The Tereschenko diamond gets it's name from the one time
owners of the diamond , the famous Tereschenko family of Russia, who were
industrialists, entrepreneurs and philanthropists, in pre-communist
Russia. The family owned several sugar factories around the country, and
were also major land owners during this period.
Characteristics of the
diamond
The diamond is a 42.92-carat,fancy blue, pear-shaped
stone, and it is the second largest fancy blue diamond in the world, after
the Hope diamond, which weighs 45.52 carats. The current estimated
value of the stone is over $ 20 million.
Early history
The country and mine of origin of the diamond , the year
and date of origin, characteristics of the rough stone, including it's
weight, the original owners of the diamond, the name of the cutters of the
diamond, the place or country where the diamond was cut, etc are not known.
But, it is on record that the diamond had been with the Tereschenko family
at the beginning of the 20th century.
Based on the information available, there are two mines
in the world where this rare blue diamond could possibly have originated.
They are the Kollur mines east of Golconda, and the Premier diamond mines in
Transvaal, South Africa, two world renowned mines that were the source of
exceptional quality rare blue diamonds over the years. The Premier diamond
mine went into production in 1902, and there are no records of any rare blue
diamond being produced in this mine in the early 20th century. Therefore the
origin of the diamond was probably in the Kollur mines, near Golconda in
Andhra Pradesh, Southern India. If one accepts Kollur as the possible
source, the diamond might have originated any time after the mid 16th
century, when the Kollur mines came into full production. In the mid 17th
century when Tavernier visited Golconda, he observed that over 20 mines in
Kollur were in active production, employing over 60,000 people.
Assuming that the diamond originated in Kollur either in
the 16th or 17th centuries, there are three possible routes the diamond
could have taken in its journey to the west. The diamond could have been
purchased at the source by a diamond dealer of western origin like
Tavernier, and it is on record that there were many such enterprising
European dealers who were combing the mines of the eastern Deccan plateau at
that time.
A second possibility was that the diamond was
purchased by a Persian dealer operating from Golconda at that time. The
Golconda kingdom of the Qutub Shahi dynasty (1518-1687), had close
diplomatic, trade and religious ties with Persia (Iran). The Sultans of the
kingdom were Shiite Muslims like the Iranians. A substantial quantity of
gold and diamonds for which Golconda was famous eventually ended up in the
treasury of the Persian Shahs. Even the Tereschenko might have first gone to
Persia and from there found it's way to the west.
A third possibility was that the diamond took the usual
northwards route and ended up in the court of the Mughal Emperors from where
it subsequently found it's way to the west like many other famous and
historic diamonds.
In any case details of names of any intermediate owners
of the diamond before it came into the possession of the Tereschenko family
are conspicuously lacking. Even the person from whom the Tereschenko family
acquired the stone or when it was actually acquired are not known.
Later history
The Tereschenkos were a very rich family in pre-communist
Russia. They were landowners and industrialists. They owned several sugar
factories in Russia. One of the members Mikhail Ivanovich Tereschenko, who
was an industrialist as well as the owner of a publishing house in St.
Petersburg, became a member of the Fourth State Duma, in the period before
the revolution. Between 1915-1917, Mikhail Tereschenko was the chairman of
the Military Industry Committee in the Kiev district and deputy chairman of
the All-Russian Military Industry Committee. At the beginning of the
revolution in February 1917, which overthrew the Monarchy, Tereschenko was
appointed Minister of Finance of the Provisional Government. He was
one of those actively involved in trying to bring the socialists into the
government by forming an inter-party coalition. In May 1917, he was
appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs, and was responsible for Russia
continuing to play an active role in world war I, as a member of the allied
forces ,which included France, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, and later the
United States. However, after the October revolution in which the Bolshevik
Party seized power, Tereschenko was arrested with all other ministers of the
Provisional Government, and detained at the Peter and Paul Fortress.
In the spring of 1918 he escaped from prison and fled to
Norway and then France. Four years before the revolution of 1917, Mikhail
Tereschenko, had deposited the diamond with Cartiers in Paris. In 1915 he
instructed Cartiers to remount the gem as the centerpiece in a necklace,
containing a variety of fancy colored diamonds. This necklace eventually
became famous as one of the most unique and beautiful creations in fancy
colored diamonds, for the 20th century. The necklace combined 46 diamonds of
various shapes such as round, pear, marquise, and heart-shape, ranging in
weight from 0.13 to 2.88 carats, and a variety of colors such as green,
blue, lilac, rose, gold and yellow. Fortunately in 1916, on the eve of the
Russian Revolution, the Tereschenko diamond was secretly taken out of
Russia. Subsequently Mikhail Tereschenko sold the diamond to an
anonymous buyer, when he was living in exile in Paris.
