Gemstones have exerted a powerful influence over mankind ever since they were first unearthed centuries ago. It was not just their colour, brilliance or sparkle that captured the imagination of our ancestors. Each gemstone was also believed to possess remarkable healing properties, and magical powers to cure any and everything from a stomach ache to a broken heart; from warding off evil and bad dreams to attracting abundance and wealth. Kings and queens wore them as symbols of power; religious heads wore them as symbols of divine authority and the commoners lusted after them.
The history of gemstones is dotted with stunning finds of precious stones that have delighted and mesmerised their finders with their sheer size and dazzling beauty. These rare stones have spawned bitter tussles for their possessions; they have adorned kings and divas and have been surrounded by intriguing folklore; they have been the objects of daring heists and have been jealously guarded by their royal owners.
Here are the legends and superstitions that surround some of the world’s most famous, rare and valuable gems:
1. The Hope Diamond, the largest blue diamond in the world
Without doubt, this is the king among all the famous gemstones known to mankind till date. Steeped in legends and tales of intrigue, the Hope Diamond dates back to the 17th century India and is said to be cursed. A French traveller Jean Baptiste Tavernier was sold an extraordinary ‘blue-violet’ stone by a slave. This diamond, which was most likely from the Kollur mine in Golconda, India, was somewhat triangular in shape and crudely cut. At that time, the gem weighed 112 carats and was mistaken for a sapphire due to its brilliant steel blue colour. It turned out that he had in his possession an intriguing steel blue stone which at first look seemed to be a large sapphire, but the well-experienced Tavernier soon realized it was a diamond — the largest deep blue diamond in the world. Another legend has it that the diamond was actually the stolen eye of an Indian idol.
Tavernier purchased the stone and smuggled it to Paris, where he later sold it to King Louis XIV. The king had his court jeweller recut the stone into a triangular-pear-shaped stone weighing 67.50 carats. It came to be known as ‘Blue Diamond of the Crown’, or simply, the ‘French Blue’. During the French Revolution, the French Blue disappeared and mysteriously reappeared in London in 1812 as a 44 carat blue diamond. It was sold to King George IV of England. After the latter’s death in 1830, this extraordinary gem passed on to Henry Phillip Hope, after whom the diamond ultimately came to be named. That was not the stone’s final resting place… It again passed through other hands before being purchased by a renowned Parisian jeweller Pierre Cartier in 1909. By then, the diamond had accumulated enough legends around it to make it an intriguing stone. He finally sold it to Mrs Evalyn Walsh McLean of Washington DC. After his death in 1947, the Hope Diamond was sold to a famous jeweller of New York, Harry Winston. He donated it to the Smithsonian Institute in 1958 where it resides till today.
2. Star of India, the largest star sapphire in the world
Weighing a massive 563.35 carats, the Star of India is the largest and most famous star sapphire in the world. The greyish blue gem was mined almost 300 years ago in Sri Lanka. The surface of the gem is dramatically covered by a milky white star, said to be caused by the traces of the mineral rutile.
In 1900, industrialist and financier J. P. Morgan presented this sapphire to the American Museum of Natural History. It is one of the most famous exhibits in all of the Museum’s collections.
The Star of India was stolen in a daring and infamous burglary in 1964.It was recovered from a highly unlikely place — a locker in a bus station!
3. Star of Africa, the jewel in the British Crown Jewels
Also known as the Cullinan I, the Star of Africa is a stunning pear-shaped diamond that weighs about 530.20 carats. It derives its other name from the fact that it’s the largest of the 9 large stones that were cut from the original Cullinan Diamond. The Star of Africa is the second largest cut diamond in the world. It can be viewed with the other Crown Jewels in the Tower of London.
4. The Spirit of de Grisogono, the world’s largest cut black diamond
At 312.24 carats, the Spirit of de Grisogono, created by the famous Swiss jeweller de Grisogono, is the world’s largest cut black diamond. That’s not all. It’s also the fifth largest diamond in the world. The stone is mounted on white gold and is set with 702 white diamonds. This diamond was mined many years ago in west Central Africa before it was transported to Switzerland. The stone was cut using the diamond-cutting technique adopted by the Mughal dynasty that ruled India from the 16th to the 19th centuries.
