New technology tries to pin down history of Koh-i-Noor diamond
The Koh-i-Noor is one of the world’s great and probably most famous ‘unknown’ diamond. For over a 150 years, the diamond has been cast into the British crown jewels. Measuring an awe inspiring 191-carats, the diamond has a long and mostly unknown past to many. Recent research has revealed some interesting origins of the little known uge gem. The research was reported during the August 2008 issue of Gems & Gemology. Fundamentally the article caused ripples since it aimed to disprove one of its generally accepted origins.
The original gem may have been found over 5,000 years ago, however the first mention in any verifiable document did not appear until 1304. The rock was bougth and sold, given as a gift and exchanged repeatedly though during many times it was through violence, war and conquest, eventually arriving on British soil in 1849.
The Ko-i-Noor diamond was shown at the Great Exhibition in London in 1851 where it received little praise since it had a disappointing lopsided cut and sheer lack of brilliance.
In 1852 Queen Victoria then ordererd it to be re-cut and shaped into its present dimensions. That re-cutting, while producing a more appealing shape and “fire,” reduced the stone to 105 carats, almost half its previous weight. Before the cutting, a mold had been made and at least two plaster replicas cast.
One of the theories for the origin of the Koh-i-Noor is that it was cut from a diamond called the Great Mogul, a 287-carat stone shaped like half an egg. That stone disappears from the historic record about the time the Koh-i-Noor appears. The recent research showed that the original Koh-i-Noor was too large in one dimension to have come from that stone.