Tavernier Blue
The Tavernier Blue was the precursor diamond to the Blue Diamond of the French Crown (aka the French Blue). Subsequently, most scholars and historians believed that it was re-cut and, after a disappearance and reemergence into the public forum, was renamed the Hope Diamond.[1][2]
In December 2007, the French mineralogy professor François Farges found in the reserves of the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle the lead model of the Tavernier Blue. This model came around 1850, and was given by the Parisian jeweller Charles Achard, who explained that Henry Philip Hope was the owner of the original stone. Moreover, the size of the model definitively proved that the Tavernier Blue was bigger that the Hope. This latest pieces of evidence proved that the widely held suspicions about the origin of the Hope Diamond were correct.
Diamond details[edit]
Weighing 112 3/16 old French carats,[3][a] the crudely finished gem was described by the French gem dealer Jean-Baptiste Tavernier as being "violet" in color.[b] and of perfect clarity. It is believed to have been a Type IIb diamond.[3]
The diamond was certainly Indian in origin and likely sourced by Tavernier in 1666[4] at the Kollur mine in the Guntur district, Andhra Pradesh. The stone, only slightly finished at this time, was eventually cut to present a more diamond-like appearance, in 1775.[5]
Possible remnants[edit]
Another large blue diamond believed to have been taken from the Tavernier was originally set in a ring for Empress Maria Feodorovna, wife of Russian Emperor Paul I. It was given to the State Diamond Fund in 1860 by her daughter-in-law, the Empress Alexandra Feodorovna. Later, it was mounted into a stick pin. The 7.6-carat stone is preserved in the collection of the Alexander Palace in Tsarskoye Selo, near St Petersburg. The Russian stone's provenance as part of the Tavernier Blue is disputed.[7]
Research into the origin of the Hope diamond and the Crown blue diamond[edit]
Research in France and the United States[edit]
A great deal of research has been carried out to determine whether the Hope Diamond was actually cut from the Crown Blue Diamond in order to conceal its French origin.[8] As early as 1856, the jeweller Charles Barbot compared the two diamonds by consulting the work of the historian Germain Bapst, which contained the only known representation of the blue diamond at the time (two imprecise engravings by Lucien Hirtz, depicting the actual size of the jewel on both sides).[9] However, the Hope diamond does not ‘fit’ completely into the blue diamond. In his anthology of the Jewels of the French Crown, historian Bernard Morel attempts to reconstruct this diamond on the basis of these two engravings by Baptiste Morel. He assumes that these two engravings are approximate and has slightly but significantly stretched Hirtz's drawing of the blue diamond to Brisson's dimensions so that it can contain the Hope diamond.
Recent American studies showing that the Hope was ‘undoubtedly’ cut from the Crown Blue Diamond[8] are therefore subject to Brisson's intrinsic errors. Kurin in 2006 points out that these inaccuracies suggest that a reliable model of the Crown Blue Diamond needs to be known in order to definitively settle this question.
Externalink link[edit]
Media related to Tavernier Blue at Wikimedia Commons