How much carat is kohinoor diamond

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Only the so-called super diamonds are reserved for the lucky few. The Koh-i-Noor diamond, which was set in Queen Elizabeth's crown, belongs in this category. What is the Koh-i-Noor diamond? Where did the Koh-i-Noor diamond originate? How did this super diamond end up in British hands?

Read more below. Previous Next. What is the Koh-i-Noor diamant? She in turn had it cut into a stunning carat brilliant. The Koh-i-Noor diamond has only been worn by queens and is currently set in Queen Elizabeth's crown. It can be admired at the Tower of London. Where did the Koh-i-Noor diamond originate from?

It was owned by the ruling maharajahs until the 14th century. Often following a bloody war, the diamond successively ended up in the hands of various Sikh, Mogul and Persian rulers. Upon noticing the unique precious stone in the turban, Persian commander Nadir Sjah cried 'Koh-i-Noor', or 'mountain of light'.

On 31 December Queen Elizabeth I founded the British East India Company , which over years grew into one of the most powerful commercial enterprises in the world. The last Sikh Maharaja, Dalip Singh, found this out first-hand when he was forced to abdicate in The British took countless Royal Persian possessions back with them to England as spoils of war. So the Koh-i-Noor ended up in British possession.

And so to the Koh-i-Noor too. Some Hindus believe the Koh-i-Noor diamond is a gift from the sun god Surya to Earth; others believe it was stolen from the god Krishna whilst he was asleep. Tradition has it that its owner will rule the world, but also that the stone would bring misfortune to any man wearing it. The popular story is that Nader Shah connived to deprive the Mughal emperor of his diamond, which had been squirreled away in his turban.

But, it was far from being a loose, singular gem that Muhammad Shah could secrete within his turban, and which Nader Shah could craftily acquire by a turban swap. According to the Persian historian Marvi's eyewitness account, the Emperor could not have hidden the gem in his turban, because it was at that point a centrepiece of the most magnificent and expensive piece of furniture ever made: Shah Jahan's Peacock Throne.

The Koh-i-Noor, he writes from personal observation, in the first named reference to the stone - until now untranslated into English - was placed on the roof of this extraordinary throne, set in the head of a peacock. Reality: According to French gem merchant and traveller Jean-Baptiste Tavernier, who was given permission from Mughal emperor Aurangzeb to see his private collection of jewels, the stone cutter, Hortensio Borgio, had indeed brutally cut a large diamond, resulting in a sad loss of size.

Most modern scholars are now convinced that the Great Mughal Diamond is actually the Orlov, today part of Catherine the Great's imperial Russian sceptre in the Kremlin. Since the other great Mughal diamonds have largely been forgotten, all mentions of extraordinary Indian diamonds in historical sources have retrospectively come to be assumed to be references to the Koh-i-Noor. Image source, Getty Images. Myth 1: The Koh-i-Noor is the preeminent Indian diamond.

The jewel is in the crown worn by the Queen Mother, which was displayed on her coffin during her funeral. Myth 2: The Koh-i-Noor was a flawless diamond. Queen Victoria wearing a brooch set with the Koh-i-Noor. Koh-i-Noor - a gift at the point of a bayonet. India says it should not claim priceless diamond from UK. Myth 4: The Koh-i-Noor was the Mughals' most precious treasure.

Timur handing the imperial crown to Babur in the presence of Humayun. After his death in , at least three kings succeeded him one after another, and were killed in a struggle for succession. Finally in , Dulip Singh, the last of Ranjit Singh's sons, who was a minor, was proclaimed the King, with his mother Jindan kaur as regent. Two Sikh wars were fought during his reign, leading to the annexation of the Punjab by the British.

On March 29th , the British flag was hoisted on the citadel of Lahore and the Punjab was formally proclaimed to be part of the British Empire in India. One of the terms of the Treaty of Lahore, the legal agreement formalizing this occupation, reads as follows On the side of the British, the Treaty of Lahore was ratified by Lord Dalhousie, the Governor General, who at the age of 35, was the youngest holder of this office, to be sent to India.

