{{Short description|43.38 carats (8.676 g) diamond originated from India}} {{EngvarB|date=September 2013}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2025}} {{Infobox diamond | image = Nassak Diamond copy3.JPG | alt = Blue, translucent diamond, shaped roughly like a pyramid | caption = Munich, Germany's Reich der Kristalle museum replica of the 1820s Rundell and Bridge recut of the Nassak Diamond. In reality the diamond was nowhere near this blue, being a white Type IIa classic Golconda diamond. The term "blue-white" is often used to describe these diamonds but in reality alongside a modern D-color diamond it would have had an extremely faint blue cast. Its cut was also more complex (see below images). | name = Nassak Diamond | weight = {{convert|43.38|carat|g}} | dimensions = 23.35 x 21.73 x 11.51 mm (estimate)<ref>{{cite web|last=Sucher|first=Scott|year=2006|title=Nassak|publisher=museumdiamonds.com|access-date=15 November 2008|quote=The dimension estimate was derived from GemCad modelling.|url=http://www.museumdiamonds.com/NassakDiamond.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081201190135/http://www.museumdiamonds.com/NassakDiamond.htm |archive-date=1 December 2008}}</ref> | color = Blue-white | cut = Emerald | mine = Kollur Mine Golconda Diamonds | country = {{flagicon|India}} India | cutter = Harry Winston | found = 15th century | original_owner = Trimbakeshwar Shiva Temple | owner = Edward J. Hand | value = ${{Formatprice|{{Inflation|US|500000|1970}}|-2}} (inflation adjusted 1970 value) }}
The '''Nassak Diamond''' (also known as the '''Nassac Diamond'''<ref name="CCPA118">CCPA 2003: p. 118.</ref> and the '''Eye of the Idol'''<ref>{{cite book|last=Oldershaw|first=Cally|year=2004|title=Firefly Guide to Gems|pages=[https://archive.org/details/fireflyguidetoge0000olde/page/33 33]|publisher=Firefly Books|isbn=1-55297-814-1|access-date=15 November 2008|url=https://archive.org/details/fireflyguidetoge0000olde|url-access=registration|quote=Nassak Diamond.}}</ref>) is a large, {{convert|43.38|carat|g}} Golconda Diamond that originated as a larger 89-carat diamond in the 15th century in India.<ref name="CCPA121">CCPA 2003: p. 121.</ref> Found in the Golconda mine of Kollur<!-- Golconda Mines originally means the mines (Kollur and Paritala mines) that were mined during the Qutub Shahi period and carried on till the British times. The Deccan Sultanate of Qutub Shahis was called Golconda. Vajrakarur (present day in Anantapur district) was a mine of later times and Amaragiri (present day Kollapur, Mahbubnagar district) is not even heard until much later. When referring to Golconda mines, the aforementioned has to be noted. The original reference "Evolution of the Indian Diamond Industry" provided to attribute to Amaragiri does not hold any substance as it seems to quote all the other Golconda diamonds also incorrectly, such as Hope which was clearly mentioned in so many books as mined at Kollur, however this article attributes it to some other mine. Amaragiri as a mine did not exist during the times of Golconda Sultanate. --> and originally cut in India, the diamond was the adornment in the Trimbakeshwar Shiva Temple, near Nashik, in the state of Maharashtra, India from at least 1500 to 1817.<ref name="CCPA121"/> The British East India Company captured the diamond through the Third Anglo-Maratha War and sold it to British jewellers Rundell and Bridge in 1818.<ref name="CCPA121"/> Rundell and Bridge recut the diamond in 1818,<ref name="CCPA117">CCPA 2003: p. 117.</ref> after which it made its way into the handle of the 1st Marquess of Westminster's dress sword.<ref name="CCPA121"/>
