclaimed in delight: “Koh-i-noor!” (“The mountain of diamond”). In this way he immortalized the diamond. Nadir together with his other precious jewels carried “Koh-i-noor” to Isfahan. When he was killed in 1747 Afghan Ahmad Abdali became the owner of the diamond. Ahmad took the semi precious stone to Kandahar and founded there a royal dynasty and during the coronation took the name of Durr-i-Duran.(“the pearl of the century”)
After the death of Abdali in 1773 his son Timur ascended the throne. Timur migrated to Kabul and selected the city as the capital.
After the death of Timur in 1793 the period of disturbances came. Zaman Mirza let Lahor to Sikh adventurer Randjit Singh.
The brother of Randjit Singh Mahmud reigned not for long time and was overthrown by the friends of his younger brother Shundzh-Ul-Mulk. Saving his life Shundzh-ul-Mulk ran way to Lahor and took his entire jewel with him. Randjit Singh gave refuge to runaway, but in return he asked for jewel. “Koh-i-noor” till 1849 was kept in Toshahane, nearby Lahor. Randjit Singh mounted a diamond into his bracelet which he wore on all receptions and kept it among the jewels of crown. On the mortal bed Singh was asked to bequeath the stone to the god Jaganatkh. However, treasurer didn't make up his mind to give the diamond to the god without corresponding documents and “Koh-i-nor” remained in the treasure house of Lahor.
Afterwards young rajah Dalib-Singh became the owner of the stone. He reigned during mediation of England. During his governing in 1848 the revolt of Sikh regimens took place. The jewels of Indian crown passed to the ownership of East Indian campaign and were declared the trophies of Englishmen and on the 3rd of July 1850 lord Dalhauzi stately presented to Queen Victory.
In 1852 the stone was faceted again and its weight decreased from 186 till 108.9 carats. In the new faceting the diamond didn’t received accurate proportions of the cut diamond and lost the great part of its attractiveness.
Queen Victoria wore it as a brooch. After her death the cut diamond was assigned to royal regalias. It was mounted into the crown that was owned earlier by Queen Alexandra, and thereafter by Queen Mary, a spouse of George V, and finally by Her Majesty Queen Mom. Nowadays it is situated in the treasuries of Tower.
Today the official authorities of Great Britain are worried about the requests of Pakistan and India to return “Koh-i-nor” to its original owners.
In the third quarter of the nineteenth century, at the beginning of 1867, great deposits in South Africa were discovered. This discovery is surrounded with a lot of legends. The following is the description of one of the legends in the book “Precious stone” by M.I. Pylyaev.
“In 1867 John O’relli, a trader and hunter, stayed overnight at the bank of Vaal river. This place lay next to the farm of the Dutchman Wan Nikerk. John was attracted by the stone with which the children played. “I think it is a diamond” said O’relli. Nikerk laughed and told that it was not a diamond, but just one of cobble stones that were abound here. O’relli took the stone to check if the stone was a diamond or not. He decided that he would give the half of the money received for diamond to this farmer. Jeweler of Capetown defined that the stone was a diamond. O’relli sold it for three thousand dollars and shared the profit with Nikerk”
In March 1869 a boy shepherd found another diamond on the farm Zendfontein beside Orange River.
It was named “The star of South Africa” or “Dadly”. Nikerk bought a stone from the boy for 500 sheep, 10 bulls, and one horse. Later he sold it for 11200 pounds. They say that he sold it for 56000 dollars. This diamond initially weighed 83.5 carats. After cutting it weighed around 48 carats. It was acquired by the countess Dadly, who gave it her name. Crowds of prospectors rushed to Zendfontein farm and in 1870 they discovered a rich deposit of diamonds there. Thereafter an encampment on the bank of the Vaal River was formed. Later this encampment turned to the town Kimberly, named in the honor of the minister of colony. Then it was found that the diamond was attached to the peculiar tubular mountain rock that was named Kimberlite or Kimberlitic tube, in the honor of the town. Therefore, the rock that carries diamonds is called kimberlite.
