Among the world's famous gemstones, the Sarsi diamond occupies one of the most prominent places. His story is a series of dizzying adventures and adventures, each of which deserves a multivolume novel.
It is believed that this stone was found in 1064 in East India. A very beautiful pale yellow teardrop-shaped diamond weighed 101.25 carats before grinding. Soon the stone went to the Sultan, who gave a couple of young elephants, 12 camels and 80 gold coins for this jewel. The stone then fell into the Gulyam dynasty and eventually ended up with Qutb-ud-Din, the builder of the Delhi Qutb Minar, the world's tallest brick minaret. But soon the stone was stolen by someone.
In 1325 Sultan Muhammad bought the stone for a large sum from an unknown foreign merchant. But soon after that, the diamond disappeared altogether from sight.
In 1473, the stone ended up in the collection of Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy. In 1475, the Flemish stone grinder Ludwig Van Berken changed the shape of the stone: after cutting, it began to weigh 55.23 carats and received a double cut with 32 facets. Karl the Bold, believing in the magical power of the stone, ordered to insert it into his helmet. But in a battle with a mercenary army of the Swiss, he lost his jewel and was killed on the same day.
After passing through many hands, the diamond for 100 thousand francs was bought by the French diplomat Nicholas Garley de Sancy. This jewel was named after him. Entangled in debt, de Sancy sold the stone to King Henry III of France. After that, the diamond was in the collection of the French kings. On May 13, 1610, Sancy appeared in the crown of Maria de Medici.
Later, the luxurious Sancy diamond was passed down from generation to generation in the royal families of France, England, Prussia and Holland. At one time he was in Russia - his owner was the famous owner of the Ural factories Pavel Demidov. He paid 500,000 francs for the diamond. Although in the inventory of the regalia of the French crown in 1791 "Sancy" was estimated at 1 million francs.
The Sancy was exhibited at the Paris World's Fair in 1867 and was then purchased by Lord Astor as a wedding present for his son. In 1978, his heirs sold the diamond to the Louvre, and it has been in the museum ever since. According to another version, the stone was in a cache for a long time, from which it was removed only after the Second World War. It was said that for some time he was in the collection of the Hollywood diva Elizabeth Taylor.
In 2012, "Sancy" was suddenly exhibited at the famous Sotheby's auction. An anonymous collector purchased the gem for $ 9.7 million. This amount was more than double the original estimate.
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Whether it was the same famous stone or its analogue is not known exactly. But there is no doubt that his story did not end there: stones like Sansi have an unpredictable and amazing fate.
Igor RODIONOV