The Nassak Diamond was imported into the United States in 1927, and was considered one of the 24 great diamonds of the world by 1930.<ref name="CCPA121"/> American jeweller Harry Winston acquired the Nassak Diamond in 1940 in Paris, France and recut it to its present flawless {{convert|43.38|carat|g}} emerald-cut shape.<ref name="Romance">{{cite book|last=Dickinson|first=Joan Y.|year=2001|title=The Book of Diamonds: Their History and Romance from Ancient India to Modern Times|pages=215|publisher=Courier Dover Publications|isbn=0-486-41816-2|access-date=15 November 2008|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2K8rVeAhlZsC&q=Nassak+Diamond&pg=PA214}}</ref> Winston sold the diamond to a New York jewellery firm in 1942. Mrs. William B. Leeds of New York received the gem in 1944 as a sixth anniversary present and wore it in a ring.<ref name="Romance"/> The Nassak Diamond was last sold at an auction in New York in 1970 to Edward J. Hand, a trucking firm executive from Greenwich, Connecticut.<ref name="Sold">{{cite news|date=17 April 1970|work=The New York Times|title={{convert|43|carat|g}} Diamond, Once an Idol's Eye, Sold for $500,000|pages=32|access-date=14 November 2008|url=https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FB0616FF395A157493C5A8178FD85F448785F9}}</ref> Currently the diamond is held at a private museum in Lebanon, though there have been some calls for its return and restoration to the Indian temple.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.thehindu.com/society/history-and-culture/bring-back-indias-nassak-diamond-from-lebanon/article23346247.ece|title='Bring back India's Nassak diamond from Lebanon'|newspaper=The Hindu|date=25 March 2018}}</ref>
==History== {{see also|List of the Golconda Diamonds}} [[Image:Trimbhakeshwar Temple.jpg|alt=An ancient Hindu temple with large vimana (tower)|left|thumb|150px|Trimbakeshwar Shiva Temple in Nashik, India]] The Nassak Diamond originated in the 15th century in India.<ref name="CCPA121"/> Although the date of the original cutting is unknown, the original cutting was performed in India and had sacrificed everything to size while giving the diamond a form and appearance similar to that of the Koh-i-Noor diamond.<ref name="CCPA121"/><ref>{{cite book|last=Streeter|first=Edwin W.|year=1884|title=The Great Diamonds of the World: Their History and Romance|chapter=XXXV|pages=229|publisher=George Bell & Sons|quote=When it reached Europe the "Nassak," which had been badly cut in India, presented very much the form and appearance of the "Koh-i-Nur", the native cutter having, as usual, sacrificed everything to size.|access-date=15 November 2008|url=https://archive.org/stream/greatdiamondsofw00stre/greatdiamondsofw00stre_djvu.txt|edition=The Nassak}}</ref> According to local legend, this diamond was donated to the Trimbakeshwar Shiva Temple of Nashik by an aristocratic Maratha family. It was believed as a divine eye of Lord Shiva and was adorned in Shivalinga around 15th C.E. From 1680 C.E. During Mughal-Maratha Wars the temple was attacked several times but Marathas saved Shivalinga time to time. Later it became one of important temples in Maratha Empire<ref name="CCPA121"/> As priests worshiped Shiva, the diamond eventually acquired its name from its long-term proximity to Nashik.<ref name="CCPA121"/>
In 1817, the British East India Company and the Maratha Empire in India began the Third Anglo-Maratha War. During the Maratha war, the Nassak Diamond disappeared from the Shiva temple.<ref name="CCPA121"/> The war ended in 1818 and the British East India Company was left decisively in control of most of India.