In the August 1870, the diamond weighing 50 carats was found on the Yagersfontein farm. Smaller diamonds were found in the vicinities of the farm. One of the diamonds was found in home mortar. Later other large stones that were too bulky to decorate clothing and were suitable only for regalias were found. The discovery of deposits in South Africa was the beginning of revelation of diamond wealth of African continent.
In 1903 the deposits of diamonds were found in South Rodezia (Zimbabwe), in 1904 – in Namibia. It is interesting that the first diamonds of Namibia were collected by one of the natives in the ditch of railroad embankment. The sand for building the road was carried from diamondiferous placers. In Russia the first diamond was found in 1829 by 14-years-old fisherman Pavel Popov on the Krestovozdvizhenskiy golden mine of Ural, in the vicinities of Biserovskiy Factory. One of the crystals was given to the professor A Gumbolt, who was traveling in Ural at that time. The mineral was shown in Saint Petersburg and then several expeditions were sent to Ural. In 1838 a diamond was found in Kushayskiy mine and almost at the same time in Uspenskiy mine. In 1937 geologists discovered new diamondiferous region in Yakutia.
In 1953 young geologist Larisa Anatolievna Popugaeva was exploring the riverbed of Daldin River in Vilyuskiy region. Getting tired she sat down to have a rest. She glanced at the stone lying under the foot of F. Belikov. Popugaeva picked up the semi precious stone and saw that it was a kimberlite. Guided by Popugaeva instructions the workers dug up the soil and discovered continuous outcrops of diamondiferous kimberlite. On the 21st of June 1954 L.A. Popugaeva and the washer F.Belikov, who worked with her, discovered tube “Zarnitza”(“Summer lightning”). On the 13th of June 1955 the discoverers found a tube “Mir” (“Peace”) on which the town of diamond miners was laid.
The first diamond on the Siberian platform was found in 1948 by S.N. Sokolov. The word “diamond” was initially mentioned in the book “Hojdeniye za tri morya”(“The trip across three seas”) by Afanasiy Nikitin.
Ural searchers assured that in the depths of mountains that are rich in semi precious stones there lives “a hostess of the Copper Mountain. She has stone house under the ground. The walls of her house are made of expensive semi precious stones. The trees and leaves in the mountain are made from stone. The bushes are covered with green malachite bells. Each of the bells has an antimonial small star. The grass around is also made from stone. Golden bees flutter over patterned stone flowers.
The hostess doesn't want to show her mountain wealth. She thinks that people will be captured by green and golden stones. But to some lucky men the hostess helps to find semi precious stones. It happened that the hostess cried. The tears came out of her eyes and became solid when they touched her hand. The stones are cold, but the hand is so hot, alive.”
These Ural legends were told by Ural stone specialists. They were retold by writer P.Bajov in his “Malachite box”.
Here is the description of the ball by A.E. Fersman in his book “The memories about stone”. The ball took place in 1908 and was organized by diamond mining companies that wanted to revive the stone market after inflation. “All halls and lobbies were crowded with “selected society”, amazing Venezian chandeliers shone with fire, Pyrenean marbles shone on the walls and the railings of the big stairs made of Algerian marble onyx shone with inner fire.
According to the conditions of the ball, diamond should be the only stone. Only the combinations of diamond with green emerald, red ruby or Indian pearl was allowed. The owner of the best diamond would be named the queen of the diamond and would dance during the ancient ceremonial polonaise.
Leisure reporters of street news papers described the most wonderful dresses, open-worked tunics shining with thousands of diamonds. They persistently questioned certain countess about the origin of diadem and carefully put down the fictional story about necklace of brown Brazilian stones pf Spanish beauty.
The stones are whirling, shining and going out in this dizzy pace of waltz. They play with colors and dim before the shine of other stones. The slow pace of tango sways the diamond necklace like a gentle brook. Then only one stone shines like the bright lonely blinking Altair star. This is a piece of the famous Cullinan weighing eighty carats. A lot of stories are devoted to this stone”- exclaims the scientist.
