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Kollur Diamond Mine
Kollur Mine was a series of gravel-clay pits on the south bank of the Krishna River in the Golconda Sultanate of India. It currently falls within the state of Andhra Pradesh. It is thought to have produced many large diamonds, known as Golconda diamonds, several of which are or have been a part of crown jewels. The mine was established in the 16th century and operated until the 19th century. History Kollur Mine operated between the 16th and mid-19th centuries, and was one of the largest and most productive diamond mines on the Indian subcontinent. At the height of production, around 30,000 – 60,000 people worked there, including men, women, and children of all ages. Kollur itself had a population of around 100,000. Golconda mines were owned by the king, but operation was leased to diamond merchants, either foreigners or Indians of the goldsmith caste. As well as rent, the king also received 2% from sales and he was entitled to keep all diamonds weighing over 10 carat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
New Delhi
New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament House, and the Supreme Court of India. New Delhi is a municipality within the NCT, administered by the NDMC, which covers mostly Lutyens' Delhi and a few adjacent areas. The municipal area is part of a larger administrative district, the New Delhi district. Although colloquially ''Delhi'' and ''New Delhi'' are used interchangeably to refer to the National Capital Territory of Delhi, both are distinct entities, with both the municipality and the New Delhi district forming a relatively small part of the megacity of Delhi. The National Capital Region is a much larger entity comprising the entire NCT along with adjoining districts in neighbouring states, including Ghaziabad, Noida, Gurgaon and Faridabad. The foundation stone of New Delhi was l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tavernier Blue
The Tavernier Blue was the precursor diamond to the Blue Diamond of the French Crown (aka the French Blue). Subsequently, most scholars and historians believe that it was re-cut and, after a disappearance and reemergence into the public forum, was renamed the Hope Diamond. It is believed to have been a Type IIb diamond. Diamond details Weighing 112 3/16 old French carats, the crudely finished gem was described by the French gem dealer Jean-Baptiste Tavernier as being "violet" in color. and of perfect clarity. The diamond was certainly Indian in origin and likely sourced by Tavernier in 1666 at the Kollur mine in the Guntur district, Andhra Pradesh. The stone, only slightly finished at this time, was eventually cut to present a more diamond-like appearance, in 1775. Background and history Tavernier was a French traveler and trader who returned to France from India with many of the largest gems of the era. He primarily sold merchandise to French royalty and the aristocracy. T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Valentine Ball
Valentine Ball (14 July 1843 – 15 June 1895) was an Irish geologist, son of Robert Ball (1802–1857) and a brother of Sir Robert Ball. Ball worked in India for twenty years before returning to take up a position in Ireland. Life and work Valentine was born in Dublin, the second son of Robert Ball and Amelia Gresley Hellicar. His siblings included Robert Stawell Ball, sisters Mary Agnetta (d. 1868), Amelia Charlotte (d. 1912), Annie Francis and surgeon Sir Charles Ball. He received his early education at Chester and later at the private schools of Dr. Henry and Dr. Benson at Dublin. He then went to the University of Dublin obtaining a B.A. in 1864, M.A. in 1872 and LL.D. in 1889. He was elected Fellow of the Geological Society of London in 1874. Ball joined the Geological Survey of India in 1864 and served until 1881. He also contributed to studies in ornithology and anthropology. He was made a Fellow of the Calcutta University in 1875. His expertise on central India w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nassak Diamond