As per the claims made by British The Baji Rao II<ref>{{cite book|title=The Gemmologist|volume=1–2 |year=1931–1933 |pages=385|access-date=15 November 2008|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZWw5AAAAMAAJ&q=Bajerow+nassak}}</ref> the last independent Indian ''Peshwa'' Prince, who handed over the diamond to an English colonel named J. Briggs.<ref name="CCPA121"/> In turn, Briggs delivered the diamond to Francis Rawdon-Hastings, the 1st Marquess of Hastings who had conducted the military operations against the Peshwa.<ref name="CCPA121"/> Rawdon-Hastings delivered the diamond to the East India Company as part of the spoils of the Maratha war.<ref name="CCPA121"/> The East India Company then sent the Nassak Diamond to England, to be sold on the London diamond market in 1818.<ref name="CCPA121"/> alt=Drawing resolve into a rounded pyramidal shape.|thumb|{{center|Vectorized drawings of an 1876 sketch of the Nassak Diamond.}} At the London diamond market, the Nassak Diamond was presented as an approximately {{convert|89|carat|g}} diamond of great purity "but of bad form," having a somewhat pear-shape.<ref name="CCPA121"/> The diamond further was characterised as a "rudely faceted, lustreless mass." Illustrations in Herbert Tillander's book "Diamond Cuts in Historic Jewelry – 1381 to 1910" show it as being a semi-triangular moghal cut with a plateau top, similar looking to the 115-carat Taj-E-Mah Diamond which resides in the Iranian Crown Jewels. Despite its appearance, the diamond was sold for about 3,000 pounds (equivalent today to £{{formatnum:{{Inflation|UK|3000|1818|r=-3}}}}) to Rundell and Bridge, a British jewellery firm based in London.<ref name="CCPA121"/>
Rundell and Bridge held onto the diamond for the next 13 years.<ref name="CCPA121"/> During that time, the jewellery firm instructed its diamond cutter "to keep as closely as possible to the traces of the Hindu cutter, 'amending his defects, and accommodating the pattern to the exigencies of the subject matter.'" The recut by Rundell and Bridge from {{convert|89.75|carat|mg}} to {{convert|78.625|carat|mg}} resulted of a loss of no more than 10 percent of the original weight of the diamond.<ref name="CCPA121"/><ref>{{cite book|last=Emanuel|first=Harry|year=1873|title=Diamonds and Precious Stones: Their History, Value, and Distinguishing Characteristics. With Simple Tests for Their Identification|pages=[https://archive.org/details/diamondsandprec00emangoog/page/n27 84]|publisher=John Camden Hotten|access-date=14 November 2008|url=https://archive.org/details/diamondsandprec00emangoog|quote=Nassak Diamond.}}</ref>
In 1831, Rundell and Bridge sold the diamond to the Emanuel Brothers for about 7,200 pounds (today about £{{formatnum:{{Inflation|UK|7200|1831|r=-3}}}}).<ref name="CCPA121"/> Six years later in 1837, the Emanuel Brothers sold the Nassak Diamond at a public sale to Robert Grosvenor, the 1st Marquess of Westminster.<ref name="CCPA121"/> At one point, the Marquess mounted the diamond in the handle of his dress sword.<ref name="CCPA121"/> In 1886, the diamond was valued at between 30,000 and 40,000 pounds (today between £{{formatnum:{{Inflation|UK|30000|1886|r=-3}}}} and £{{formatnum:{{Inflation|UK|40000|1886|r=-3}}}}), due in part to its vast gain in brilliancy from the re-cut by Rundell and Bridge.<ref name="CCPA121"/>
==Mauboussin and the lawsuit== [[Image:NassakDiamondPlate1904.svg|alt=Various views of the diamond, all roughly pyramidal in shape.|thumb|right|200px|Side view 13a, top view 13b, and bottom view 13c drawings of the Nassak Diamond as it appeared between the Rundell and Bridge recut and the 1940 Winston recut. A US court ruled in 1930 that the shown recut revealed nothing more than "a large diamond, cut in an ordinary way." These drawings are from Max Bauer's 1904 book "Precious Stones".]] In 1922, George Mauboussin had become the named partner of "Mauboussin, Successeur de Noury," a French jewellery house that traced its roots to its founding by M. Rocher in 1827.