In the museums of Moscow Kremlin one can admire a rich collection of stones and diamonds that belonged to royal family and a small group of courtiers. On the low pedestal a football-sized ball shines dimly with gold. Near you will see fanciful formed nuggets. Next you will find gold and platinum bars with even facets. The decorations from gold and silver, precious stones, unique collection of enamel and the collection of golden coins of all countries, orders and anniversary medals, historical relics… Next to these items you will see a decoration made of gold, platinum and one and half thousands of diamonds and costing fifty million rubles.
Foreign ambassadors who visited Russia in XVII century wrote that they were seized with holy terror when they glanced at royal family’s luxurious dresses completely stud with precious stones. Thus, the head of Czarina Irina Godunova was covered with the crown resembling a wall with merlons. It was divided into twelve turrets skillfully made of rubies, topazes, diamonds and ramp pearls and circled with huge amethysts and sapphires. On both sides there were long triple chains from big diamonds. Her dress was also luxuriantly adorned by innumerable quantity of semi precious stones. It is well known that the hat of prince Potemkin-Tavricheskiy was so heavily covered with diamonds that the owner because of the crown’s heaviness could not wear it. And therefore, his adjutant had to carry the hat of prince in hands. One of the dresses of empress Elizaveta was covered with so many precious stones that empress fainted away because of their heaviness. The to-be-spouse of Alexey Mikhailovich had to interrupt the ceremony of coronation to free her from the dress strewn with semi precious stones. It was beyond her powers.
During the play in cards Empress Ekaterina II liked to pay off by diamonds. “It's funny to play in diamonds! It looks like Arabian Nights!”- exclaimed she in one of her letters. She gave diamond attire costing million rubles to her favorite Grigoriy Orlov. Orlov didn’t leave her unanswered and gave the Czarina the diamond weighing 189.62 carats for her imperial scepter.
It is known that the diamond with greenish and blue tint “Orlov”, “Amsterdam”, or “Lazarev” was a fragment weighing 300 carats. It was found in one of the ancient mines at the beginning of XVII century and was acquired by Shah Jehan who ordered to cut it in a form of Indian Rose. According to legend, the semi precious stone was used for the third eye of Brahma statue in Seringapatama temple. (state Maysur). From the temple the stone was stolen by French soldier who took on Hindu trust in order to penetrate the temple. The soldier sold the stone for two thousand pounds to the captain of English ship. The captain resold it to Jewish merchant for twelve thousand pounds.
According to the second legend the semi precious stone was stolen from the throne of the Persian Shah Nadir in 1747 after the death of the shah. Passing through the hands of several owners in 1768 the diamond was bought by the merchant Lazarev and then resold to the count G.Orlov for four hundred thousand rubles. At the same time the merchant received nobility letter and lifelong pension equal to two thousand rubles.
Here is how famous traveler Tavernier described the stone “Orlov”. “As I came to the yard in Indian residence Jehanabad, two keepers of treasures accompanied me to their lord and after usual bow they brought me to the small room in the end of the hall in which the lord sat on the throne and could see us. In this room I met Akelkhan, a keeper of treasury. The latter ordered to four eunuch of the lord to bring jewels. The jewels were brought on two wooden dishes upholstered with golden leaves and covered with specially made small carpets; one made of red velvet, another of green with embroidery.
The first thing that Akel Khan put into my hand was a big diamond that had a shape of a round rose with one side higher than another side.
On the lower edge there is a small hollow with small mirror surface. The water of stone is splendid and the stone weighs 319 ratists equal to 280 carats. When Mirtimola who betrayed his lord Golkonda gave this stone to Jehan Shah (the father of Aureng zeba) the stone weighed 900 ratists, which equals to 787.25 karats. At the same time the stone had several cracks. If the stone would get to Europe, then even though good parts would be broken off it the stone would still have big weight. Instead it was ideally faceted…”
Grigoriy Orlov gave the stone to empress Ekaterina II because he wanted to bring her previous favor back. In 1784 Ekaterina ordered to mount the diamond into the gold scepter, which served as the symbol of state power up to the fall of czarism. Evenly polished golden surface of scepter is tied up with eight diamond rings and the handle is minted with channels that intensify the strength of play of light and shadow. The scepter ends with cast golden double-headed eagle, which is decorated with black enamel and diamonds. The magnificence of scepter was repeatedly intensified with the given diamond that was mounted into the carved silver mounting and strengthened in the top part of the majestic scepter. At the present time the diamond is being kept in Diamond Fund of Moscow Kremlin and is named “Orlov”.