Last transaction and
present owners of the diamond
After 1918, the Tereschenko diamond re-surfaced again
only in 1984, when Christie's of Geneva announced the auction of the
diamond. Before the auction at the request of several diamond dealers the
diamond was sent to the G.I.A. laboratory in New York for grading and
certification, and was later returned with the necessary documents.
The auction was held on November 14th 1984, at the
ballroom of the Hotel Richmond in Geneva. All the famous names in the
industry were in attendance, and the bidding process started at 3 million
Swiss francs. In less than a minute the bidding reached 6.5 million Swiss
francs, far in excess of Christie's most optimistic estimate. Finally the
auctioneer brought down the hammer in favor of a bidder from the back rows
of the room, who shouted 10 million Swiss francs. this bidder was none other
than the world renowned Lebanese diamond dealer Robert Mouawad, head of the
international jewelry empire , Mouawad Jewelers, who had become a
significant player at international diamond auctions. The Tereschenko was
added to his magnificent collection of famous and historic diamonds.
After the acquisition of the diamond by Robert Mouawad it
appears that the name Tereschenko has now been changed to Mouawad Blue, as
the name Tereschenko does not appear in the diamond Gallery of the Mouawad
website. Instead the same 42.92 carat pear-shaped fancy blue diamond appears
under the name Mouawad blue. The website gives the estimated value of the
stone as $ 20 million.
List of famous blue
diamonds
|
S/N |
Name |
carat weight |
color |
|
1 |
Hope diamond |
45.52 |
fancy dark grayish blue |
|
2 |
Tereschenko |
42.92 |
fancy blue |
|
3 |
Wittelsbach |
35.56 |
fancy intense blue |
|
4 |
Sultan of Morocco |
35.27 |
fancy grayish blue |
|
5 |
The Blue Heart |
30.82 |
fancy intense blue |
|
6 |
The Heart of Eternity |
27.64 |
fancy vivid blue |
|
7 |
Transvaal Blue |
25.00 |
unknown color grade |
|
8 |
The Blue Empress |
14.00 |
unknown color grade |
|
9 |
The Blue Magic |
12.02 |
fancy vivid blue |
|
10 |
Graff Blue |
6.19 |
fancy blue |
Chemistry of blue
diamonds
Nitrogen is a common impurity in the crystal structure of
diamonds, and depending on the concentration of Nitrogen in the crystal
structure, diamonds are divided into two main types.
Type 1- contain detectable quantities of Nitrogen in the
crystal structure, usually les than 0.1 %. Nitrogen usually imparts a yellow
color to diamonds .
Type 11-do not contain detectable quantities of
Nitrogen, and the diamonds are usually colorless. Type 11 diamonds are
further sub-divided into two.
Type 11a-do not contain detectable amounts of Nitrogen.
Being pure the diamonds are absolutely colorless. 1-2 % of all natural
diamonds are Type 11a.
Sometimes Type 11a diamonds can have structural anomalies
due to plastic deformation, caused at the time of formation in the earth's
mantle, or as the diamonds rose up to the earth's surface. Such deformations
give rise to colors such as pink, red, purple, and brown.
Type 11b- do not contain detectable amounts of Nitrogen,
but contain trace amounts of another impurity Boron, which imparts a blue
color to the diamonds. The diamonds also becomes electrically conducting.
Such diamonds are less than 0.1 % of all naturally occurring diamonds.
Thus the Tereschenko is a Type 11 b diamond ; so are the
other diamonds in the above list. Blue diamonds are extremely rare because
only 0.1 % of all naturally occurring diamonds have this color.
Some colorless diamonds show a light bluish tint. This
effect is caused by fluorescence. Eg:- Regent diamond, Queen of Holland
diamond. Colorless diamonds that fluoresce intense blue under UV light, may
show a bluish tint even in normal bright daylight that is rich
in UV wave lengths. A good example of such a stone is the Portuguese
diamond. It is for this reason that the Regent diamond, the Queen of Holland
and the Portuguese diamond are not included in the above list. These
are actually D-color diamonds that show a bluish tint due to fluorescence.
The true blue diamonds are all type 11b diamonds.