<ref name="Auction">{{cite web|year=1993|title=Desc-A Ruby and Diamond Clip by Trabert & Hoeffer, Mauboussin|location=Auction Location: United States of America – 1993|publisher=artfact.com|access-date=15 November 2008|url=http://www.artfact.com/auction-lot/desc-a-ruby-and-diamond-clip-by-trabert-hoeffer-1-c-p0fsfqqea1}}</ref> In March 1927, the Duke of Westminster used US importers Mayers, Osterwald & Muhlfeld to sell the diamond to Parisian jeweller George Mauboussin, who was living in the United States at the time.<ref>{{cite news|date=23 March 1927|work=The New York Times|title=Jeweler Here buys Nassak Diamond; World-Famous Stone, Held by the Westminster Family Since 1831, Purchased From Duke.|location=Shipping and Mails Steamships and Tours|pages=52|access-date=14 November 2008|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1927/03/23/archives/jeweler-here-buys-nassak-diamond-worldfamous-stone-held-by-the.html}} For the name George Mauboussin, see [https://books.google.com/books?id=OIcdAAAAMAAJ&q=E.+F.+BENDLER A Brief History of the United States Court of Customs and Patent Appeals]</ref> Mauboussin's importation of the diamond into the United States was tax free, since the diamond was determined to be an artistic antiquity produced more than one hundred years prior to the date of importation.<ref name="CCPA121"/> However, E. F. Bendler, an American wholesaler and dealer in diamonds and a rival of Mauboussin, filed a protest that resulted in a lawsuit to determine whether a tax should be imposed on the diamond's entry into the United States.<ref name="CCPA121"/> By November 1927, Mauboussin considered selling the diamond to friends of General Primo de Rivera, who planned to give the diamond to the dictator on the occasion of his forthcoming investiture as marshal of Spain.<ref>{{cite news|date=7 November 1927|newspaper=The Washington Post|title=Nassak Diamond May be Gift to Dictator. Friends of Primo de Rivera Talk of Purchasing Gem For Baton of Rank|pages=1|access-date=14 November 2008|url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost_historical/access/119687506.html?dids=119687506:119687506&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=NOV+07%2C+1927&author=(Special+Cable+Dispatch.)&pub=The+Washington+Post&desc=NASSAK+DIAMOND+MAY+BE+GIFT+TO+DICTATOR|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110525102034/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost_historical/access/119687506.html?dids=119687506:119687506&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=NOV+07,+1927&author=(Special+Cable+Dispatch.)&pub=The+Washington+Post&desc=NASSAK+DIAMOND+MAY+BE+GIFT+TO+DICTATOR|url-status=dead|archive-date=25 May 2011}}</ref> That sale never materialised and the lawsuit continued. The diamond was nearly lost in a theft that occurred in January 1929, when four gunmen robbed the Park Avenue jewellery store where the Nassak Diamond was being kept.<ref name="Miss">{{cite news|date=18 January 1929|work=The New York Times|title=Miss $400,000 Gem in Park Av. Hold-up; Four Gunmen Rain Mauboussin's, Bind Girl and 5 Othersand Carry Off Jewelry. Nassak Diamond is left. Noted Jewel in Soiled Wrapper Tossed Aside—Whalen Says Thugs Knew Shop's Routine. Gem Once the Eye of Shiva. Four Persons in the Shop. Miss $400,000 Gem Opens Door to Find Gunmen. Asks About Absent Guard. Asks Three Minutes to Get Away. Find Fingerprints in Shop. Guard Describes the Raid. Whalen Thinks Thugs Saw Big Gem. Valued at $150,000 Century Ago.|pages=8|access-date=14 November 2008|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1929/01/18/archives/miss-400000-gem-in-park-av-holdup-four-gunmen-rain-mauboussins-bind.html?sq=nassak%2520diamond&scp=1&st=cse}}</ref> However, the thieves missed finding the diamond because it was being stored in a soiled envelope.<ref name="Miss"/><ref>{{cite news|date=19 January 1929|work=The New York Times|title=Park Av. Gem Theft A puzzle to Police; No Clues Unearthed and Value of Jewelry Stolen by Four in Hold-Up is Not Yet Fixed. $165,000 Bracelet in Loot But Shop Has Still to Check on Other Items—Several Pieces in Showcases Missed by Gang.|pages=12|access-date=14 November 2008|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1929/01/19/archives/park-av-gem-theft-a-puzzle-to-police-no-clues-unearthed-and-value.html?sq=nassak%2520diamond&scp=11&st=cse}}</ref>