The diamond named “Shah” is one of the greatest and most beautiful diamonds in the treasury of the Diamond Fund. It has slightly yellow surface, is three centimeters in size and weighs 88.7 carats. It is very clear and transparent. This diamond was found in the quarts pebbles of Golkonda valley in India over 500 years ago. It has a beautiful natural form and only some of its facets are polished.
It was delivered to the palace of one of the sovereign princes Akhmadnagara Burkhan Nizm Shah and was placed among other treasures of prince in expensive caskets decorated with semiprecious stones. By dipping thin sticks into the fine diamond powder the clerks engraved the inscription on one of the stone sides in filigree letters. The inscription said: “Burkhan Nizam Shah II. Year 1000.”
The year one thousand according to our calendar fell on year 1591. This year the sovereign of Northern India Great Mogul sent four embassies into central provinces because he wanted to confirm his power over them.
The ambassadors returned with unfavorable news and pitiful gifts. The central provinces didn't want to resign themselves. Then the army of Great Akbar submitted Akhmadgor by force. It took a lot of jewels including unique diamond. When Jehan Khan, the grandson of Akbar, came to the throne of Moguls a new inscription appeared on the stone. It said:” Jehan Shah. The Son of Jehangir Shah. 1051.”After some time Jehan was imprisoned into dungeon by his son Aureng-Zeb. Aureng-Zeb came to the throne and captured precious stones of the crown. In 1665 French traveler Tavernier saw fairy-tale conditions of Ahmadgor. According to his words the throne of Great Moguls was decorated with one hundred and eight cabochons of red noble spinel. Each of the stones weighed not less than hundred carats. Over one hundred and sixty emerald stones and a great number of diamonds blazed in mysterious green color. Each of these emeralds weighed not less than sixty carats. Not only the throne, but also the canopy over the sovereign’s throne played with precious stones. The side that faced the retinues was decorated with the diamond weighing around ninety carats and was surrounded by rubies and emeralds. The diamond was hanged in such a way that the sovereign, who sat on the throne, could see the stone all the time. This stone was a historical stone named “Shah”. At that time the stone also had a deep groove that allowed hanging the stone on the silk or golden thread as a talisman.
After Aureng-zeb the stone was kept in Jehan Abad and later in India. In 1738 Persian Shah Nadir attacked Delhi. Nadir carried the stone to Persia and the stone received the third artistically engraved inscription that said:”The sovereign Kadjar-Fakht’ali Shah. Sultan. 1242.” That is year 1824 according to our calendar.)
On the 30th of January 1829 in Teheran, the capital of Persia, a Russian ambassador was killed. He was the author of the famous comedy "Woe to wit" of Alexander Sergeevich Griboedov. Russian diplomacy demanded cruel punishment of guilty persons. Wishing to "propitiate white czar" a special deputation headed by the son of the Shah, prince Hosrev-Mirza, headed for Petersburg. Mirza offered to take the most valuable item of the Persian crown, "Shah" diamond, in order to expiate the guilt of Persian people before Russia. The life of one of the greatest Russian writers was equaled to the cost of the stone. The sovereign didn't object. The stone didn't say anything. After the grand reception the diamond was placed among other jewels in the diamond treasury of Winter Palace in Petersburg.
After beginning of the world war in 1914 the stone was transferred to hiding places of the Armoury in Moscow. It was placed beside the crown. A red lal, found in the mountains of Badahshan, was mounted into this crown among many thousands of Indian cut diamonds.
A big collection of cut diamonds is kept in the Diamond fund. One of them is a hairpin in a form of a horn of plenty, one of the several signed articles of the famous Petersburg jeweler Duval. Two perfectly faceted solitaires, surrounded by small cut diamonds in the form of the petals and little flowers in thin mounting, hang in the air like shining drops. Below you can see a curved horn of plenty, covered with wavy rows of diamond roses. The earrings (two big fruits) of solitaire shine with their sharp diamond edges and hang on the thick diamond handle. These fruits are become equal with two cut diamond leaves that branch off from the stem.