5. The Tiffany Yellow Diamond, probably the largest yellow diamond in the world
Discovered in 1878 in the Kimberly mines of South Africa, this stone weighed around 287.42 carats and is considered to be one of the largest yellow diamonds in the world. Yellow diamonds are extremely rare. The famous New York jeweller Charles Tiffany;purchased this stone in 1878 and assigned his gemologist, George Frederick Kunz, to cut it. Kunz cut the diamond into a cushion-shape with 90 facets, making it high in fluorescence and thus, better able to retain its rich colour in artificial light. Audrey Hepburn famously wore the Tiffany Yellow Diamond for the publicity posters of the film, ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’.
6. Queen Marie of Romania’s Sapphire, the fourth largest blue sapphire in the world
The enormous 478.68-carat blue sapphire of Sri Lankan origin, derives its name from the fact that it once adorned the neck of Queen Marie of Romania, the queen consort of King Ferdinand of Romania. This fabulous stone was a present from the King to his Queen. This giant rectangular cushion-shaped sapphire, in a breathtaking deep blue cornflower colour, is also one of the largest and most historic sapphires of the world. It was Cartier’s most valuable exhibit at their Autumn Show in San Sebastian in 1919.
7. Star of Asia, one of the largest blue sapphires in the world –
The Star of Asia is a round blue-violet coloured six-ray star sapphire that weighs an approximate 329.7 carats. The stone is believed to have been discovered in the famous Mogok region of Burma (now Myanmar), historically renowned for throwing up amazing rubies as well as sapphires since the 15th century. It went on to become the property of the Maharaja of Jodhpur, an erstwhile princely state in medieval India. The stone again changed hands and it can now be seen in the Smithsonian Museum’s collection of famous gemstones.
8.The Koh-I-Noor or ‘Mountain of Light’, one of the most famous diamonds ever
This is a 105 carat diamond that was unearthed in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh and is one of the most famous diamonds of all times. This stunning diamond was highly coveted and bitterly fought over by a spate of rulers, before it was finally seized by the east India Company and it became part of the British Crown of Jewels. Legends and superstitions have dogged this magical stone. It was famously said that said that whoever owned the Koh-I-Noor ruled the world.
9.The Mughal Emerald, the largest engraved emerald in the world
The Mughal Emerald is a magnificent dark green emerald in the shape of a tablet that dates back to the period of the last of the great Mughal Emperors of India, Aurangzeb (1658 -1707). The historic emerald is characterized by two flat rectangular flat faces, weighs 217.80 carats and is about 10 cm high. On one side are inscribed Islamic prayers while the other is engraved with typically opulent flower ornaments. Interestingly, this fabulous emerald was discovered in Colombia by the Spanish conquistadors and its arrival in India was probably due to trade during the Mogul dynasty. In 2001, Christie’s auctioned off this historic emerald to an anonymous buyer for a whopping $2.2 million.
10. The Orlov
One of the largest diamonds in the world, the Orlov can trace its origins to a Hindu temple of the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu in the 18th century. This celebrated diamond was supposed to originally be the eye of a statue in the temple and was cleverly stolen by a French grenadier. As is the case, this stone passed through several hands, before finally finding an eager buyer in Count Grigory Grigorievich Orlov.
Count Orlov eventually presented it to Catherine the Great in a bid to revive their flagging love affair. The Empress named the stone after her former lover and has it mounted in the Imperial Sceptre. It is a wonderfully rare diamond among historic diamonds as it has retained it retained its original rose-style cut (typical of the Indian style) diamond, and radiates a slight bluish-green tint. Today, the Orlov is a priceless exhibit in one of the greatest collections of gems and jewellery, the Treasures of the Diamond Fund, Gokran.
All of these extraordinary gemstones have gone down into the pages of history and continue to fascinate anyone who sees them. The passage of the time has only increased their mystique and their captivating beauty and fascinating origins have done the rest. Once the property of illustrious owners, many of these legendary jewels can now be viewed by the public as they glitter coldly from their bullet-proof glass cases.
Author: D K Mukherjee
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Cool mobile gadgets
