Category Archives: The French Blue diamond

"Mystery of The Hope Diamond" or Smithsonian goes Hollywood!

The 45.52 carat Hope Diamond

by Richard W. Wise, G.G.

I just watched the Smithsonian Institution’s new program “Mystery Of The Hope Diamond.” It was presented on the Smithsonian Channel Saturday night but can also be viewed online. The presentation focused on two topics; the curse and the gem’s phosphorescence.

That the “curse” was a marketing ploy, invented by Pierre Cartier in 1910, to sell the diamond to Evelyn Walsh McLean has been well documented. According to the legend, the stone brought disaster to all who owned it. Jean Baptiste Tavernier, the man who brought the diamond from India was supposedly torn apart by wild dogs when in truth he died of old age in Moscow. That such a story would tempt the young socialite to defy the curse and purchase the stone, says a great deal about the reckless hubris of nouveau riche Americans of the Gilded Age. It does not answer the question as to why the Smithsonian spent so much time rehashing this discredited old saw.

It seems to me that more recent events, in particular, the discovery in 2007 of the lead replica of The French Blue, a 68 carat diamond owned by the French Crown, stolen in 1792 is far more significant. Subsequent computer modeling based on the replica established without doubt that the Hope had been cut from this purloined stone. That news was given about fifteen seconds and neither Francois Farge, the discoverer nor Scott Sucher, the modeler received a mention.

This was dictated, I am sure, by political considerations along with the rehashing of Richard Kurin’s totally undocumented thesis that the stolen diamond had been purchased by King George IV—a label found with the rediscovered lead model strongly suggests that the French Blue was in the possession of Henry Phillip Hope before it was recut. Oh well, if Hollywood, not to mention Pierre Cartier, has taught us anything it is that to win a mass audience, it is necessary to titillate and legends and curses no matter how far fetched, are far sexier than history.

The Mystery of The Hope Diamond was narrated by Kim Bassinger, who unfortunately did not appear. It featured some interesting antique footage of McLean along with excellent descriptions of the genesis of diamonds, some great footage of India and a very interesting description of the Hope’s phosphorescence. I particularly enjoyed the footage showing the fabrication of the Hope’s new setting by the Harry Winston Company. the Smithsonian’s curator, Dr. Jeff Post did a good job of explaining a number of technical points. It is available on the Smithsonian website and is altogether well worth spending an hour viewing.

Tavernier, Later Travels & Peter The Great

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By Richard W. Wise, G.G.

Jean Baptiste Tavernier was one of the most prolific travelers and most remarkable men of the 17th Century. His adventures span forty years and 180,000 miles. My historical novel, The French Blue, tells the story of his life and adventures up until the sale of the Great Blue Diamond to Louis XIV, the Sun King of France. Though Tavernier lived to the age of eight four, we know little of the later life of after his ennoblement in 1669. For roughly a quarter of the price he received for the blue diamond, 36,750 ounces of gold, purchased the Chateau Aubonne just outside of Bern in what was then the Duchy of Savoy and with it the barony in 1670.

Chateau Aubonne with tower added by Jean Baptiste Tavernier

The next we hear of him is in 1684 in Berlin as a guest of Fredrick William of Brandenburg. The Elector, anxious to equip his own East Indian venture, offers Tavernier an ambassadorship to India and appoints him Chamberlain and Counselor of his soon to be created Navy. After six weeks in Berlin, he visits several towns in Germany and Holland and returns to Aubonne in November.

In January 1985, Tavernier, now 80 years old, sells his Barony to the Marquis Henry du Quesne for 168,000 livres, approximately three times the purchase price. Ball suggests that he did this to raise money for the Brandenburg venture. This may be true but I believe that the canny old adventurer had his nose in the wind and knew that as a Protestant his time was up in France.

Victor Amadeus, Duke of Savoy was the son in law of Louis XIV. Louis issued The Edict of Fontainebleau in October effectively declaring Protestantism to be illegal. This was shortly followed by the Verification of Nobility, a decree that revoked the titles on non-catholic aristocrats. At first the Duke was reluctant to honor Louis decrees but caved in once his father in law threatened to send an army to invade the duchy.

By 1686 it was clear that The Elector’s East Indian venture had come to naught. Tavernier once again begins traveling. In 1687 he is in Switzerland and he arrives in Copenhagen sometime in 1687 or 1688.

