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The Archduke Joseph Diamond

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The Archduke Joseph diamond is a colourless gem; it possesses the most notable characteristic of the nest Golconda diamonds, namely an internal limpidity
Ian Balfour Famous diamonds

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The Golconda Diamond Mines in South Central India started producing gems of exceptional quality as early as 800 years before Christ. Until 1725 diamonds came exclusively from India, and Golconda gave the world some of its most fabled gems such as the Blue Hope, now part of the Smithsonian Institute, the Koh i Noor which forms part of the British Crown Jewels, and the Pink Princie Diamond sold by the Nizam of Hyderabad at auction in 1960. The Archduke Joseph Diamond along with its noble lineage possesses the distinction of being the largest historically recorded perfect Golconda diamond. Accompanied by its characteristic limpid transparency, it is one of Golcondas true masterpieces, a diamond of the rst water.
Rahul Kadakia Head of Jewelry, Americas & Switzerland

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The History
by Vivienne Becker, Jewellery Historian

For a stone of this magnitude, the early history of the Archduke Joseph, no doubt enveloped in adventure, intrigue and romance, remains lost in the hazy mists of time. The diamond takes its name from the most illustrious of its last known owners, the Archduke Joseph August (1872-1962), a prince of the Hungarian line of the Habsburgs, the most powerful of European royal houses. His grandfather was the Palatine Joseph of Hungary, son of Emperor Leopold II. Archduke Joseph August was a direct descendant of the Empress Maria Theresa of Habsburg, mother of Queen Marie-Antoinette, and a noted diamond fancier herself, who owned the famous Florentine, a monumental citron yellow Indian diamond that had been in the possession of the Medici family of Florence, and disappeared with the last Austrian Emperor. Diamonds run through the bloodline of the Habsburgs: Frederick III, the Holy Roman Emperor, connived the marriage between Mary of Burgundy, the daughter and heir of Charles the Bold and his son, Maximilian; the betrothal, in 1477, signifying this momentous strategic union, which gave huge power to the Habsburgs, was sealed with a diamond ring, generally considered to be the rst ever diamond engagement ring, and one of the most signicant milestones in the story of the diamond.

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Empress Maria-Theresa (1717-1780)

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In the next century, the Holy Roman Emperor, Archduke of Austria, Rudolf II, (1552-1612), aesthete and collector, surrounded himself with gems and diamonds, believing they appeased the melancholy that plagued his life. Francois I of Habsburg-Lorraine donated a fortune in diamonds and rubies to an experiment, in which the gems were heated in furnaces, in an attempt to understand the secrets of the diamond; his diamonds disappeared into thin air. Much later, the Archduke Maximilian (1832-1867), Emperor of Mexico, acquired two important diamonds, named after him, on a visit to Brazil in 1860. Habsburg treasuries overowed with important gems and jewels, many of them, like the Star of Este, sold to fund the lives of the exiled Imperial family after the fall of the AustroHungarian Empire in 1918. Archduke Joseph, known as Joseph of Alcst, after the town in Hungary where he was born, was the eldest son of Archduke Joseph Karl Ludwig (1833-1905) and Princess Clothilde of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (1846-1927). He studied law at Budapest University, joined the army, and enlisted in the Hungarian territorial reserve, embarking on a glittering military career during which he was highly decorated. In 1893, he married Princess Augusta, (18751964), the daughter of Prince Leopold of Bavaria and the Austrian Archduchess Gisela, and so the grand-daughter

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The estate of Archduke Joseph August in Alcst, Hungary

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of the Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph and the fabulously beautiful and glamorous Empress Elisabeth, Sissi, of Austria. Archduke Joseph and Augusta had six children, Joseph Francis, Gisela, Sophie, Ladislaus, Matthias and Magdalena. A popular and inspiring leader, the Archduke became the Commander of the Hungarian front-line forces against Russian and Romanian troops during World War I, following the death of Emperor Franz Joseph in 1916. He commanded forces on several different fronts, eventually serving as the last Field Marshall of the Austro-Hungarian army, in an attempt to assuage rising nationalism. In October 1918, the Austrian Emperor Charles I named the Archduke as Regent of Hungary, but his attempts to form a national government came to an abrupt end with the Aster Revolution of 31st October, and the Archduke returned to his home in Alcst. In 1919, he did become Regent of Hungary for a short time but was forced to resign when the Allies refused to accept a Habsburg as head of state. The Archduke Joseph witnessed and played a central part in the dramatic end to the all powerful Austro-Hungarian Empire. In 1944, he left Hungary for the United States, but later returned to Germany to live with his sister, Princess Margit von Thurn und Taxis. He died in 1962, on a hunting trip in Rain, near Regensburg, Germany.