The Nassak Diamond (also known as the Nassac Diamond CCPA 2003: p. 118. and the Eye of the Idol) is a large, Golconda Diamond that originated as a larger 89 carat diamond in the 15th century in India. CCPA 2003: p. 121. Found in Golconda mines of Kollur and originally cut in India, the diamond was the adornment in the Trimbakeshwar Shiva Temple, near Nashik, in the state of Maharashtra, India from at least 1500 to 1817. The British East India Company captured the diamond through the Third Anglo-Maratha War and sold it to British jewellers Rundell and Bridge in 1818. Rundell and Bridge recut the diamond in 1818, CCPA 2003: p. 117. after which it made its way into the handle of the 1st Marquess of Westminster's dress sword. The Nassak Diamond was imported into the United States in 1927, and was considered one of the first 24 great diamonds of the world by 1930. American jeweller Harry Winston acquired the Nassak Diamond in 1940 in Paris, France and recut it to its present flaw ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dresden Green
The Dresden Green Diamond, also known as the Dresden Green, is a natural green diamond, originated in the mines of India. The Dresden Green is a rare Type IIa, with a clarity of VS1 and it is said to be potentially internally flawless, if slightly recut. It is named after Dresden, the capital of the German state of Saxony, where it has been on display for most of the last two centuries, latterly in the New Green Vault at Dresden Castle. After World War II, it was relocated to Moscow for a decade before being returned to Dresden. In November 2019, it was sent on loan to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City so was not involved in the jewel theft of 25 November. History The Dresden Green Diamond has a historical record dating back to 1722, when a London news-sheet carried an article about it in its 25 October-27th edition. It was acquired by Augustus III of Poland from a Dutch merchant in 1742 at the Leipzig Fair. In 1768, the diamond was incorporated into an ex ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nizam Diamond
The Nizam Diamond, also known as the "little Koh-i-noor", was a famous diamond in the 1800s. Its whereabouts today are unknown. It was named after its original owner Mir Osman Ali Khan, the last Nizam of Hyderabad. The diamond is said to have been around in size, and was mined from the now-submerged Kollur mine in the Krishna River valley in the year 1830. Richard Francis Burton described it in an 1876 article:The stone is said to be of the finest water. An outline of the model gives a maximum length of 1 inch 10'25 lines, and 1 inch 2 lines for the greatest breadth, with conformabe thickness throughout. The face is slightly convex, and the cleavage plane produced by the fracture is nearly flat, with a curious slope or groove beginning at the apex. The general appearance is an imperfect oval, with only one projection which will require the saw: it will easily cut into a splendid brilliant, larger and more valuable than the present Koh-i-núr. he Koh-i-noor diamond was cut down ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Orlov (diamond)
The Orlov (sometimes spelled Orloff), also known as The Great Mughal Diamond, is a large diamond of Indian origin, currently displayed as a part of the Diamond Fund collection of Moscow's Kremlin Armoury. It is described as having the shape and proportions of half a chicken's egg. In 1774, it was encrusted into the Imperial Sceptre of Russian Empress Catherine the Great. History The diamond was found in the 17th century in Golconda, India. According to one legend, a French soldier who had deserted during the Carnatic wars in Srirangam disguised himself as a Hindu convert in order to steal it in 1747, when it served as the eye of a temple deity Sriranganathar. The as yet unnamed stone passed from merchant to merchant, eventually appearing for sale in Amsterdam. Most modern scholars are now convinced that this stone was actually the Great Mogul Diamond. Shaffrass, an Iranian millionaire who then owned the diamond,Dale Hoiberg, Indu Ramchandani (2008)''Students' Britannica - Indi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Daria-i-Noor
The Daria-i-Noor ( fa, , lit=Sea of light), also spelled ''Darya-ye Noor'', is one of the largest cut diamonds in the world, weighing an estimated 182 carats (36 g). Its colour, pale pink, is one of the rarest to be found in diamonds. The diamond is currently in the Iranian Crown Jewels collection of the Central Bank of Iran in Tehran. Dimensions It is and weighs around 182 metric carats. It is the world's largest known pink diamond. History This diamond, as it is also presumed for the Koh-i-Noor, was mined in Kollur mine in Andhra Pradesh, India. It was originally owned by the Kakatiya dynasty, later it was possessed by the Khalji dynasty of the Delhi Sultanate and to Mughal emperors. It was part of Shah Jahan's Peacock Throne. In 1739, Nader Shah of Iran invaded Northern India, occupied Delhi. As payment for returning the crown of India to the Mughal emperor, Muhammad Shah, he took possession of the entire fabled treasury of the Mughals, including the ''Daria-i-Noor'', ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Regent Diamond