According to information uncovered by Tavernier’s biographer Charles Joret, Tavernier now age 83 commences a seventh voyage to the Indies. Joret produces a fragment of an article published in a Danish journal by Frederick Rostgaard who states that he interviewed the aging adventurer who told him of his intention to travel to Persia via Moscow. (Joret p.384).

Fredrick William of Brandenburg

On February 6, 1689, Tavernier received a passport signed by First minister Prince Vasily Gallitzin to enter Russia and to proceed from Smolensk to Moscow. Tavernier was required to report to the Bureau of Foreign Affairs once he reached the Russian capital.

The Russian Orthodox Church was rabidly anti-West and sought to curtail the influence of foreigners. In 1652 Czar Alexis decreed that all foreign nationals living in Moscow were forbidden to live or build churches within the city. They were required to reside in an area known as the German Suburb (Nemetskaya Sloboda). This quarter was located three miles northwest of the city along the Yauza river. The quarter was laid out European style with Dutch, French and English buildings including several Protestant churches. The quarter housed over 3,000 people and it is known that a number of French Huguenots (Tavernier’s co-coreligionists), fleeing the new wave of persecution in France, had taken up residence in the suburb (Massie, p.111). It is reasonable to assume that Tavernier would have been required to live in this quarter during his sojourn in Moscow.

In his biography of the French gem merchant, Charles Joret cites a letter written in 1876 by an M. I. Tokmakof claiming to have discovered Tavernier’s headstone in an old protestant cemetery in Moscow. Given the Czar’s decree it is reasonable to assume that this cemetery was located in the Nemetskaya Sloboda. Since all Protestant churches were located in the German Suburb, this provides some direct evidence that Tavernier did reside in the quarter. The headstone was intact except that the last two letters of the date had been obliterated leaving us with no exact knowledge as to the date of Tavernier’s death.

During his youth, Peter the Great befriended the British General, Patrick Gordon and several other foreigners and spent a great deal of his time in the German Suburb. This raises the interesting question of whether or not Tavernier met Peter. In his early youth, the young czar’s spiritual advisor, Patriarch Joachim, a fiercely anti-Western Orthodox cleric, controlled his access to the foreign quarter, but, according to historian Robert K. Massie (Peter The Great 1980), after the Patriarch’s sudden death on March 7, 1689, “Peter’s visits became so frequent that he seemed almost to live there.” (Massie, p.112)

Russian Czar Peter the Great as a young man

As to a meeting between Jean Baptiste Tavernier and the future Peter the Great, it is interesting to speculate. The precocious young Czar was extremely curious about foreign lands. Tavernier was a celebrated traveler and a famous man and the evidence strongly suggests that he was in residence in the German Suburb in March of 1689. It is difficult to believe that the young Peter would not have sought him out. According to Joret, Tavernier died in Moscow sometime in 1689 at the age of 84.

Notes:

Translation of letter by Dr. Lawrence Blumentrost to Prince Gallitzin (Joret Appendix p. 404), translation mine.

To Vasily Vasilyevich (Gallitzin), first Minister to their Royal Highness(s) Your Excellency, He, the noted merchant Baron Tavernier who lives in Bern, Switzerland has just arrived from the abroad in Smolensk from Stockholm with a pass port of the King of Sweden. He wishes to travel through the Persian Empire on business he asks me a letter from him to get a free pass to go to Moscow as this man is great friend of mine and I’m quite in touch with him I have a pressing need that it comes. For this reason here I humbly ask you not only his name but in my own name by any power that you possess because of our sovereign serene and kindly get him a free passage for him and all his luggage and send this Indeed a letter to Voyevoda (official??), Smolensk. It will be a new benefit (favor) added to the many benefits from your grace that I shall never cease to be grateful for your Excellency’s time.

Your humble servant, Dr Lawrence Bliimentrost.