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Empress Elisabeth Sissi (1837-1898)

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The Diamond
by Vivienne Becker, Jewellery Historian

There has been much speculation as to how this spectacular and monumental diamond came to be in the possession of the Archduke; it seems very likely that this stone was an family heirloom, a conclusion borne out by original research undertaken by Count Johannes von SchoenbornWiesentheid, the great grandson of the Archdukes sister, drawing on recollections of Princess Maria Ferdinande von Thurn und Taxis, the Archdukes great-niece. She recalls that a very large diamond, set into a brooch, was handed down to the Archduke, by his grandmother, Clementine dOrleans (1817-1907), the daughter of King Louis Philippe of France. She had reputedly been given the jewel as a gift on the occasion of her wedding to August von Saxe-Coburg in 1843. It seems likely that this diamond could have been the Archduke Joseph, although there is no record or recollection of who presented such a lavish gift. The Archduke Josephs wife, Augusta was apparently fond of wearing this family heirloom on special occasions. It is tempting to imagine this spectacularly alluring diamond against the backdrop of the unrivalled elegance and cultivated renement, the balls, opera and soirees, of the Austro-Hungarian Empire at the turn-of-the-century, during the Belle Epoque, one of the great ages of the diamond.

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Princess Clmentine of Orlans (1817-1907)

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It is thought that at some stage the Archduke may have given the diamond to his son, Joseph Francis, but in 1933, when the stone was still in the Archdukes possession, the diamond was deposited with the Hungarian General Credit Bank. Three years later it was sold to a European banker, and kept in France, locked away in a safe deposit box, where fortunately it remained undiscovered during World War II. Nothing more was heard about the Archduke Joseph diamond until it appeared at auction in London in June 1961, fted, at the time, as the largest ne quality loose diamond ever to have been auctioned in Great Britain. It re-appeared at auction at Christies Geneva in November 1993, when it was sold for $6,487,945. Since then, the Archduke Joseph diamond has been slightly re-fashioned to improve its quality yet at the same time preserve its historical character and heritage, now achieving a classication of Internally Flawless while retaining its original elegant and aristocratic antique cushion-cut. The time is right for the Archduke Joseph diamond to continue its glittering journey though history.

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King Maximilian I of Bavaria (1756-1825)

Augusta Wilhelmine of Hesse-Darmstadt (1765-1796)

King Ludwig I of Bavaria (1786-1868)

Frederik, Duke of Saxe-Altenburg (1763-1834)

Duchess Charlotte Georgine of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (1769-1818)

Ferdinand III, Grand Duke of Tuscany (1769-1824)

Princess Luisa Maria Amelia Teresa of the Two Siciles (1773-1802)

Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen (1792-1854) Leopold II, Grand Duke of Tuscany (1797-1870) Marie Anna of Saxony (1799-1832)

Maximilan of Saxony (1759-1838)

Caroline of Bourbon-Parme (1770-1804)

Emperor Francis II (1768-1835)

Princess Maria-Theresa of Naples and Sicily (1772-1807)

Archduke Franz Karl of Austria (1802-1878)

King Maximilian I of Bavaria (1756-1825)

Karoline of Baden (1776-1841) Princess Sophie of Bavaria (1805-1872)

Duke Pius August in Bavaria (1786-1837)

Princess Amlie Louise of Arenberg (1789-1823)

Duke Maximilian Joseph in Bavaria (1808-1888) Princess Ludovica of Bavaria (1808-1892)

King Maximilian I of Bavaria (1756-1825)

Karoline of Baden (1776-1841)

Prince Luitpold of Bavaria (1821-1912)

Prince Leopold of Bavaria (1846-1930)

Archduchess Augusta of Austria (1825-1864)

Princess Auguste of Bavaria (1875-1964)

Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria (1830-1916)

Archduchess Gisela of Austria (1856-1932)

Empress Elisabeth Sissi (1837-1898)

Archduke Joseph Karl of Austria (1833-1905)

Archduke Joseph August of Austria (1872-1962)

Princess Clotilde of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (1846-1927)

Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor (1747-1792)

Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor (1708-1765)

Empress Maria-Theresa of Austria (1717-1780)

Archduke Joseph, Palatine of Hungary (1776-1847)

Charles III of Spain (1716-1788)

Maria Amalia of Saxony (1724-1760)

Maria Luisa of Spain (1745-1792) Friedrich II Eugen, Duke of Wrttemberg (1732-1797)

Duke Louis of Wrttemberg (1756-1817) Princess Henriette of Nassau-Weilburg (1780-1857) Duchess Maria Dorothea of Wrttemberg (1797-1855) Prince Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg and Saalfeld (1785-1851) Princess Maria Antonia Kohary (1797-1862)

