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THE ART OF THE CUTTER
sioned
to keep it in safety. But they retired from business in July, 1831, and
decided to sell it at auction. The firm of Emanuel Brothers bought
it—but not for $150,000. They paid the sum of £2200, which at the time
represented about $36,000. A forced sale had been caused because a
depression was on. Some say that the heat of Siva's curse was on, too.
Emanuel
Brothers couldn't sell it, so in 1877 it went on the auction block
again. But a famous pair of diamonds which had been presented to Queen
Charlotte by the Nabob of Arcot, had to be thrown into the bargain
before the Marquis of Westminster bought it. He wore it on the hilt of
his sword.
It
passed to a couple of other hands until it Snally came into the
possession of the famous French jeweler, Monsieur George Mauboussin. He
could find no sale for it in Europe and decided to have it imported
into America as an artistic antique.
An
"artistic antique," indeed, the American jewelry trade exclaimed. It
was known that Monsieur Mauboussin intended to offer it for sale, but
the United States Customs Court in New York upheld its importation free
of duty because it was an "artistic antique." Owners of old-cut
diamonds who had had to pay duty didn't like this. The jewelry trade
arranged an appeal to the Court of Customs and Patent Appeals, and the
former decision was reversed.
As
of this writing, it still is being contested. The stone, meanwhile, was
purchased by an American importing firm. This firm was not interested
in it as "an artistic antique." It was interested in it as something
salable. So it decided to change the whole cut of the stone. Originally
it had been a beautiful thing, an almost heart-shaped affair with
something resembling a diamond tear dropping from it in sorrow.
(95)
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