The Regent Diamond is a diamond owned by the French state and on display in the Louvre, worth £48,000,000. History Discovery According to legend, the diamond was discovered by an enslaved man in the Kollur Mine near the Krishna River and was concealed by the slave in a leg wound, which he suffered while fleeing the siege of Golconda. The slave then made to the Indian coast, where he met an English sea captain and offered him 50% of all profits made on the sale of the diamond in exchange for safe passage out of India. However, the sea captain killed the slave and sold the diamond to the eminent Indian diamond merchant Jamchand. Pitt acquisition In a letter to his London agent dated 6November 1701, Thomas Pitt, the Governor of Fort St. George, writes:"... This accompanies the model of a Stone I have lately seene; it weighs Mang. 303 and carrtts 426. It is of an excellent christaline water without any fowles, only att one end in the flat part there is one or two little f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wittelsbach-Graff Diamond
The Wittelsbach-Graff Diamond is a deep-blue diamond with internally flawless clarity, originating in the Kollur Mine, India. Laurence Graff purchased the Wittelsbach Diamond in 2008 for £16.4 million. In 2010, Graff revealed he had had the diamond cut by three diamond cutters to remove flaws. The diamond was now more than lighter and was renamed the Wittelsbach-Graff Diamond. There is controversy, as critics claim the recutting has so altered the diamond as to make it unrecognisable, compromising its historical integrity. Wittelsbach Diamond The original Wittelsbach Diamond, also known as Der Blaue Wittelsbacher, was a fancy, deep, greyish-blue diamond with VS2 clarity that had been part of both the Austrian and the Bavarian Crown jewels. Its colour and clarity had been compared to the Hope Diamond. The diamond had measured in diameter and in depth. It had 82 facets arranged in an atypical pattern. The star facets on the crown were vertically split, and the p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Koh-i-Noor
The Koh-i-Noor ( ; from ), also spelled Kohinoor and Koh-i-Nur, is one of the largest cut diamonds in the world, weighing . It is part of the Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom. The diamond is currently set in the Crown of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother. There are multiple conflicting legends on the origin of the diamond. However, in the words of Theo Metcalfe there is 'very meager and imperfect' evidence of the early history of the Koh-i-Noor before the 1740s, that can directly tie it to any ancient diamond. There is no record of its original weight, but the earliest attested weight is 186 old carats (191 metric carats or 38.2 g). The first verifiable record of the diamond comes from a history by Muhammad Kazim Marvi of the 1740s Invasion of Northern India. Marvi notes that the Koh-i-Noor as being one of many stones on the Mughal Peacock Throne that Nader Shah looted from Delhi. The diamond then changed hands between various empires in south and west Asia, until being ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hope Diamond
The Hope Diamond is a diamond originally extracted in the 17th century from the Kollur Mine in Guntur, India. It is blue in color due to trace amounts of boron. Its exceptional size has revealed new information about the formation of diamonds. The stone is known as one of the Golconda diamonds. The earliest records of the diamond show that French gem merchant Jean-Baptiste Tavernier purchased it in 1666 as the Tavernier Blue. The stone was cut and renamed the French Blue (''Le bleu de France''); Tavernier sold the stone to King Louis XIV of France in 1668. It was stolen in 1792 and re-cut, with the largest section of the diamond appearing under the Hope name in an 1839 gem catalogue from the Hope banking family. The diamond has had several owners, including Washington socialite Evalyn Walsh McLean, who was often seen wearing it. New York gem merchant Harry Winston purchased the diamond in 1949, touring it for several years before donating it in 1958 to the Smithsonian Nation ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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