After the first robbery attempt, Mauboussin's jewellery firm opened a branch in New York City on 1 October 1929, only to be met by the Wall Street crash of 1929 at the end of October.<ref>{{cite book|last=Traina|first=John|year=1994|title=Extraordinary Jewels|pages=99|publisher=Doubleday|isbn=0-385-26644-8|access-date=15 November 2008|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=12lHAAAACAAJ}}</ref> To compound matters, the same gang of international robbers tried to steal the Nassak Diamond again in May 1930, but once again missed it.<ref name="MissAgain">{{cite news|date=27 May 1930|work=The New York Times|title=$300,000 in Loot, Woman and 4 Men are Seized in Hotel; Found Seated Around Stolen Jewels as Detectives Break Open the Door of Their Room. Woman Swallows Paper. Mulrooney Says the Recovered Articles Were Stolen by an International Gang. Hunt Led Over Country. Suspects Are Linked to Park Avenue Robbery and Thefts in Miami Hotels and in C.F. Carson Home. Trail Started in Miami. $300,000 in Loot is Seized in Hotel. List of the Recorded Jewelry. Watson Arrested Eight Times.|pages=1|access-date=14 November 2008|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1930/05/27/archives/300000-in-loot-woman-and-4-men-are-seized-in-hotel-found-seated.html?sq=NASSAK%2520DIAMOND%2520&scp=10&st=cse}}</ref>
Prior to the outcome of the lawsuit, the insured diamond was valued between US$400,000 and $500,000 (allowing for inflation, this would now be ${{Formatprice|{{Inflation|US|400000|1930}}|-2}} and ${{Formatprice|{{Inflation|US|500000|1930}}|-2}}).<ref name="MissAgain"/> At the time the lawsuit was pending, imported diamonds that were cut and suitable for use in the manufacture of jewellery, without actually being set as jewellery were subject to an ''ad valorem'' tax of 20% its value.<ref name="CCPA118"/> However, artistic antiquities produced more than one hundred years prior to the date of importation could be imported into the United States duty-free; that is to say, without having to pay a 20% tax.<ref name="CCPA118"/> The final decision of the lawsuit was released on 4 June 1930.<ref name="CCPA117"/> In that decision, the court determined that the unset {{convert|78.625|carat|mg}} Nassak Diamond was not an artistic antiquity and was suitable for use in manufacture of jewellery.<ref name="CCPA117"/> In particular, the court said that the 1930 Nassak Diamond was nothing more than "a large diamond, cut in an ordinary way."<ref name="CCPA125">CCPA 2003: p. 125.</ref> As a result, the importer owed an ad valorem tax of 20% of the diamond's value under US Tariff Act of 1922.<ref name="CCPA125"/>
==Harry Winston's influence== In 1930, the Nassak Diamond had a somewhat elongated triangle form with rounded corners.<ref name="CCPA121"/> The depth of one side of the triangle was thicker than the other.<ref name="CCPA122">CCPA 2003: p. 122.</ref> The diamond was "without flaw, unusually brilliant, and so cut as to well display its clear, crystal brilliancy."<ref name="CCPA122"/> While on exhibit at the 1933 World's Fair in Chicago, Illinois, the "Official guide book of the fair, 1933" described the diamond as a flawless, blue- white stone with a reputation of being "the finest diamond outside crown jewels collections."<ref>{{cite book|year=1933|title=Official guide book of the fair, 1933|pages=97|publisher=A Century of Progress, Administration Building, Chicago|access-date=15 November 2008|url=https://archive.org/stream/officialguideboo00centrich/officialguideboo00centrich_djvu.txt|edition=The U.S. Government and the States}}</ref>
In 1940, American jeweller Harry Winston acquired the Nassak Diamond in Paris, France and recut it to its present flawless {{convert|43.38|carat|g}} emerald cut shape.<ref name="Romance"/> Winston sold the diamond to a New York jewellery firm in 1942. In 1944, Commander William Bateman Leeds Jr., millionaire son of the inventor of a tin plating process and friend of George Mauboussin, purchased the diamond for his wife, Reflexion Olive Leeds (born Olive Hamilton), and gave it to her in a set ring as a sixth anniversary present.<ref name="Romance"/><ref name="Auction"/>
