Diamond is a girl best friend or Enemy?

Diamond has given girls/lady, a reason to spend (her man/BF/Lover/Sucker) money in style. There is no denying it that diamond does look very shiny when you look at it under the white light. With millions of color dis-pouring in each corner and surface. It is known that the price tag for the most expensive diamonds are Priceless! And yes there are 2 of them.

The first Gem that your looking here is called Kohinoor. Kohinoor which means “Mountain of Light” from the Persian, also spelled Koh-e Noor or Koh-i-Nur is 105 carats (21.6 g) diamond that was once the largest known diamond in the world. The Kohinoor originated at Golconda in the state of Andhra Pradesh in India. It is owned by various Sikh, Mughal and Persian rulers who fought bitterly over it at various points in history and win the war damage time and again. After completely ignoring the Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s will was eventually confiscated by the East India Company and became part of the British Crown Jewels when British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli declared Empress of India Queen Victoria in 1877. This is the legend that anyone who has a Koh-i-Noor ruled the world. Possible condemnation associated with ownership of the diamond dates back to the Hindu texts relating to the first confirmed appearance of the diamond in 1306. Extracted from here.

Now on to our second priceless gem, this is called The Sancy Diamond (On the left). The Sancy, a pale yellow diamond of 55.23 carat (11.05 g), once belonged to famous ancient Great Mogul, but more likely from India who was cut because of the unusual with Western standards.
Shield shaped stone consists of two back-to-back crowns (the typical upper stone) but does not have any resemblance to a pavilion (the bottom of the stone, under the belt or the middle of the body. Extracted from here.

Now throughout history everyone thought that diamond are girl best friend but there is a chance that these diamond can be enemy too. But who would say no to such precious stone and declare them foes? No lady in their position who has already obtained these gems would. Lets look at those diamond which has cause someone life dearly in the after years.

Top ten KILLING GEM

10. Taylor Burton Diamond

This piece of diamond are really the show of L.O.V.E. I don't know about you if someone say love cannot be bought with money, i would say it's just a little expensive (Ohh i don't know say 5 million or more) I'll spare the detail of the diamond as currently it doesn't exist anymore as someone re-cut the diamond. Any girl in the right place would snap that up. I guess the story is very simple, just look at Taylor and Burton now. Happily ever after stays in Disney Land. Now the question are would you buy something this expensive if your salary is 5 million for your whole life!

9. The Sancy Diamond

If you've been following the blog very closely this particular gem stone is priceless at the moment. Yes priceless that means if you love someone would you go to jail and get hanged while you post this gem from the jail before you get hanged just so your darling knows that you love her very much. Insanity. But then again, there are a lot of those kind out there. I blame Disney for that. Now the sad story of this diamond. This diamond gained notoriety when King Henry the Third chose to wear it on his cap. He always wore a special cap to hide his balding head, and he was said to be very capricious and vain. The Sancy diamond worked its way through many generations of English royalty, and Henry IV “borrowed” it in order to guarantee his expenses when putting together a new army. Unfortunately, the diamond, which was carried by a trusted messenger of the king, did not arrive at its destination. Instead, it was later found in the belly of the dead messenger, after an autopsy. The Sancy then passed through the hands of many more kings, both English and French, until arriving at its current home, The Apollo Gallery, at the Louvre Museum in Paris. Gosh... it's a diamond for Christ sake not food, Diamond is girl best friend not food!

8. The Regent Diamond

Guess no one ever thought that Napoleon was a fan of diamond as well isn't it? Well this piece here is from the very brutal history. The Regent Diamond gained its fame when Napoleon chose to decorate his battle sword with it: the stunning, mammoth diamond is 140.64 carats in size, with a very slight, blue cast. The diamond was said to be discovered at the Golonda mine in India, and spirited out secretly by a slave, who hid it within a cut on his leg. In 1792, all the Crown Jewels of France were stolen, and the Regent Diamond was among the missing gems. Napoleon retrieved the stone for his own use in 1801. Napoleon married twice, and his latter wife was an Archduchess of Austria: she went back to her home country after her husband’s death, and the Regent passed into Austrian ownership. In time, the stone returned to France, as the generous gift of the Archduchess’ father. It now rests in the Louvre, with many other spectacular gems.

7. The Hortensia Diamond

Here again we have Napoleon link diamond, (i'm starting to believe diamonds are never meant for a girl) but this piece here gone through some of the roughest time in history and survive. It was named for Hortense, the daughter of Napoleon’s stepchild, the Empress Josephine. The Hortensia is twenty carats in size, with a pale coral cast. This diamond also disappeared, along with other French Crown Jewels, during the theft that took place in 1792. It was later recovered, along with the others, only to be stolen again in 1830. After the theft, the diamond was rapidly located and returned to its rightful owner. This diamond has a crack along its pavilion, unlike the other diamonds on our list. However, it is so steeped in French history and Napoleonic legend, that it retains its pricelessness despite the flaw. The stone now rests in the Louvre, a glittering symbol of France and of the courage of Napoleon, with whom it will always be linked.