A bunch of narcissuses is one of the most interesting jewelries.
The petals of flowers are laid out with tiny cut diamonds and shine with light. The high raised yellow cut diamond cores radiate golden shining, which slides along the petals with soft specks of light. Slightly bent enamel leaves on the golden stem set off the tender gamut of skillfully selected stone with their emerald greenery. Besides them the Fund keeps a famous cut diamond diadem, which most of us know from the portraits of Elizaveta Alekseevna, the wife of Alexander I. The given diadem is composed of a great number of diamonds and big solitaires of the first water. The diadem seems to be light and weaved out of playing flame-colored light.
There you will also see a massive golden bracelet that strikes with its beauty and stands out for its plane diamond, the biggest diamond in the world. The stone is counted among the portrait stones that are laid on the colored miniature. On the back side of the bracelet one can find the engraved inscription saying:"Blessed Emperor Alexander I". It seems that the diamond lay on the portrait miniature of the czar.
Traditionally shaped small emperor crown was made by one of the mentioned earlier jewelers L. Duvalie in 1801 for the coronation of Empress Elizaveta Alekseevna. Everything in this crown is proportional and balanced. The shining of diamond lace mounted into silver frame gives the feeling of stateliness, meaningfulness and greatness.
A row of great cut diamonds on the crown stand out among excellent stones by their purity and size. The beauty of the stones and perfected jewelry handicraft equate the small crown to the big emperor crown of Ekaterina II. A big bunch with emerald leaves and cut diamond flowers freely and naturally grouped from the branches with leaves and flowers. It strikes with its beauty of pattern and richness of color nuances. Only two stones diamond and emerald make this decoration.
Cold shining of cut diamonds is softened with foil, which colors the flowers into tenderly pink, yellowish shades and thus makes diamonds to shine with bright red color. Shaky fastened flowers and leaves swing and the entire bunch of flowers resemble a mosaic playing with many subtle shades, which is illuminated with green emerald fire.
Ancient regalias of Russian crown included ruby red diamond named "Pavel I" and also not framed cut diamond "The moon of the mountains", which was sold in 1942 in London under the name of "Moon". There were more five diamonds among the enumerated regalias of Russian crown. They originate from India. The first one was an octagonal 57 carat stone mounted into the big crown of Ekaterina II. The second blue shaded diamond weighing 46 carats was made in a form of rose, mounted into emperor's orb. The third diamond of the first water weighed 40.5 carats and was fixed on the pin. The fourth diamond weighing around twenty four carats was flat and was embedded into golden Gothic mounting. And the last diamond was a huge single stone weighing around fifty five carats. No one knows where they are now.
Academician A.E. Fersman in his "Memories about the stone" wrote:
"There was an opening ball in Bolshoy Theater in Moscow. A young student got into the luxury and richness of Moscow merchant class and nobility for the first time. The halls of the theater were lit with bright electric light and the cut diamonds and semi precious stones were playing with thousand colors on the naked shoulders.
Look here is princess Yusupova. Blue and green old emeralds of Columbia lie next to wonderful shining cut diamond of the ancient Golkonda. This necklace shines on the neck of this beauty. It has diamonds from South Africa and a famous solitaire (semiprecious stone) weighing fifteen carats of the first blue water is among them. Look these diamonds of Kappa are dead and they can't compare with the old India. Look those two blood red stones are mounted into the frame made of diamond roses that harmonize with this Greek profile, seeming to be cut out of the elephant's bone. These stones shine under black curling hair. This brooch is famous in all Moscow. This is a grand cabochon from Birma or Siam (Thailand). It is surrounded by a trickle of marvelous Indian cut diamonds. They say that the owner of this wonderful brooch had to pledge two of his estates, sell the part of his factories to the foreigners in order to buy the brooch from Indian Rajah. Though, a lot of blood and tears hid behind the shining fire of semi precious stones:
I was intoxicated by the words of my fellow traveler, one of the representatives of the Moscow nobility. He dropped hints that these stones could tell a lot of funny and terrible things and could revive a lot of pictures of passion and anger, spite and crime." No one knows where the above-mentioned treasures are now.
