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Famous Diamonds in the World The Briolette of India Diamond
The Briolette of India Diamond
Origin of name
The name Briolette of India appears to highlight both the unique shape of the diamond and a form of rose-cut, which was a popular shape/cut for diamonds in the ancient times, as well as the country of origin of the diamond.
Characteristics of the stone
The Briolette of India is a D-color (colorless) diamond weighs upto 90.38 carats and cut in the shape of a briolette, also identified as a double-rose cut. The clarity of the stone is mysterious, but possibly, excellent if the ancient Indian origins of the stone is acknowledged.
If the diamond is D-color, it should be a Type IIa diamond, which is recognized as the "purest of the pure" of all diamonds. Type IIa diamonds are chemically pure and structurally wonderful diamonds. Hence two factors that normally reason color in diamonds are absent in Type IIa diamonds. They are, lack of chemical impurities, such as nitrogen, boron and hydrogen and absence of any plastic deformations in the crystal. Though, Type IIa diamonds represent only about 1-2 % of all naturally occurring diamonds.
History of the diamond
Early History
The "Briolette of India" is a chronological diamond, and maybe the oldest diamond on record in the world, still older than the well-known Koh-i-Noor diamond. The stone dates backside to the time of the movements between 1122 and 1200. The documentation history of the Koh-i-Noor diamond commenced only after the year 1295, according to the "Baburnama" (memoirs of Babur) printed by Emperor Babur himself, the earliest of the great Mogul Emperors of India.
The diamond was initially reported to have been obtained by Eleanor of Aquitaine, the Queen wife of King Louis VII of France, almost certainly between 1137, the year when her father passeding away and her marriage to Louis, the inheritor to the French throne, and 1152, the year King Louis VII separated her for misconduct. Eleanor was the daughter of William X, the duke of Aquitaine, whose area was bigger than that of the French King himself. Eleanor innated the Duchy of Aquitaine following her father's death in 1137, and in July 1137 married Louis, the successor to the French throne, who thrived his father Louis VI, in August 1137, as King of France. Eleanor attended her husband Louis, on the second crusade, between 1147 to 1149, to guard the Kingdom of Jerusalem, from Turkish attack. After the termination of their marriage in 1152, Eleanor recovered back her control of Aquitaine and two months later on married Henry Plantagenet, the Duke of Normandy, who was the grandson of Henry I of England. In 1154, Henry Plantagenet succeeded his grandfather, as King Henry II of England, and Eleanor turned out to be the Queen of England. To King Henry II, Eleanor turns off five sons and three daughters.
When Henry II expired in 1189, he was succeeded by his third son Richard, who later on came to be known as Richard the Lion Heart. King Richard I is thought to have carried with him the Briolette of India, when he took part in the third battle that lasted from 1189 to 1192.After Richard I, the diamond departed for over three centuries, and re-emerge again only in the late 16th century, during the supremacy of King Henry II of France (1547-59), whose Queen ensemble was Catherine de Medicis. Henry had a mistress by the name of Diana de Poitiers, to whom he was closely attached.
Modern History
The stone again vanished for four centuries, and come back only in 1950. This time the stone was attained by Harry Winston, the New York jeweler, who procured it from an Indian Maharajah. Harry Winston sold it to Mrs. I. W. Killam, but purchased it back when she died 10 years shortly. In the year 1970, Mr. Harry Winston showed the stone at the diamond dinner planned for American fashion editors. According to Christie's website the Briolette of India was purchased and sold by Harry Winston three times connecting 1946 and 1971. It is presently believed to be in the group of an upper-class European family.
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