Mystery of The Missing Florentine Diamond Solved
- Editor OGN Daily
- 9 hours ago
- 1 min read
The legendary 137-carat Florentine Diamond has resurfaced after more than a century.
Legends surrounding the stone date as far back as 1467, and the huge Florentine Diamond (once owned by the Medici family) has been 'lost' for over a century after the Austro-Hungarian Empire's collapse, but has now been 'found'.
Members of the former Habsburg imperial family revealed the diamond was secretly safeguarded, not stolen or lost, for more than 100 years after Emperor Charles I sent the diamond to Switzerland for protection in 1918 as his empire crumbled, and the family prepared for exile. At the time, it was valued at $750,000, says Jeweller Magazine.
Then, in the 1940s, Empress Zita (Charles I's wife) secretly transported the diamond to Canada during World War II and instructed her sons to keep its whereabouts confidential for 100 years after Charles's death in 1922. A classic example of "The less people know about it, the bigger the security.”
The disappearance of the stone prompted speculation it was among the Austrian jewels stolen by Hitler when the Nazis annexed the country. Others feared that it had been cut up or hidden away in South America. But, happily not.
The Habsburg family now intends to display the diamond publicly at a Canadian museum as a thank you for taking them in, with no plans to sell it - and they won’t disclose how much it might now be worth.