The Famous Yellow Diamonds

Yellow Diamonds get their colour from nitrogen being present at the time they are formed. The hues of a diamond can range from pale sunshine yellow to bright canary yellow and amber hues. Seventy Seven Diamonds brings you a list of the most exquisite and famous yellow-coloured diamonds that have featured tiffany jewellry throughout history.  Find about their history, their diamond credentials, and what it is that makes them so famous.

The Sancy Diamond

The most famous yellow diamond is the Sancy; an impressive 55 carat, light yellow diamond what fluoresces yellow and pink. However, it is the story of the diamond that makes it famous. It is thought that the Sancy originally true religion rainbow came from India and legend has it that in 1477 the diamond was lost by Charles, Duke of Burgundy during a battle. Its first verified owner became Nicholas Harlai of Sancy, a French Ambassador, who bought the diamond in the late 1500’s in Constantinople – hence the derivation of this stone’s name.

Since then the Sancy Diamond has been loaned to the French Kings Henry III and Henry IV, purchased by the English Crown and then sold back by to the French Crown James II.  The exquisite gem has been involved in funding wars, lost for an unpaid loan, bought by a Cardinal, and stolen in a great heist of the French Crown jewels. The Sancy later became part of the Napoleon court, sold to a Bombay louis vuitton bags merchant, featured at the Paris Exhibition in 1867, and then taken to America to be worn by Lady Astor in a wedding tiara in 1906.  The Sancy now sits in the Louvre museum in Paris; it was returned to France in 1978 when the Astor family sold it.

The Tiffany Diamond

This golden yellow diamond weighs 287 carats and was discovered in 1887 in South Africa. It was since purchased by Tiffany & Co. Jewellers for $18,000 (£11,978), who then cut it into a brilliant 90 facet, 128 cushion cut as it was felt this would extenuate it’s already exceptional beauty.

Tiffany has displayed the diamond to the world and over the years it has been featured at many expositions, including the 100 year celebration of the Kimberly Mine and the World’s Fair of 1939.  For the purpose of the famous Tiffany Tiffany diamond Ball in 1957, the Tiffany yellow was set into a diamond necklace. This was also the renowned piece worn by Audrey Hepburn in the film Breakfast at Tiffany’s. The yellow diamond was then fashioned into an art piece in 1960, named Bird on a Rock, and can still be viewed now at Tiffany’s on 5th Avenue, New York.

The Diamond Shah

An extremely clear yellow diamond, weighing 88.7 carats and measuring 3 cm long, was thought to be found a long time ago – around 1450 – in Central India. Here, it was rendered to the Shah court in Ahmadnagar. In 1591, Shah Nizam commanded that “Burhan-Nizam-Shah Second. Year 1000” be carved into one of the diamond’s facets, only to see it seized by the ruler of Northern India, the Great Moghul Akbar.

Akbar’s grandson, Shah Jehan, later came to the throne of Great Moghuls and ordered that another inscription be carved: “The son of Jehangir-Shah Jehan-Shah. Year 1051.” It was 1641 by the modern calender.  Son of Jehan-shah, Aureng-Zeb, placed the diamond above his throne, surrounding it with emeralds and rubies.  Until 1738, the diamond Shah was kept in Delhi, but in 1738, Nadir Shah attacked India and took the stone to Persia. In 1824, a third inscription was made to the third facet: “The ruler of the Kadgar-Fath ali-shah Sultan. Year 1242″.

Following the murder in 1829 of Russian diplomat Alexandr Griboyedov in Persia, Tehran, the court of Shah Fath Ali Shah presented the diamond to the Russian Tsar as a present to avoid being accused of being responsible.  The Shah diamond was brought to the Kremlin Diamond Fund, where it is still exhibited as one of Seven Historical Gems.