Florentine Diamond

Florentine diamond is also known as the Great Florentine Diamond as it is one of the largest diamonds on the face of the earth. This diamond has other names like, Tuscan, the Tuscany Diamond, the grand Duke of Tuscany, the Austrian Diamond and the Austrian Yellow Diamond. The famous Florentine Medici family was the proud owner of the Florentine diamond once. It was also in the possession of Charles the Bold who was the Duke of Burgundy.

The history of this diamond is somewhat controversial. Many accounts and stories are present regarding the history of the Florentine Diamond. One version of the disputed history is that Charles the Bold had lost this precious jewel in the battle of Morat in 1476. The story goes that a Swiss mercenary found the diamond and sold it to a priest thinking that it was a piece of glass. The priest sold the gem to the Berne authority from whom a wealthy merchant purchased it for 5,000 florins. Finally through various ways the diamond adorned the Medici exchequer. Others believe that the Florentine diamond is of Indian origin. They believe that it belonged to the great Vijayanagar Empire of southern India and was later acquired by the Portuguese governor of Goa. It came in the possession of the Portuguese Castro-Noranha family and they sold it to Ferdinando I de' Medici for 35,000 Portuguese scudi crocati.

The true history of the Florentine Diamond is documented by Tavernier. According to him after the fall of the Medici, the diamond made its way to Vienna and was positioned in the Hapsburg Crown Jewels in Hofbrug. The value of the Florentine diamond then was $750,000 or 2,608,335 livres.

The specifications of the Florentine diamond are given in details in the historical account of Tavernier. The weight of the diamond was about 139 ½ carats according to Tavernier but it is also believed that it was of 137.27 carats. The gem had a yellowish tint and was cut on 9 sides in the shape of a shield. All the sides possessed an irregular 126 facet double rose cut.

Florentine diamond is an irretrievable diamond. There is no information even about the fragmented parts of the diamond as it was too big to be used in a ring. The estimated price of this diamond has been calculated to be around 50,000 pounds and because of the citron tinge in the gem, the price calculated has not crossed 100,000 pounds.