==Present information== In early 1964, gemologist G. Robert (Bob) Crowningshield evaluated the Nassak Diamond at the Gemological Institute of America gem laboratory to produce a Diamond Grading Report.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Moses|first=Thomas M.|date=Fall 2003|journal=Gems & Gemology|title=. Robert (Bob) Crowningshield:A :egendary Gemologist|volume=38|issue=3|pages=190|publisher=Gemological Institute of America|quote=Entry:Famous diamond. Comments: 43.38 ct Nassak diamond submitted for examination. Lab notes volume: 11. No. 8. Issue: W 1964–1965. Page: 245|access-date=15 November 2008|url=http://lgdl.gia.edu/pdfs/crowningshield_article.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081119102534/http://lgdl.gia.edu/pdfs/crowningshield_article.pdf|archive-date=19 November 2008}}</ref> In that same year, the Nassak Diamond was placed in the hands of J. & S.S. DeYoung, a then 100-year-old estate jewellery house located in New York. The Gemological Institute of America Diamond Grading Report that came with the diamond indicated that it was Internally Flawless.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Stegman|first=Emily|date=Spring 2006|journal=Loupe Online|title=History Repeating. After 170 years in the industry, the DeYoung family continues to support GIA with each passing generation|volume=15|issue=2|publisher=Gemological Institute of America|access-date=15 November 2008|url=http://www.gia.edu/loupeonline/29962/25709/2561/current_issue_detail.cfm|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070609213231/http://www.gia.edu/loupeonline/29962/25709/2561/current_issue_detail.cfm|archive-date=9 June 2007}}</ref>
In early April 1970, the diamond was rated one of the thirty great stones of the world and placed on display at Parke-Bernet Galleries in New York City.<ref>{{cite news|date=5 April 1970|work=The New York Times|title=Nassak Diamond Set for Auction; Parke-Bernet to Sell Indian Rarity on April 16|pages=75|access-date=14 November 2008|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1970/04/05/archives/nassak-diamond-set-for-auction-parkebernet-to-sell-indian-rarity-on.html}}</ref> On 16 April 1970, the diamond was sold at auction for $500,000 (allowing for inflation, this would now be ${{Formatprice|{{Inflation|US|500000|1970}}|-2}}) to Edward J. Hand, a then 48-year-old trucking firm executive from Greenwich, Connecticut.<ref name="Sold"/> This was the second highest auction price ever for a diamond at that time, the first being circa $1.1 million for the Taylor-Burton Diamond several years earlier.<ref name="Sold"/> Six years later, the diamond was placed on display in November 1976 at a charity benefit as a means to attract donors to that benefit.<ref>{{cite news|last=Nemy|first=Enid|date=17 November 1976|work=The New York Times|title=How Could $25 Million in Jewels Be Boring?|location=Westchester Weekly|pages=77|access-date=14 November 2008|quote=The jewels displayed, out of the, Rome, New York and Geneva vaults of Bulgari, included the flawless and colorless {{convert|43|carat|g}} emerald cut Nassak diamond|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1976/11/17/archives/westchester-weekly-how-could-25-million-in-jewels-be-boring.html}}</ref>
==Trivia== In December 1982, British Midland Airways purchased a McDonnell Douglas DC-9 aircraft from KLM; two months later, the plane was in the United Kingdom with the name "The Nassak Diamond".<ref>{{cite web|date=15 May 2006|title=Douglas DC-9|publisher=1000aircraftphotos.com|access-date=15 November 2008|url=http://1000aircraftphotos.com/Contributions/Damen/5318.htm}}</ref>
== See also == * Koh-i-Noor * Darya-ye Noor * List of diamonds
== Notes == {{reflist}}
== References == * {{cite book|last=The Court|year=1930|work=Court of Customs and Patent Appeals Reports|title=Mayers, Osterwald & Muhlfeld v. Bendler|ref=CCPA1930|volume=18|pages=117–125|publisher=United States Court of Customs and Patent Appeals|access-date=14 November 2008|url=https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=The%20Nassak%20diamond%20derives%20its%20name%20from%20the%20fact%20that%20it%20long%20remained%20in%20the%20temple%20of%20Shiva%2C%20near%20Nassak%2C%20on%20the%20upper%20Godavery%20River%20in%20India&sa=N&tab=np}}
==External links== {{commons category-inline}}
{{good article}}
Category:Blue diamonds Category:Individual diamonds Category:Golconda diamonds