About the History and Identification of the Missing Tavernier Diamonds

THE TAVERNIER, A, B, & C.

The Diamond Bought by Louis XIV.--Stolen with the French Regalia in 1792--A Present to the Empress Eugenie by Her Husband.--"The Golden Fleece."

Of the twenty diamonds which Tavernier sold to king Louis XIV., and which are figured in the first edition of his work, four only exceeded 30 carats in weight. Of these, the largest was the rough blue, weighing 112 1/4 carats, which we have already described.

The three others may here be conveniently grouped together as the Tavernier A, B, & C.

A.

Of this fine stone Tavernier gives three figures, representing its upper and lower surface, and thickness respectively. He tells us that it weighed 51 9/16 carats, was "white and pure" (blanc et net) and "cut in India" (taille aux Indes).

Since Tavernier's time nothing further has been heard of this gem, which no doubt was stolen with the rest of the French regalia from the Garde Meuble, in 1792. But a very beautiful stone, which we have little doubt is the identical and long-missing Tavernier A, was purchased by the late Emperor Napoleon III. in the year 1860, and by him presented to the Empress Eugenie. It is described as a perfect brilliant, of an oval shape, blunt at one end, very beautifully cut, and weighing 51 carats, or very nearly the exact weight of A.

B.

This stone weighed 32 3/8 carats, but was un-cut (brut). As it is impossible to say what it may have lost in the process of cutting, it cannot now be identified with any existing gem.

C.

Tavernier gives us two illustrations of this diamond, one showing its upper surface, the other its depth or thickness. Like A, it was white, pure, and Indian cut. It weighed 31 3/8 carats, and this circumstance gives us a clue to its identification. In the inventory of the French Crown Jewels, prepared by order of the National Assembly, in 1791, the fourth place was occupied by a large diamond, which was the most conspicuous gem in the Golden Fleece, and which weighed 31 3/4 carats, or within about a quarter carat of the Tavernier C. That they are one and the same stone there can be little doubt. In the inventory' the Golden Fleece gem was valued at 300,000 francs, or pound 12,000, certainly an extravagant price for any stone of that size, unless this figure is to be taken as the value of all the stones set in the Golden Fleece. According to the usual calculation, a diamond weighing 31 or 32 carats, even of the purest water, ought not to be worth much more than 2,500 pound or 3,000 pound.