India was the supplier of diamonds for the long time. Diamonds were mined in abundance in the north part of the country in the state Madhya Pradesh to the south of the city Hyderabad. The mined diamonds were then collected in the city Golkonda, which lies in the ruins now. Papna city was the real center of selling diamonds. Such famous stones as "Koh-i-nor", "Regent", "Orlov", "Derianur", "Sunsea", "Shah", "Hope", "Florentine" and "Green Dresden" were found in India. The island Borneo (now Kalimantan) takes the second place in the discovery of diamond placers. The most famous diamond found here is called "Saravaha Star" and weighs eighty seven carats. The third place in mining diamonds takes Brazil. According to one of the stories, in 1726 a Portuguese miner Bernard-da-Fonsena Labo came to one of the Brazilian mines and saw that the workers during playing games marked the score of wins and losses with the number of shining stones. Labo found that these stones are diamonds and hastily purchased several stones. But when he tried to resell the stones in Europe other people learned the place where they were found and a "diamond fever" started in Brazil. Soon Brazil took the first place in mining diamonds. Such large semi precious stones as "President Vargas", "South star", "Minas Star" and "Southern Cross" were found here.
M.I. Pylyaev in his book "Precious stones" reports:
"One of the largest local diamonds, "Southern Star" was found by slave who brought the lunch to black workers. While the latter ate she sat down not far from that place and started taking stones from one place to another because she had nothing to do. Among these stones she found a beautiful diamond. The slave gave the diamond to her owner, who, however, didn't liberate her. "
The next discoveries were made in Australia. In 1851 in the placers of the New South Wales was found a diamond. One hundred years later thirty diamond pipes were found at once not far from the port Darwin near the Kimberly settlement. The name of this settlement was given in the honor of African town Kimberley, a center of diamond industry of Africa. It is amazing that near this settlement other diamond deposits were found later and no one ever thought they would be found.
Yet in ancient India people knew that polishing of stones intensifies the brilliance and grades up the quality of the stone. In Europe the first diamond was polished in 1456, although some people assert that this happened earlier. At first the diamond was faceted in so-called "Point cut" form. At the same time the facets of the octahedron were blunted and there was no area. Later a "Table cut" faceting appeared. It was similar to Indian faceting. Soon "Rose" cut with eighteen facets, "Mazarini" cut with thirty four facets and "Peruzzi" cuts were elaborated. The modern form of faceting appeared in 1910.
If the diamond is cut properly then all the light falling on it through the crown is completely reflected from the facets of pavilion and when you look at the cut diamond against a source of light then you will see only one shining point in collar. Because of the high reflection rate of the diamond you will see nothing when you look through the cut diamond. High refraction rate of the diamond creates an illusion of substantially smaller thickness of the stone.
Substantial portion of light is refracted from polished facets of the precious stone. Another portion of light after getting into the stone as a result of high refraction rate of the semi precious stone can come out only after numerous inner reflections and thus creating the beauty of the luminescence of the cut diamond.
Faceted diamonds, cut diamonds, were used for making various decorations such as finger rings, pendants, necklaces, diadems, bracelets and state regalias. M. I. Pylyaev gives examples: "The dress of the Queen of England contained so many jewels that the queen experienced difficulties while wearing it. The king of England Henri III wore up to hundred rings with jewels. The king of France Ludovik XII during ceremonial appearances wore the clothes strewn with cut diamonds costing up to twelve millions francs.
Among great number of precious diamonds historical semi precious diamonds that passed through the history of people and states and left deep trace stand out. We have mentioned them ("Koh-i-nor", "Orlov", "Shah", "Southern Star") earlier.
In the days of old despotic rulers the diamonds were not only the decorations, but also the symbols of great power and potential source of goods and disasters. When they were in the hands of weak rulers this circumstance caused the greed of mighty neighbors and plunged entire countries into the horrors of ruthless bloody wars. During civilized times the owners used diamonds as a currency for extracting great monetary sums.
