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| value = ~£48,000,000
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The '''Regent Diamond''' is a {{convert|140.64|carat|g|adj=on}} [[diamond]] owned by the French state and on display in the [[Louvre]], worth £48,000,000 {{
== History ==
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=== Discovery ===
According to legend, the diamond was discovered by an [[Slavery in India|enslaved man]] in the [[Kollur Mine]] near the [[Krishna River]] in India and was concealed by the slave in a leg wound, which he suffered while fleeing the 1687 [[siege of Golconda]] by the [[Aurangzeb|Moghul Emperor Aurangzeb]]. The slave then made it to the
=== Pitt acquisition ===
In a letter to his London agent dated 6{{nbsp}}November 1701, [[Thomas Pitt]], the Governor of [[Fort St. George, India|Fort St. George]], writes:
Pitt claimed he acquired the diamond from Jamchand for 48,000 [[pagoda (coin)|pagodas]]{{sfn|Hedges|1889|page=cxxxviii}} in the same year, so it is sometimes also known as the '''Pitt Diamond'''.<ref>Brown p.15</ref><ref>Shipley, Robert M. (1946) ''Diamond Glossary'', pp. 315 (PDF page 23) [[Gemological Institute of America]], USA, Vol. 5, No. 5 (Spring 1946)</ref> He dispatched the stone to London hidden in the heel of his son [[Robert Pitt|Robert]]'s shoe<ref>{{cite book|author=Edward Pearce|title=Pitt the Elder: Man of War|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XfImNwMXDdoC&pg=PA6|year=2010|publisher=Random House|isbn=978-1-4090-8908-7|page=6}}</ref> aboard the [[East Indiaman]] ''Loyal Cooke'', which left [[Madras]] on 9{{nbsp}}October 1702.{{sfn|Hedges|1889|page=cxxvi}} It was later cut in London by the diamond cutter Harris, between 1704 and 1706. The cutting took two years and cost about £5,000<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.internetstones.com/regent-diamond-famous-jewelry.html|title=Regent Diamond|publisher=Internet Stones.COM}}</ref>
Rumours circulated that Pitt had fraudulently acquired the diamond,{{sfn|Hedges|1889|page=cxxxv}}<ref>{{cite book|first=Colin|last=Nicholson|title=Writing and the Rise of Finance: Capital Satires of the Early Eighteenth Century|url=https://archive.org/details/writingriseoffin0000nich|url-access=registration|year=1994|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-45323-3|page=[https://archive.org/details/writingriseoffin0000nich/page/149 149]}}</ref> leading satirist [[Alexander Pope]] to pen the following lines in his ''[[Moral Essays]]''
"Asleep and naked as an INDIAN lay<br />
An honest factor stole a gem away;<br />
He pledged it to the Knight, the Knight had wit,<br />
So kept the diamond, and the rogue was bit."
{{stack|[[File:Napoleon ; keizer der Fransen detail01.jpg|120px|thumb|Detail of Napoleon's portrait with sword]]}}
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=== Sale to the French Regent ===
After many attempts to sell it to various
In 1792, during the revolutionary furore in [[Paris]], "Le Régent", or the regent diamond, was stolen along with other [[French Crown Jewels|crown jewels of France]], but was later recovered. It was found in some roof timbers in an attic in Paris. The diamond was used as security or collateral on several occasions by the [[Directoire]] and later the [[Consulat]] to finance the military expenses: 1797-1798 it was pledged to the Berlin Entrepreneur
[[File:Charles X of France by François Pascal Simon Gérard.jpg|left|thumb|upright=1.22|Portrait of [[Charles X of France|Charles X]] by [[François Gérard]]. Note the Regent Diamond set in the [[Fleur-de-lis]] at the top of the crown at left.]]
Napoleon used it for the guard of his sword, designed by the goldsmiths Odiot, Boutet and [[Marie-Etienne Nitot]]. In 1812 it appeared on the Emperor's two-edged sword, which was a work of Nitot. Napoleon's second wife, [[Archduchess Marie Louise of Austria]], carried the Régent back to the [[
Today, mounted in a Greek diadem designed for [[Empress Eugenie]], it remains in the French Royal Treasury at the [[Louvre]]. It has been on display there since 1887. Experts in the early21st century have estimated the Regent Diamond value to be near £48,000,000.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Regent Diamond|url=https://www.worthy.com/famous-diamonds/the-regent-diamond|publisher=Worthy.com|access-date=21 April 2015}}</ref>
== Folklore ==
Due to numerous scandals, and the misfortune of those who have been in possession of the stone, the Regent Diamond is said to be cursed.<ref>{{cite web|last=Matthews|first=Heather|title=Top 10 Most Notorious Cursed Diamonds|url=http://www.toptenz.net/top-10-most-notorious-diamonds.php|date=22 October 2008|publisher=Top Tenz|access-date=30 August 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.kojewel.com/odd/supposedly-cursed-diamonds-the-regent.htm|title=Supposedly Cursed Jewels: The Regent Diamond – K.O. Jewel|publisher=K.O. Jewel}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=|url=http://www.diamondslittleblackdress.co.za/the-worlds-most-notoriously-cursed-diamonds/|title=The world's most notoriously cursed diamonds|publisher=Diamonds and a Little Black Dress}}</ref>
{{clear}}
==See also==
* [[List of diamonds]]
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{{Authority control}}
[[Category:
[[Category:1706 works]]
[[Category:Objets d'art in the Louvre]]
[[Category:Individual diamonds]]
[[Category:Kollur diamonds]]
[[Category:French Crown Jewels]]
[[Category:Golconda diamonds]]
[[Category:Louis XVIII]]
[[Category:Napoleon III]]
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