Thomas Pitt - Pitt's Diamond

Pitt's Diamond

Pitt is most famous for his purchase of a 410 carat (82 g) uncut diamond acquired from an Indian merchant named Jamchund in Madras in 1701. The merchant had purchased the diamond from an English sea captain, who had, in fact, stolen the diamond from a servant of Abul Hasan Qutb Shah. According to another version the servant found the diamond in one of the Golkonda mines on the Kistna River and had concealed it inside a large wound in his leg, which he had suffered from as he fled the Siege of Golconda.

Pitt bought the diamond for 48,000 pagodas or £20,400, and sent it back to England in 1702 with his eldest son. For two years from 1704–1706, the jeweller Harris labored in London to hew a 141 carat (28.2 g) cushion brilliant from the rough stone. Several secondary stones were produced from the cut that were sold to Peter the Great of Russia. After many attempts to sell it to various European royals, including Louis XIV of France, Pitt and his sons went with the diamond to Calais in 1717. With John Law acting as agent, it was sold that year to the French regent, Philippe II, Duke of Orléans for £135,000, becoming one of the crown jewels of France. Today, "Le Régent" as it came to be known, remains in the French Royal Treasury at the Louvre, where it has been on display, since 1887.