Origin of name
This rare blue diamond of Indian origin that has a
recorded history dating back from the late 17th century, eventually came
into the possession of the Wittelsbach family in 1722, the German noble
family that provided rulers of Bavaria and of the Rhenish Palatinate until
the 20th century. Bavaria was ruled for over 700 years by Dukes of the
Wittelsbach family, from 1180 to 1918. The name Wittelsbach was taken from
the Castle of Wittelsbach, which became the official residence of the Dukes
of Bavaria. The diamond gets its name from the Wittelsbach family, in whose
possession it remained as a family diamond until the abdication of the last
king in 1918.
Characteristics of the
diamond
The Wittelsbach is a 35.56-carat, cushion-cut, dark blue
diamond of unknown color and clarity grades. But, going by the descriptions
and photographs of the diamond it may qualify for a fancy intense blue color
grade. The diamond is also said to be pure apart from a few surface
scratches. There are 82 facets on the diamond. The main facets on the crown
are vertically split and the pavilion has 16 needle like facets arranged in
pairs and radiating from the culet.
The Wittelsbach is the 3rd largest of the known famous
blue diamonds in the world. See table below.
It is interesting to note that the first four diamonds in
the list below are all historic diamonds of Indian origin, the original
source of blue diamonds in the world. The remaining diamonds in the list are
all of South African origin.
The main source of blue diamonds in India, was the famous
Kollur mines near Golconda, in Andhra Pradesh, in Southern India. The main
source of blue diamonds in South Africa, is the De Beers Premier mines, in
Transvaal, South Africa.
Another fact that emerges from the table is the
restricted size of blue diamonds. All the diamonds in the list are below 50
carats in weight. In comparison yellow diamonds and colorless diamonds which
are more predominant in nature have much larger carat weights. Eg. The 1st,
2nd, and 3rd largest colorless diamonds in the world the Cullinan I,
Cullinan II, and the Centenary, have weights of 530.20 carats, 317.40 carats
and 273.85 carats respectively. Likewise, the 1st, 2nd and 3rd largest
yellow diamonds in the world, the Incomparable, the De Beers, and the Red
Cross diamonds have weights of 407.48 carats, 234.65 carats, and 205.07
carats respectively. Thus it appears that in blue diamonds the rarity of the
color is combined with the restricted size of the diamonds
List of famous blue
diamonds in the world
|
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 |
Being a blue diamond the Wittelsbach is a rare Type IIb
diamond, which constitute only 0.1 % of all naturally occurring diamonds.
Blue diamonds are Type II because they are nitrogen-free or contain
undetectable quantities of nitrogen. They are Type IIb, because instead of
nitrogen they contain trace quantities of another impurity boron, which
imparts the blue color to the diamonds. Another feature of blue
diamonds is, that unlike other diamonds which are non-conductors of
electricity, blue diamonds are semi-conductors.
Early history
The first record of the Wittelsbach diamond's existence
in Europe was in the latter part of the 17th century. This clearly indicates
that the diamond is of Indian origin, as around this time, the only source
of blue diamonds in the world was the Kollur mines, near Golconda, in
Southern India. In fact when Tavernier, visited Golconda in the mid-17th
century, the Kollur mines were in active production, and more than 20 mines
were being worked employing over 60,000 people.
It has been suggested that the Wittlesbach diamond might
have probably originated from Tavernier's 112.5-carat French Blue
Diamond, which he acquired from India and later sod to King Louis XIV of
France. But, this is highly improbable according to the chronology of events
affecting the two diamonds. The first recorded appearance of the Wittlesbach
diamond was in 1666, when King Philip IV of Spain gave it as part of the
dowry for his daughter's wedding to Leopold I of Austria. The 112.5-carat
Tavernier blue or French Blue diamond on the other hand was purchased
by King Louis XIV, at least two years after this in 1668. This clearly shows
that the two diamonds had their own independent origins, and there was no
way that the Wittelsbach diamond that preceded the French Blue diamond by
two years could have originated from the latter. Moreover the 112.5-carat
French Blue rough diamond, was cut by Sieur Pitau into a triangular
pear-shaped brilliant weighing 67.50 carats. To suggest that the same rough
diamond would have produced another perfect blue diamond of 35.56
carats is technically impossible, given the fact that at least a 40-50 %
loss of weight is inevitable in the processing of any rough stone.
The history of the Wittelsbach diamond is not as eventful
as its more famous cousin the Hope diamond, which also originated almost
during the same period. The Hope diamond had a notorious career in history,
apparently bringing misfortune and sometimes death to the owners or persons associated
with the owners of the diamond, which was attributed to a purported curse
placed on the diamond by the Hindu priests of a temple in southern India
from where the diamond was stolen. The Hope diamond would have been more
appropriately christened the "diamond of despair" for all the mischief it is
believed to have caused along the course of its long history.
The Wittelsbach on the other hand was a clean diamond
with legitimate origins, and its course in history was as smooth as its
origin. The first time we hear of the Wittlesbach diamond was in 1666, when
the rare blue diamond formed part of the wedding gift given by King Philip
IV of Spain to his daughter Margarita Teresa on the occasion of her marriage
to Emperor Leopold I of Austria, who was also elected Holy Roman Emperor.
Besides the large blue diamond, the dowry also included jewelry and other
precious stones acquired from India and Portugal. The marriage however
lasted only for seven years, and ended with the untimely death of Margarita
Teresa in 1673. Leopold I also fell dangerously ill in 1670, but recovered
miraculously and in 1673, after the death of Margarita Teresa, married
Claudia Felicitas from the Tirolian branch of the Austrian Hapsburgs. In
1676, Emperor Leopold solemnized his third marriage to Eleanor Magdalena
daughter of the elector of Palatinate. This marriage turned out to be a
happy union and produced 10 children, among them the future Emperors Joseph
I and Charles VI.