Sophia Dorothea of Brandeburg Schwedt (1736-1798)

Prince Charles Christian, Duke of Nassau-Weilburg (1735-1788)

Carolina of Orange-Nassau (1743-1787)

Francis, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (1750-1806)

Countess Augusta Reuss-Ebersdorf (1757-1831)

Prince Franz Joseph of Kohary (1760-1826)

Countess von WaldsteinWartenburg (1771-1854)

Prince August of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (1818-1881) King Louis-Philippe I, of France (1773-1850)

Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orlans (1747-1793)

Louise Marie Adlade de Bourbon (1753-1821)

King Ferdinand III & IV of Naples (1751-1814)

Marie Carolina of Austria (1752-1814)

Princess Clmentine of Orlans (1817-1907)

Marie Amalie of the two Siciles (1782-1866)

Golconda Diamonds
by Vivienne Becker, Jewellery Historian

Every great diamond has its own story to tell, and while the origins of this exceptional stone, the tale of its journey from India to Europe, remain unknown, there can be little doubt of the diamonds royal heritage. The Archduke Joseph is a spectacularly ne Golconda diamond, one of the earliest and most treasured diamonds known to man, unearthed in the ancient Indian mines, where diamonds were rst discovered, some 3000 years ago. These mines, that have acquired mythical status, located in the Valley of the Serpents described by Marco Polo, and in the Thousand and One Tales of the Arabian Nights, yielded many of the worlds most famous historical diamonds including;

The Koh-I-Noor, now in the British Crown Jewels

The blue Hope Diamond, part of the Smithsonian Collection in Washington

The pink Agra, given to the Emperor Babur in return for lives spared in the battle for the city

The diamonds of the French Crown Jewels The magnicent gems of the Iranian Treasury.

Limpidity, water, purity, the unrivalled soft richness of the heavenly light held within the stone, often likened to moonlight, and its innite unfolding depths, all point to the Indian origins of the Archduke Joseph diamond.

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The diamond is set into the very soul of India, woven into Hindu legend, its meaning tied to culture and tradition, ritual and beliefs. Wondrous treasures of the earth, believed to be of divine origin, linked in the Indian system of cosmic belief to the planet Venus, diamonds signied valour and virility, invincibility and good fortune, an everlasting triumph beyond even territory and worldly power. Leaders lusted after them, killed for them, traded lives with them. The inner light of Indian diamonds was seen as a divine presence, their indestructibility a manifestation of the permanence of supreme power, and so the divine diamond, from the earliest times, became the prerogative of kings, a connection between earthly and heavenly authority. Diamonds are believed to have been rst discovered in India some 2500-3000 years ago; the rst mention of them is in a text of the 4th century BC. Gods gift to India became Indias gift to mankind: they were traded, mainly by Arab merchants, all across the known world. The diamonds were found in alluvial deposits in a vast area of the Deccan, in South Central India, mainly between the Godivari and Krishna (or Kistna) rivers, near Hyderabad. There were many mines, several days journey apart, the most important of which was at Kollur. The whole area became known as the Golconda region after the ancient fortress that served as a commercial centre for the different mines. The diamonds were said to have been dug from deep pits guarded by poisonous snakes, giving rise to the famous legends of the Valley of the Diamonds, sought by Alexander the great, described by Marco Polo in his Book of Marvels and in the tale of Sinbad the Sailor, in the One Thousand and One Tales of the Arabian Nights. The legends related that pieces of animal esh and carcasses were thrown onto the diamonds, so that the meat was carried off by vultures, and as the birds landed to eat, the diamonds could then be retrieved by the miners. This part of the story corresponds to a very particular physical property of diamonds, their attraction to grease.

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The legendary valley of diamonds

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From 1518 to 1687, the City of Golconda was the capital of a powerful kingdom, whose rulers were eventually overthrown by the Emperor Aurangzeb. Golconda then became part of the Mughal Empire, and for the next 40 or so years, before the mines began to be depleted, the region continued to revel in its heyday, famed for its breathtakingly beautiful stones, desired and prized by kings, princes and potentates, and passionate collectors in the royal courts of Europe. The Golconda region remained the worlds only source of diamonds, apart from a small supply in Borneo, until diamonds were discovered in Brazil in 1725. Even then, so synonymous with diamonds was Golconda, that Brazilian stones were often shipped to India and then exported around the world. The term Golconda came to be applied to the famous diamonds themselves, with their spellbinding limpid depth, their moonlit luminosity, their soft but intense whiteness, and their celestial water. The nest and biggest diamonds were automatically the property of the ruler, while the rest were sold to merchants and jewelers, and the Emperor received two percent of

