Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1877-07-19
THE BIGGEST OF DIAMONDS.
One Stone Valued at 5000, 900, 0OO--.
How Diamonds are Injured by Cat
ting,

1t Is not very easy to make out which
is the largest diamond now in existence.
Two are mentioned as entitled to the
hOnor-the Braganza, in the crown of
Portugal, and one which belongs to the
rajah of NATHAN in BorneO. The Portu-
guese jewel is Of doubtful quality. 1t
weighs 1850 carats, and is the size of
hens egg but is believed to be only
white topaz. The Portuguese govern
ment withhold any information on the
subject, but if it is genuine it is worth
nearly $500, 100000 The BOrneo gem
was found on the island about one hun
bred and twenty years ago, and weighs
367 carats. A governor of Batavia is
said to have offered $4,000 and two
men-of-war for it without success, and
though many battles have been fought
over it, the rajah regards it as a tabs
man, and it is still III possession of the
same family. The Orloff diamond in
the Russian imperial sceptre weighs 1915
carats =; Catharine II, gave $450000 for
it, and pensiOned the merchant who
brought it to her at $4,000 year 1t
is not cut to advantage, and another
among the Russian crown Jewels, which
weighs Sc carats, is but partly cut. Ii
is easy to understand reluctance to
have diamonds cut. The advantages Of
cutting are not always very plain, while
the enormous diminutiOn of weight
which commonly ensues affects the pub
lie estimation more than the increase of
brilliancy. The famous diamond which
the Regent Orleans bought from Gov.
Pitt for $4,000 formerly weighed 40
carats, but was reduced by cutting to
1863. The duke of Westminster has
one which was reduced by cutting from
80 to IS carats. But the most promi-
nent example of the kind is afforded by
the recent history of the Kon-i-nOOr.
rived in England, and lost so by cutting
in 1851. Why it was cut at all nobody
seems very well able to say, and COM
petent judges deny that its brilliancy has
been increased to such an extent as to
make up for the loss. Sir David Brew
ster warned Prince Albert of the inn
possibility of improving the lustre with
out serious diminution of weight but
foreign diamond merchant thought
differently, and, as is usual in England,
any opinion on matters of the kind is
taken before that of a native. The vul-
garty OF taste which only admlreS regu-
larity has deprived the world Of many
great diamonds, and we shall probably
have to wait long before it is universally
acknowledged that symmetry is not alb
solutely necessary to beauty. The an
Gent Tegalia of the Visigothic kings in
the Hotel Cluny, the so-called sword of
Charlemagne in the Louvre, the ruby in
the English crown at the Tower, are not
less beautiful because they look little
rough. The great jewel wearers and
collectors, the rajahs of India, seldom
have their diamonds cut into regular
forms, and the Kon-i-noor was no ex-
ception. Its history may be traced for
nearly 1000 years, and it seems that at
some remote period it weighed 1888
carats but that Shah Jehan had it cut
by Venetian in his service, who CON
trived to reduce it to the 1S6 which il
weighed when it reached England