With the death of Margarita Teresa in 1673, the ownership
of her jewelry passed to her husband, and in a document dated March 23rd,
1673, the Wittlesbach diamond is listed as a diamond ornament in the form of
a large brooch, with a great blue diamond in the center. Leopold I gifted
all jewelry belonging to Margarita Teresa, to his third wife and Queen
consort Eleanor Magdalena, which included the Wittlesbach diamond brooch.
Leopold I died in 1705 and was succeeded by his eldest son Joseph I, who
also died suddenly in 1711, and was succeeded by his brother Charles VI. Empress
Eleanor Magdalena lived up to the year 1720, and before dying had bequeathed
the great blue diamond to her granddaughter, Archduchess Maria Amelia,
daughter of Emperor Joseph I.
Archduchess Maria Amelia married the Bavarian Crown
Prince Charles Albert in 1722, who succeeded to the Bavarian throne in 1726
and remained king and elector of Bavaria until his death in 1745. He was
also elected Holy Roman Emperor, as Charles VII in 1742, with the help of
France and Prussia, during the war of Austrian succession, in opposition to
Maria Theresa's husband, Francis Stephen, the grand duke of Tuscany. After
Maria Amelia's marriage to Charles Albert, the great blue diamond became the
family diamond of the House of Bavaria, and came to be known as the
Wittelsbach diamond. The Wittlesbach diamond was the most expensive item of
jewelry among other items in Maria Amelia's dowry, and had a estimated value
of 240.000 guilders at the time of her marriage. It is reported that not
long after Crown Prince Charles Albert married Archduchess Maria Emelia, his
father Maximillian Emmanuel, the elector of Bavaria, got into dire financial
straits and was forced to borrow money from a banker named Oppenheimer, by
pledging the Wittlesbach diamond and other valuables. The diamond was later
redeemed by Charles Albert after the death of his father.
Charles Albert had a special affection for the
Wittlesbach diamond and had its setting changed several times, each time
going in for a more beautiful setting, than the previous one. But the most
extravagant of all these settings was the one designed and executed by a
Munich jeweler, who was commissioned for the job by Charles Albert's
successor Maximillian III, and consisted of 700 diamonds. This was a golden
fleece ornament which apart from the gold ram consisted of two sections. The
centerpiece of the upper part was the Wittelsbach diamond, surrounded by
smaller cushion-cut white brilliants, and an outer intricate floral pattern
consisting of white diamonds of various shapes and sizes. The centerpiece of
the lower part was a cushion-shaped pinkish-brown brilliant with three rows
of large white diamonds radiating horizontally from it on either side with
several rows of smaller white diamonds in between them.
Modern history
The Bavarian kingdom was abolished in 1918, when Bavaria
became a republic, after the socialist revolution organized by Eisner Kurt,
a journalist and socialist politician, that overthrew the monarchy. Eisner
became the first prime minister and minister of foreign affairs of the new
republic. The last in line of a long succession of Bavarian Dukes who ruled
for over 700 years, was Louis III. After his abdication in 1918 Louis III,
retired to a private life in his estate in Hungary, where he died in 1921.
His funeral ceremony in Munich, was the last occasion the Wittelsbach
diamond accompanied a monarch to his final place of rest.
After the abolition of the Monarchy in 1918, the
possessions of the former house of Wittelsbach were placed under the control
of an equalization fund. Members of the royal family received an indemnity
from the state but this was hardly enough for their survival. Soon they were
reduced to a state of penury. In order to relieve their suffering the State
agreed in 1931 that certain jewels of the House of Wittelsbach could be
sold, and accordingly Christie's of London were assigned the task of
auctioning the Bavarian Crown jewels. The auction was held in December 1931
and comprised of 13 lots. Bidding for the first lot that included the
Wittelsbach diamond started at £ 3,000 and was knocked down to a purchaser
by the name of Thorpe for £ 5,400. From then onwards the Wittelsbach diamond
vanished without any trace.
According to one version of its disappearance the
Whittelsbach diamond was not sold at the auction held by Christie's, but was
subsequently sold illegally through a Munich jeweler in 1932. Research
also had shown that whoever was in the possession of the rare and historic
diamond had sold it in Belgium in 1951 and again in 1955. Later in 1958 the
Wittelsbach diamond appears to have been displayed at the Brussels World
Exhibition together with other jewelry, but none of the millions of visitors
who may have seen the diamond were aware that it was the missing Wittelsbach
diamond. Finally the Wittelsbach diamond was re-discovered in 1962, almost
three decades after its disappearance, thanks to the vigilance of a leading
Belgian diamond dealer Joseph Komkommer, who received a phone call in
January 1962, requesting him to look at an old mine-cut diamond, with a view
of re-cutting it. When he received the package containing the diamond in his
office, he opened it, and to his amazement he discovered that the diamond
was an old mine-cut, rare, dark blue diamond. He immediately recognized its
rarity and possible historic significance, and was of the opinion that
re-cutting it would be tantamount to sacrilege. With a lot of painstaking
research and investigation, assisted by his son Jacques, Joseph Komkommer
was able to identify the diamond positively as the long lost Wittelsbach
diamond, formerly owned by the royal family of Bavaria. Mr. Joseph swung
into action, and instead of re-cutting the diamond, initiated negotiations
with the owners, the trustees of an unidentified estate, for its purchase.
He formed a syndicate of diamond buyers from Belgium and USA, and purchased
the diamond, which was valued at £ 180,000. The Wittlesbach diamond
was finally sold to an anonymous private collector in 1964.