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all sales. Different colours of diamonds were reserved for different castes, and the best colour and quality of a diamond, the whitest and purest, reserved for kings and rulers, were believed to represent and hold the greatest power, which was then magically conferred on the owner or wearer. Linked through its light to the divine, to spiritual illumination, and through immutability to its role as magical protector, the diamond represented an unbreakable bond between the owner or wearer and a higher power. For centuries the value of the diamond lay in its magical, metaphysical and spiritual properties. Along with its power, the diamond was thought to bring health, happiness, riches and glory, to protect against snake venom, re, illness and the forces of evil. These beliefs travelled with the diamond to Europe and across the world, imbuing the stone of kings with an aura and allure that remains today. From the 15th century, the diamond, linked to Venus, believed to form the tips of Cupids arrows, took on its association with constancy and everlasting love.

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Tavernier
by Vivienne Becker, Jewellery Historian

Jean-Baptiste Tavernier, (1605-1689), the great traveler and gem dealer, made six eventful journeys to India and the East, and was largely responsible for introducing the splendor of Golconda diamonds to Europe, sparking a wide spread passion for diamonds that grew and ourished in the 18th century, when new diamond deposits were discovered in Brazil. Tavernier is best known for bringing some of the worlds most famous and historic diamonds to France, to the Sun King, Louis XIV, who dazzled in diamonds from head to toe, and who designated several stones as French Crown Jewels. Tavernier consorted with the Mughal Emperors, with Shah Jahan and his son Aurangzeb, he explored the Golconda diamond industry and saw and examined the most fabled specimens. Tavernier recounted his travels in a comprehensive journal that provides an important insight not only into the ways in which diamonds were mined, traded, cut and polished but also into the revered position the diamond occupied in Indian legend and culture.

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Taverniers observations point to the differences between the Indian and the European approach to diamonds and gems, the main difference hinging on the re or brilliance of the stone. Indians cared less for the scintillating glitter of a stone, and much more for its inner light, that subtle, luminous glow, likened to sacred moonlight. The weight of a diamond was also of more importance than its sparkle. For the Indians, diamonds possessed a very strong spiritual nature, with a rich inner core of romance and otherworldliness, all of which had to be preserved above all during the cutting, polishing and setting of the stone. There is an alluring legend, in which Lord Krishna, the Hindu deity, presented a large diamond, which had been given to him by a diamond cutter from Benares, to Radha, his beloved. Walking by the river banks, one moonlit night, Krishna saw how Radhas beauty was illuminated by the moons soft luminous glow. He found the facets of the diamond distracted from her beauty, and so the next day he returned the stone to the cutter and asked if it could be polished in such a way to complement Radhas soft beauty rather than competing with it. He wanted a stone with a soft, but intense gleam, as gently radiant as Radha or moonlight. The cutter polished the stone to turn the inner light to a silken, silvery mist, the model of a perfect Golconda diamond. By the 18th century, however, the Indian mines of the Golconda region were virtually exhausted, and the devastatingly beautiful diamonds became legends. These legends, and the unmatched beauty of the early Indian Golconda diamonds, have found a new audience in todays collectors and diamond connoisseurs.

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(Actual size)

350 THE ARCHDUKE JOSEPH DIAMOND

The unmounted cushion-shaped diamond weighing approximately 76.02 carats, in purple leather tted box Accompanied by report no. 5151001770 dated 14 September 2012 from the GIA Gemological Institute of America stating that the diamond is D colour, Internally Flawless clarity; a letter indicating that the diamond is Type IIa; a GIA monograph and a letter dated 1 October 2012 stating that to date the Archduke Joseph Diamond is the largest D-color, Internally Flawless diamond we have graded from the historic Golconda region. Letter dated 12 June 2007 from the GIA Gemological Institute of America stating that upon examination, prior to and after re-cutting, we can conrm that the 76.02 carat diamond was cut from the diamond known as the Archduke Joseph Diamond Report no. 12090150 dated 26 September 2012 from the Gbelin GemLab stating that the diamond is D colour, Internally Flawless clarity, and a Note indicating that the diamond is Type IIa; also with an Appendix stating that the diamond is blessed with a purity of colour and high degree of transparency, which are particular to the worlds nest natural type IIa diamond (the purest type in terms of chemistry). Diamonds of this type and size, displaying such a superior quality as well as an antique cutting style, are extremely rare and will unequivocally evoke references to the historic term of Golconda

Estimate on Request

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To date the Archduke Joseph Diamond is the largest D-color, Internally Flawless diamond we have graded from the historic Golconda region
GIA Gemological Institute of America 1 October 2012

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