Origin of name
The English Dresden diamond gets its name from Mr. E. H.
Dresden the 19th century jeweler and diamond dealer of London, who purchased
the 119.5 carat rough diamond discovered in the Bagagem district of Brazil
in 1857, and subsequently forwarded it for processing to the renowned
diamond cutting firm Messrs. Coster's of Amsterdam, who had previously
earned the distinction of cutting the " Star of the South" diamond also
discovered in Brazil, in 1853 and re-cutting of the most famous of all
historic diamonds, the Koh-i-Noor, in 1852.
Characteristics of the
diamond
The English Dresden diamond is a 76.5-carat, pear-shaped,
colorless diamond, reputed to be of exceptional color and clarity. Going by
the glowing accounts of this extraordinary diamond, the color grade of the
diamond is most probably D-color and the clarity internally flawless (IF),
and perhaps also externally flawless. In describing the diamond, Mr. Dresden
himself asserted that "there is no diamond in the world to come up to it."
He also relates of an incident where he happened to be at Garrard's one day,
and he matched his pear-shaped diamond with the Koh-i- Noor, and to
everyone's surprise the color of the Koh-i-Noor appeared slightly yellowish
in comparison to his perfectly white diamond. A "gemologist" of that period
had said that, "the diamond is perfectly pure, free from defects, and has
extraordinary play and brilliancy. Indeed the quality of the stone is
superior to the Koh-i-Noor."
Being an absolutely colorless diamond, the English
Dresden diamond is most certainly a Type IIa diamond, which constitute about
1-2 % of all naturally occurring diamonds. Such diamonds do not possess any
of the factors that can cause color in diamonds, such as 1) Presence of
impurities in the crystal such as nitrogen, hydrogen and boron. 2) Presence
of structural abnormalities, caused by plastic deformation of the crystal.
3) Exposure to natural irradiation over a long period of time. As such these
diamonds are said to be chemically pure and structurally perfect diamonds.
In other words they are known as the "purest of the pure" of al diamonds.
History
The English Dresden diamond is a unique diamond, not only
because of its purity and clarity, but also because of the strikingly
parallel course of the diamond with another famous diamond discovered in
Brazil, the "Star of the South" diamond, from its discovery to the final
ownership of the diamond. A comparison of the history of the two diamonds
would be interesting and informative.
Comparison of histories of
English Dresden diamond and the Star of the South Diamond.
|
S/N |
English Dresden Diamond |
Star of the South Diamond |
|
1 |
Discovered in 1857 |
Discovered in 1853 |
|
2 |
Rough diamond weighed 119.5 carats |
Rough diamond weighed 254.5 carats |
|
3 |
Colorless diamond |
Pinkish brown diamond |
|
4 |
Discovered in the Bagagem district of Brazil |
Discovered in the Bagagem district of Brazil |
|
5 |
Rough diamond purchased at Rio de Janeiro by the agents of European
dealers |
Rough diamond purchased at Rio de Janeiro by the agents of European
dealers |
|
6 |
Rough diamond processed by Messrs. Coster's of Amsterdam |
Rough diamond processed by Messrs. Coster's of Amsterdam |
|
7 |
Processed stone forwarded to a buyer in India by E. H. Dresden |
Processed stone forwarded to a buyer in India by E. H. Dresden |
|
8 |
Final buyer of the diamond was the Gaekwar of Baroda |
Dresden sold the diamond directly to the Gaekwar of Baroda |
|
9 |
Mounted on a special necklace together with the Star of the South |
Mounted on the same special necklace together with the English
Dresden |
Thus the histories of the two diamonds English Dresden
and the Star of the South seem to be closely parallel to one another. Both
diamonds were discovered in the same Bagagem district of Brazil, almost
around the same time. The diamonds eventually found their way to the same
city Rio de Janeiro, where they were purchased by the agents of European
dealers. The diamonds were then cut and polished by the same diamond cutting
firm in Amsterdam, Messrs. Coster's, and forwarded to the same country
India, by the same agency of Mr. E. H. Dresden, where both stones were
eventually purchased by the same Royal customer, the Gaekwar of Baroda,
Mulhar Rao.
The English Dresden diamond was discovered in 1857, in
the Bagagem district of Brazil, and later purchased in Rio de Janeiro, by
the agents of E. H. Dresden, also in the same year, who forwarded the stone
to their offices in London. The rough stone which was actually a fractured
crystal weighed 119.5 carats. Mr. Dresden then forwarded the stone to the
renowned diamond cutters of Amsterdam, Messes Coster's, who had already
earned a reputation by re-cutting the Koh-i-Noor diamond in 1852, belonging
to the royal family of the United Kingdom, and later cutting their own rough
diamond the Star of the South, in 1853. The actual cutting of the stone was
carried out by Mr. Voorsanger, who transformed the rough stone into a
remarkable and perfectly cut pear-shaped diamond, weighing 76.5 carats, with
a loss of only 43 carats, equivalent to a percentage of 36%. The conversion
of the fractured crystal into a well proportioned and perfect pear-shaped
diamond, with a minimum of weight loss, speaks volumes about the
extraordinary skill of Mr. Voorsanger as an accomplished diamond cutter.
Mr. Dresden then looked for a prospective buyer for his
magnificent diamond, among all the royal families of Europe, but all his
attempts turned out to be fruitless, in spite of the extraordinary quality
of the diamond. Eventually an Indian Maharajah accompanied by an English
cotton merchant from Bombay, visited London in 1863, with the specific
purpose of purchasing the renowned diamond, having heard glorified accounts
of the flawless diamond while in India. The Maharajah was highly impressed
by the diamond but was not able to purchase it, as the price quoted for the
diamond, £ 40,000, was beyond his means. The English merchant who
accompanied the Maharajah was equally impressed by the diamond, and
expressed a desire to own it if ever his financial situation improves.
Within an year of making this statement, almost miraculously his financial
position did improve, due to the windfall profits realized by the boom in
world cotton prices as a result of the outbreak of the great war of
secession in the United States, also known as the American civil war. The
English cotton merchant immediately got in touch with Mr. Dresden with a
view of purchasing the diamond as promised, and entrusted a middleman to
effect the purchase. It is reported that the middleman played a double game
in executing the transaction, slashing the price of the diamond to £ 32,000,
without the knowledge of the buyer, by raising the issue of authenticity of
the diamond, and it's exorbitant price and informing the seller that the
buyer had actually offered only £ 32,000 for the diamond. Having
successfully convinced the seller to part with his diamond, for the reduced
amount, he reached Bombay, and informed the buyer that he had successfully
effected the transaction for the previously agreed amount of £ 40,000, as
the seller was not agreeable to any price reduction. The middleman thus
coolly pocketed £ 8,000 from this transaction.
The cotton merchant it is said was not able to enjoy the
ownership of the priceless gem for long, as he got into financial
difficulties again with the crash in the cotton prices, which eventually led
to his untimely death, and the executors of his estate disposed of the
diamond, which was purchased by the Gaekwar of Baroda, Mulhar Rao, who had
previously purchased the "Star of the South" diamond. The Gaekwar of Baroda
got the English Dresden diamond mounted on a special necklace together with
the "Star of the South" diamond in 1880. Later in 1948 the necklace was
modified by adding more diamonds, and the Maharani of Baroda Sita Devi was
photographed wearing the modified version at her husbands birthday party.
The present whereabouts of the diamond are unknown.
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