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THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM MAGAZINE. 



mission to England, was so absent- 

 minded that he carried it in his waist- 

 coat pocket for six weeks, and then dis- 

 covered it only by accident. 



When it came into the possession of 

 Queen Victoria the Kohiwoor weighed 

 186 carats, and was unsynmietrical in 

 shape, with one or two flaws. It was 

 recut, some judges say very injudic- 

 iously, and now weighs 106 carats. 



THE PITT DIAMOND. 



The Regent or Pitt diamond has a 

 story as romantic as that of the Kohi- 

 noor. It is believed to have been dis- 

 covered by a slave in the Parteal mines 

 on the Kistnah River in 1701. Ac- 

 cording to one account the finder cut 

 a hole in the calf of his leg, concealed 

 the gem in the wound, and so escaped 

 with it to the coast. There he met an 

 Englisli skipper, who bought it from 

 him and promised to carry him to a 

 free country. But the faithless sailor, 

 having secured the diamond, threw the 

 slave into the sea and that was an end 

 of him. The skipper afterwards sold 

 the stone to a diamond merchant named 

 Jamchund for £1000, squandered the 

 money and then hanged himsfelf, a 

 victim of remorse and delirium tre- 

 mens. Jamchund disposed of the dia- 

 mond, for £20,000 to Thomas Pitt, Go- 

 vernor of Fort St. George, an ancestor 

 of the famous Earl of Chatham. Pitt 

 brought the stone to England and had 

 it cut into a brilliant weighing 136| 

 carats, but, while it was in his possess- 

 ion, he was a miserable man. He was 

 openly accused of having obtained it 

 by foul means, and was obsessed by a 

 morbid fear of being nuxrdered and 

 robl)ed of the diamond. He skulked 

 about, often in disguise, and never 

 slept twice under the same roof. In 

 1717 he sold it to the Duke of Orleans, 

 Regent of France, for £135,000, and it 

 thus became (me of the French Crown 

 jewel"^. At the revolution the French 

 regalia, including the Pitt diamond, now 

 known as the Regent, were placed in 

 the Garde-meuble, whence they were 

 stolen in 1792. An anonymous letter 

 was afterwards received by the Com- 

 mune, describing the place where some 

 of the purloined treasures would be 

 found. A search was made at the spot 



in tlie Champs-Elysees and there 

 the Regent and otlier valuables 

 were discovered. Napoleon wore the Re- 

 gent in the pommel of his sword of state, 

 and, it is asserted, at one time pledged 

 it to the Dutch Government as security 

 for a loan. It was subsequently ex- 

 hibited in the Louvre, but in 1903 it was 

 offered for sale at an upset price of 

 £480,000. 



THE HOPE BLUE. 



Perhai>s of all diamonds that now 

 known as the Hope Blue has the 

 strangest and most tragic history. Prac- 

 tically all who have owned this gem 

 have suffered; some lost life itself, 

 others reason, fortune, or happiness. 

 Why should the mere possession of this 

 stone bring misfortune? Or is it all 

 coincidence? We know nothing of the 

 early history of the Hope, but it was 

 probal)ly brought from India by Taver- 

 nier, a celebrated French traveller and 

 gem collector, who made several jour- 

 neys to the east and had a keen eye 

 for valuable diamonds. It is said that 

 Tavernier stole the gem from a Bur- 

 mese temple, where, as usual, it formed 

 one of the eyes of an idol. In 1688 he 

 sold it to Louis XIV., King of France. 

 It was then pear-shaped, and weighed 

 67| carats. It was occasionally worn by 

 ladies of the French court, and always 

 brought them ill-luck. Marie Antoin- 

 ette, who afterwards perished by tiie 

 guillotine, wore it to a grand ball at the 

 Tuileries. The Princess de Lamballe, 

 who sometimes borrowed it, was killed 

 by a Paris mob. It was stolen along 

 with the Regent and the rest of the re- 

 galia in 1792, but, unlike the Regent, it 

 was not recovered. We hear then of a 

 sjilendid blue diamond, evidently Taver- 

 nier's Blue, in the liands of an Amster- 

 dam cutter, Nicholas Fals, from whom 

 it was stolen by his son. Fals was 

 ruined, and his son committed suicide, 

 after giving the stone to Francis Beau- 

 lieu. Beaulieu took it to London, and, 

 when in the last stages of destitution, 

 sold it to Daniel Eliason, dying of star- 

 vation next day. In 1830 Eliason sold 

 it for £18,000 to Henry Thomas Hope, 

 of Dee.pdene; it thus became the en- 

 tailed property of the Hope family, and 

 has since been called the Hope Blue. 

 Its present weight is 44^ carats, and 



