Ball — Description of two large Sjnnel Eubies. 391 



Engkaved Diamonds. 



Not only were rubies engraved under the directions of the Mogul 

 Emperors, but there are records of three diamonds having been 

 marked with their owners' names. The first was a diamond whicli 

 weighed, it is said, about 116 carats, and was bought in Constanti- 

 nople in the year 1866. It was recut, and sold to the late Gaikwar 

 of Baroda for 3^ lahhs of rupees. Its weight was then reduced to 

 about 71 or 72 carats. Its original form and the inscriptions have, 

 however, been preserved by models and impressions. The latter read 

 as follows : — 



(I.) Shah Akhar,Jahangir Shah, 1028 (a.d. 1618-19). Here Shah 

 Akbar, as in the cases of the rubies, is honorific or expletive, and 

 a prefix to the name Jahangir, within whose reign (1605-28) the 

 diamond was therefore engraved. The style of the monogram is 

 similar to those on the rubies. 



(II.) The second inscription is Sahib Kiran Sani, 1039 (= a.d. 

 1629-30). This means the Second Lord of the Conjunction, a title 

 by which Shah Jahan was known, as has already been explained. 



At one time I was inclined to believe that this diamond might 

 have been one which it is recorded Sliah Jahan, then Prince Khurrum, 

 obtained when he took refuge in Golconda, and sold to his father, 

 Jahangir, for 1,000,000 rupees;^ but although the weights of both 

 nearly correspond, being about 120 carats, the dates forbid the sup. 

 position, the date of the acquisition of tlie latter being said to be 

 1623-24 ; while that of the first engraving of the former was 1619, as 

 has been just stated. 



One published account of this diamond^ contains an extraordinary 

 misreading of the inscriptions, although copies of the original characters 

 are given with it, which can be easily deciphei-ed. Needless to add, 

 the deductions drawn are wholly erroneous as to the persons named ; 

 and the dates, too, are inaccurately given in a.d. equivalents. 



The second engraved diamond is that known as the '• Shah'''' 

 which weighs 86 carats. It is in the Russian Treasury, having been 

 presented to the Czar by the Shah of Persia in the year 1829 or 1830, 

 when the son of the Crown Prince, Abbas Mirza, Prince Khusru, tht; 



' Herbert's "Travels," London, 1677, p. 87. 

 2 "Great Diamonds," 1882, p. 210. 