The Reply and order:

From our Majesties the tsars the August princes Jean Pierre Alexeyevich Alexeyevich and Orthodox by His Majesty the Empress and Princess Sophia August Alexeyevna autocrat of all the Russians, Alexeyevich Ivan , Musin Pushkin and our commander in Smolensk Voyevoda in our empire and its designees to know it was reported to our Majesties that Baron Taverier arrived a Smolensk from the Swedish border with a passport from His Majesty, the King of Sweden. however, do not leave from Smolensk to Moscow ukase without an order of our Majesties But when this order from of our Majesties arrives, give the order without delay to send this stranger to Moscow. Send a report to our Majesties and give him a copy of your authority and also order the alien to appear in our August chancery offices to the Keeper of the Great Seal of the Empire and Director of Foreign Affairs of our Majesties Governor and boyar of Novgorod Prince Vasily Vasilyevich well as before and the boyar Prince Alexei Vasilyevich Gallitzin or their delegates Done in Moscow the year 7197 (1689) on February 6. Presented to Andre Viniousse.

Lecture & Book Signing; The Clark Art Institute:

I have been invited to deliver a lecture on Jean Baptiste Tavernier and the Odyssey of The Hope Diamond at the Sterling & Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts on November 7, 2010 at 3:00 pm. Admission is free. There will be a book signing directly after the lecture.

Inside The Vault; The Diamond Fund, Part II

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by Richard W. Wise

It is difficult to know where to start. You enter The Diamond Fund through a vault-like door. The room is simple, dark and unadorned. The showcases are brightly lit. Unlike the rest of the Armoury, the room is quiet, only two groups are allowed in at any one time. The first case contains a pile of diamonds. How else to describe it? Included are some beautifully formed bi-pyramidal crystals—several a large as quail’s eggs! I have as yet found no written reference which describes these stones and gives their history, but modern names such as the 342.50 carat “34th Communist Party Congress (actually found in Yakutia) and the 40.54 carat “Soyuz Apollo” suggest that they were sourced in the Siberian fields during the Soviet Era.

In Europe’s Royal Jewel Game; it was all about size:

After visiting the The Armoury, The Diamond Fund, The Hermitage and The Victoria and Albert (not bad for one trip, hey!) I am struck by how much quality standards in gemstones have changed over the centuries. Obviously the stone in these collections were some of the finest in the world, but they are what we today would strongly fault for the quality of their cut as well as for the often substantial number of eye-visible inclusions. It is important to note, however, that the testosterone fueled game as it was played by the royal houses of Europe was more about size than it was about quality. Having the biggest sapphire trumped having a lot of smaller higher quality gems. The point was, “mine is bigger than yours” and if the color was a little off or the cut was wonky, so what!

The Shah Diamond, so named because it was owned and signed by no less than three royal owners

The Shah Diamond, so named because it was owned and signed by no less than three of its first four royal owners

The Shah Diamond–Truly Expensive Graffiti:

The holdings include two historically important stones. The first is the 88.70 carat Shah Diamond, a Golconda stone from the famous Indian deposits. This diamond, hardly more than polished rough, has a history going back to 1544. We know who owned the stone because each of the owners signed it. The first inscription, perhaps the most expensive graffiti on earth, reads: “Burzam-Nizam Shah the second, Year 1000” (1591). Next it was owned by Akbar, the first emperor of the Mogul dynasty of India, and then by his grandson, the gem loving Shah Jehan who added his own inscription in 1644. The final signature reads: “The ruler kajar Fath Ali Shah Sultan” and was carved in 1824. The stone, which appeared to me to be of high color, is described as “light yellowish brown” due to minute cracks in the crystal which contain iron oxide. These cracks are quite invisible to the naked eye. The stone is a natural octahedral crystal with polished faces.

The second diamond is the Orloff. I was particularly keen to have an opportunity to see this great gem in person. This stone was first described by the 17th Century adventurer Jean Baptiste Tavernier which many readers will recall is the protagonist in my newly published historical novel, The French Blue. An expert observer, Tavernier was also a skillful artist; his rendering of this stone was first published in his Six Voyages (1678) and reproduced in the novel. The stone is in the shape of a giant gum drop, faceted up the sides and across the top. Tavernier describes it as being of the finest water. Golconda diamonds are usually type IIa stones, contain no measurable Nitrogen, and do not fluoresce to ultra violet light. Russian experts have noted “a barely noticeable bluish green tinge”, an ill understood phenomenon that is sometimes seen and described in Golconda diamonds such as The Regent, despite their lack of fluorescence. Diamonds of this type are highly crystalline and are often described as “whiter than white” and bring substantial premiums at auction.

The Orlof, probably the same diamond called The Great Moghul and described by Jean Baptiste Tavernier in The French Blue.

