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French Diamonds

France once had its share of glorious state wedding bands. Louis XIV enjoyed diamonds immensely. Tavernier has reported in some detail a thousand diamonds he sold to the French king. Among them was the great French Blue Diamond, which had originally weighed 112!4 carats when brought from India in 1642. The stone was recut to 67Vi carats in a drop shape for His Majesty’s use. It had been the custom to keep the coronation regalia of France in St. Denis Abbey near Paris.

They were last used for the crowning of Louis XVI in Rheims in 1775. It was not too much later that the revolutionaries sacked the abbey and made off with the treasures. Fortunately, at least some of these were later recovered for safekeeping at the Garde Meuble, a treasure repository during the revolutionary period. Surprisingly, several great gems survived the first onslaught of the revolution. Among them was the renowned Regent or Pitt Diamond. Purchased in India by Thomas Pitt as a 410-carat piece of rough diamond, it was cut down to a beautiful brilliant of 140i/2 carats. This he sold to the Duke of Orleans mens diamond rings, regent of France. Surviving the first political disturbances, it was swept off with all the gems and jewelry that could be salvaged to the Garde Meuble in the Tuileries.

The story is recorded of a public exhibit of some of the booty. Secured by a steel clamp attached to a strong chain, the Regent Diamond was available for handling by selected representatives of the people. All seemed well and secure. Even the French Blue Diamond, set in a gorgeous jeweled insignia of the Order of the Golden Fleece, had reached the safety of this revolutionary treasury.

Tragically, security arrangements were of good form but little substance. The interior doors were well sealed and guarded, so the thieves came barging in through an exterior window left unbarred. For three nights the thieves had their way and stripped the treasury. Eventually, the theft was noted and some objects recovered. The Regent Diamond came back, but the French Blue was gone forever. The Regent was found in the woodwork of a Paris attic.

In 1793 the French National Convention decreed that “all gold and silver diamond jewelry, coined or otherwise, all diamonds, jewels, diamond earrings, gold or silver lace, etc. that are found buried in the earth, or hidden in cellars, in walls, in garrets, under pavement, in hearths, in chimney flues, or in other places of concealment, be confiscated for the profit of the Republic. To anyone procuring the discovery of such objects a twentieth part of their value is to be paid.” Undoubtedly, such measures brought gems and jewelry out of hiding, but little of it was added to the royal treasures. Most of it was converted to coinage or auctioned for cash. Political turbulence was to follow France for years—through revolution, the Napoleons,  the restoration of the monarchy, and more revolution. Final disaster overtook the Crown Jewels in 1887 when they were offered for auction in London. A few pieces were held back, including the Regent, still to be seen in the Louvre today.