Antique jewelry glossary

Welcome to our extensive antique jewelry glossary with around 1,500 jewelry related entries.If you feel you are missing an explanation, feel free to let us know and we will add it.

A - B - C - D - E - F - G - H - I - J - K - L - M - N - O - P - Q - R - S - T - U - V - W - X - Y - Z     all

Great Mogul diamond

A famous diamond that is said to have been found in the Kollur near Golconda, southern India, in 1650 or earlier,and presented to Shah Jehan, the Great Mogul, Emperor of India. It was shown by his son, Shah Aurangzeb (1618-1705), to the French traveller and jewelry merchant Jean-Baptiste Tavernier (1605-89), who weighed, measured, and sketched it, showing it in conoidal shape with eight rows of facets and stated its weight as 280 carats.

The stone had previously been inefficiently cut from rough 787½ carats by the Venetian cutter, Ortensio Borgio.

In 1739 the stone was taken to Isfahan by Nadir Shah (1688-1747), the Persian ruler, after he invaded India and sacked Delhi. Although early writers have questioned its identity, it has been recently said to be the stone from which the Koh-I-Noor diamond was cut.

Attempts to identify it with the Darya-I-Nur diamond have been discredited, as well as the opinion that it was the same stone as the Orlov diamond, both having been rose cut and having a bluish tinge.

From: An Illustrated Dictionary of Jewelry, autor: Harold Newman, publishers: Thames and Hudson