The Orloff, probably the same diamond called The Great Moghul, and described by Jean Baptiste Tavernier in The French Blue.

Another beautiful stone, a tourmaline originally thought to be a ruby and weighing 260.86 carats is set with a green enameled foliate cap. The stone was set in the rough and it resembles the shape and color of a strawberry. It has numerous visible inclusions that add to the fruit like look. It was originally owned by Rudolph II of Bohemia and described by De Boot and called at that time, “Caesar’s Ruby.” It was presented to Catherine the Great in 1777. De Boot valued it at 60,000 ducats.

Update–Siberian Amethyst:

Arrived London on the 21st. Spent a good part of yesterday viewing the famous Victoria & Albert Museum’s jewelry collection. Included is a platinum necklace with a suite of several very large (200 carat plus) amethysts given by Czar Alexander I to Frances Anne, wife of the 3rd Marquess of Londonderry. The suite is of Siberian amethyst. Given the provenance, you would expect these stones to be the finest of their kind. While, fine enough, measuring perhaps 8.4 on a 1-10 scale, they do not stand up to the finest Zambian and Brazilian material and seem to lack the requisite red flash.

The Wittelsbach; Old Stone New Myths

Update on Oyo Valley Red Tourmaline:

: A range of hues in red tourmaline from Nigeria’s Oyo Valley. Note the exceptional transparency (crystal) in these gemstones Photo: Robert Weldon

You’ll recall I mentioned the new Oyo Reds from Nigeria in my last post. Here is an image. There has been little red tourmaline in the market in the past few years and much of what was previously available was also from Nigeria. This material occurs in very large crystals that are sawn then cut. Very large eye-flawless gems are available, with stones up to 50 carats not uncommon.

Prices of this new material are very competitive and suites of matched stones, a rare occurrence in tourmaline, are available.

The French Blue, A reading straight from the 17th Century

Gala Book Signing, The French Blue, at The Mount

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The crowd assembled in Edith Wharton's parlor just before the reading. In the foreground, Hope and Bob Corneau, parents of R. W. Wise goldsmith, Michael Corneau

Knoshing at The Mount. The table was set in the manshion's beautifully restored dining room

The Dining Room at The Mount as it appears when the historical treasure is open to visitors.

Lenox, November 19th.

reading to an overflowing crowd gathered at The Mount, Edith Wharton’s Lenox summer cottage, actor George Bergen, dressed as the 17th Century adventurer and gem dealer Jean Baptiste Tavernier, Baron of Aubonne, read two chapters from my just published historical novel, The French Blue. The novel, five years in the writing, is a fictionalized version of the six voyages of Tavernier which culminated in the acquisition of the Great Blue Diamond that subsequently became the Hope Diamond.

The evening was, for me, a uniquely satisfying experience. Over the five years it took to write the novel, I read it over many times but, few authors get to sit in an audience and listen to their own work interpreted by a professional to an appreciative audience—I savored every moment. The reading, part of The Mount’s ongoing series of readings, was held in Wharton’s parlor. Wine was served in the grand hall and a tasty selection of hors d’oeuvres was offered in Edith’s beautifully restored dining room.

: Richard Wise with neighbors David and Marty Ekstrom

It was an unusually balmy November evening with temperatures in the 50s and The Mount was beautifully decorated for the event. The agenda including an introduction by Rebekah Wise, a reading of two chapters; The Diver and The Dinner Party by George Bergen and ended with a short Q&A with the author.

I would like to particularly thank Susan Wissler,The Mount’s executive director, who along with her staff, Sarah Kogan, Elaine Roberts, Ross & Nynske Jolly, Megan La Marre and Sam Tomashek, made the evening a memorable one.

The event was recorded by videographer Michael Sinopoli and we hope to have a video of Jean Baptiste Tavernier reading two chapters from the novel, posted on The French Blue website; www.thefrenchblue.com, in the near future (More images). Continue reading →

From The Sun King To The Smithsonian, The Epic Journey of The Hope Diamond

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On a dark night in September of 1792, someone made off with the 69 carat French Blue diamond. Confiscated from King Louis XVI by the revolutionaries of the French National Assembly, the gem, along with the rest of the French Crown Jewels, had been secreted in a royal storehouse for safe keeping. Many of the gems stolen that night were subsequently recovered by the French government. The French Blue was never seen or heard of again.

Read the complete article: HERE

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