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
In theoretical physics, type II string theory is a unified term that includes both type IIA strings and type IIB strings theories. Type II string theory accounts for two of the five consistent superstring theories in ten dimensions. Both theories ...
, 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
Augustus III ( pl, August III Sas, lt, Augustas III; 17 October 1696 5 October 1763) was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1733 until 1763, as well as Elector of Saxony in the Holy Roman Empire where he was known as Frederick Aug ...
from a Dutch merchant in 1742 at the
Leipzig Fair
Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...
.
In 1768, the diamond was incorporated into an extremely valuable hat ornament, surrounded by two large and 411 medium-sized and small diamonds.
[Dirk Syndram, ''Prunkstücke des Grünen Gewölbes zu Dresden'', 5th ed. Leipzig: Seemann, 2006, , pp. 166-173 ] This is the setting that the Dresden Green still appears in today.
In 2000, American jewelry firm
Harry Winston arranged to display the Dresden Green at the New York flagship store and then at the
Smithsonian in
Washington, DC, United States, where it was displayed in the Harry Winston pavilion next to the largest blue diamond in the world, the
Hope Diamond.
In 2019, the Dresden Green Diamond narrowly escaped being stolen in the
Dresden Green Vault burglary
On 25 November 2019, royal jewellery was stolen from the Green Vault museum within Dresden Castle in Dresden, Saxony, Germany. The stolen items include the 49- carat Dresden White Diamond, the diamond-laden breast star of the Polish Order o ...
, due to it being loaned to
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
's
Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Color
The stone's unique apple green color is due to natural exposure to radioactive materials, as the
irradiation of diamonds can produce changes in color. The Dresden Green Diamond has been used to compare natural versus lab-produced green diamonds — it is hoped that it can be used to devise a test to differentiate between naturally green diamonds, which are quite rare, and lab-produced ones.
In popular culture
The plot of
Nicolas Freeling
Nicolas Freeling (born Nicolas Davidson; 3 March 1927 – 20 July 2003), was a British crime novelist, best known as the author of the "Van der Valk" series of detective novels. A television series based on the character was produced for the Brit ...
's 1966 novel ''The Dresden Green'' concerns an imaginary theft of the Dresden Green diamond and attempts to recover it.
See also
*
Golconda Diamonds
*
List of diamonds
Further reading
* Shipley, Robert M. (1938). ''Important Diamonds of the World'', pp. 7.
Gemological Institute of America, USA, Vol. 2, No. 11 (Fall 1938)
References
External links
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Individual diamonds
Dresden
Diamonds originating in India
Green diamonds