6. The Star of Africa Diamond

I don't know how this made it to the list here. But if i had to guess i would say because it is so big (530.20 carats) that the thieves most probably got pinned down when he tried to lift it and when the police came they just laugh it off and drove him to the hospital. Hence the death. 

5. The Shah Diamond

This piece of stone diamond apparently has transfered hand from those of the holiest in India before it end up somewhere Russia. The story goes, It was rendered to the shah court in Ahmadnagar. In 1591, Shah Nizam ordered carving on one of the facets of the diamond: "Burhan-Nizam-Shah Second. Year 1000". In the same 1591, the ruler of the Northern India, the Great Moghul Akbar, occupied Ahmadnagar and seized the diamond. After Akbar's grandson, Shah Jehan (trans. "the ruler of the world") came to the throne of Great Moghuls, he commanded to carve another inscription: "The son of Jehangir-Shah Jehan-Shah. Year 1051". By the modern calendar, it was 1641. The son of Jehan-shah Aureng-Zeb hung the diamond above his throne and encircled it with rubies and emeralds. Till 1738, the diamond Shah was kept in Delhi. In 1738, Nadir Shah attacked India, seized the diamond, and took it to Persia. In 1824, the third inscription appeared on the third facet: "The ruler of the Kadgar-Fath ali-shah Sultan. Year 1242". In 1829, Russian diplomat and writer Alexandr Griboyedov was murdered in the capital of Persia, Tehran. The Russian government demanded severe punishment of those responsible. In fear, the court of Shah Fath Ali Shah sent the Shah's grandson Khosrow Mirza to Saint Petersburg, where he gave the Shah diamond to the Russian Tsar as a present. Thus, the Shah diamond came to the Kremlin Diamond Fund, where it is exhibited as one of Seven Historical Gems. It remains there at the Kremlin.

4. The Darya-ye Noor Diamond

This piece of gem here doesn't really have much brutal or sad story, besides the fact that it has been taken from India and seize everything including this diamond here and remain in the royal care ever since. Most probably it is sad by itself. As names are craft onto it, and once it's craft it's permanent there's no removing it like any ink. So I'd say it's pretty bash up.

3. The Eureka Diamond

Now this one is an interesting stone, it came from the country that literally have blood diamond written all over it. I mean in today's market there are a lot of people who are buying blood diamond when they are being told "this is not a blood diamond" and that's good enough to make them happy and buy it. Turning blood diamond into just a diamond, is the same as some shell company turning blood money into just money. The boy who found this stone never became a billionaire. But someone else did.

2. The Dresden Green

This here is a very expensive test device, what does it do? Well apparently it is use to just compare. Yes compare like you cannot just carry the color natural green and fake green in your briefcase. I guess whoever that want to go into diamond business this piece of test device here would be a kill for any start up diamond company. Guess that's why it made the list.

1. The Hope Diamond

Here we have our number 1 killer diamond. It is disguise so anyone who has lost hope will buy it and wear it. Before you know it someone is selling it to someone else. Luckily this piece of gem here is so expensive that not much people can afford it. But No diamond remains more notorious and more renowned than the infamous Hope Diamond, which is surrounded by legend and history. Some believed that this huge, deep-blue diamond, which came from India, was cursed and would bring bad luck or even death to its wearer.

The first famous owner of the Hope Diamond was Louis XIV, the King of France. He bought the diamond from a French gem merchant named Jean Baptiste Tavernier, and its initial size was a staggering 112 3/16 carats. Louis chose to have the stone cut down to 67 1/8 carats, for use in the French Crown Jewels.

Its second owner was the next King of France, Louis XV, who reset the diamond in another royal jewelry piece, the Emblem of the Golden Fleece. During the French Revolution, the diamond was stolen during the looting and it did not surface again for 20 years. In 1812, the diamond reappeared in England under mysterious circumstances, and was snapped up by a wealthy collector, Philip Henry Hope. It remained in his family until it was sold again, and for years afterward, the Hope Diamond bounced back and forth between collectors.

Evelyn Walsh Mclean purchased the diamond in 1912: again, it was reduced and re-cut, this time to 45.52 carats, to suit Walsh’s taste. She relished tales of the Hope Diamond curse, even thought they were unfounded, as it pleased her to own such a notorious gem. She was rumored to keep the stone within the cushions of her sofa as a hiding place.

After her passing, the famed jeweler Harry Winston bought the Hope Diamond and donated it to the Smithsonian Museum, and, from its origins deep with the earth of India, over a billion years ago, it now belongs to the American people. 

Conclusion : Throughout history you can see that diamond was never a girl best friend. It's because there are not much royals around and it's hard to sell this to a guy who is going to stare down at you. So a diverse marketing strategy was formed, sell it to the ladies. If you look at anything that hard to sell, just sell it to the ladies or use the ladies to sell it. Majority of the time it work. Yes Diamond is man's best pampering tools.