Dalhousie was chiefly responsible for acquiring the Koh-i-Noor for the British, and he displayed a keen interest in the diamond for the rest of his life. Not long after the signing of the Treaty of Lahore, Dalhousie was severely criticized by the officials of the East India Company, the former Governor General of India, Lord Ellenborough and others, for the manner in which the diamond was acquired for the British.

While the East India Company felt that the diamond should have been handed over to them to be presented to the Queen as a gift on a subsequent occasion, Lord Ellenborough was indignant because Dalhousie did not confiscate everything to Her Majesty the Queen. I was fully prepared to hear that the court chafed at my not sending the diamond to them, and letting them present it to her Majesty. They ought not to do so. They ought to enter into and cordially approve the sentiment on which I acted thus.

The motive was simply this : that it was more for the honor of the Queen that the Koh-i-Noor should be surrendered directly from the hands of the conquered Prince into the hands of the sovereign who was his conqueror, than it should be presented to her as a gift -which is always a favor- by any joint stock company among her subjects.

So the court ought to feel. As for their fretting and censuring, that I do not mind, so long as they do not disallow the article. I know I have acted best for the Sovereign, and for their honor too. Lord Dalhousie, assigned Dr. John Login, the important task of taking the Koh-i-Noor into the safe custody of British Officials in Lahore, from the Toshakhana the jewel house , whose custodian was the treasurer of the Punjab Government. The crucial task was executed smoothly with the excellent Co-operation extended by the treasurer, who was indeed very happy to be relieved of the responsibility for the diamond.

The treasurer further added that the diamond had been the cause of so many unfortunate deaths in his own family, and he never expected to be spared either. The old treasurer also gave some useful advice to Dr Login, as to how the stone should be handled, when showing it to visitors. The first advice was that he should take extra precautions when handling the jewel, and under no circumstances should he allow it to fall out of his hand.

The second advice was that he should twist the ribbons that tied it as an armlet, around his fingers. The second important assignment entrusted to Dr login by Lord Dalhousie, was the guardianship of the young Prince Dulip Singh, the last son and successor to Maharaj Ranjit Singh, who was still a minor.

Out of the three officials, two of them decided that John Lawrence be entrusted , with the safe keeping of the diamond, as he was believed to be more practical and business-like in his approach to his duties.

When the small box containing the diamond was handed over to John Lawrence, he put it into his coat pocket and went about his normal day to day activities. Later in the evening when changing for dinner, he threw his coat aside absent mindedly, completely forgetting that the precious diamond was in one of the pockets. After about six weeks an urgent message was received from Lord Dalhousie, saying that the Queen had ordered the Koh-i-Noor be transmitted to her immediately.

Sir John Lawrence raised the topic at the next board meeting. A chill ran down the spine of John Lawrence, as he suddenly remembered, that the Koh-i-Noor was given to him for safe keeping. He could only remember, having put the small box containing the diamond into his coat pocket.

When John Lawrence said quietly, "Send for it at once" his bother replied. He said quietly to himself, "Well this is the worst trouble I have ever got into. As soon as he had opportunity to slip away to his private room, he did, with his heart in the mouth; sent for his old servant, and asked him, "Have you seen a small box which was in my waist coat pocket sometime ago? The servant seemed to be unaware of the treasure which he had in his keeping, and remarked, "There is nothing here, Sahib, but a bit of glass.

John Lawrence rushed back to the meeting with the Koh-i-Noor, and displayed it to the members of the board, who then initiated action for it's long journey to England. But the first leg of the journey , was the transport of the diamond from Lahore to Bombay, a route that was one of the most dangerous in India, at the time, swarming with arm bandits and other criminals. The Governor General carried the stone in his person, double sewn into a belt, secured around his waist, and one end of the belt was fastened to a chain around his neck.

He said that it never left him either in the day or night , except on one occasion when he left the stone with Captain Ramsay, locked in a treasure chest. Eventually he was able to deposit the stone at he treasury in Bombay, until the arrival of a ship, to transport it to England. Lord Dalhousie had confessed that he was the happiest person in the world when he was finally able to handover the stone to the safe custody of the Bombay treasury. The Koh-i-Noor was held up in Bombay for almost two months, until the arrival of a ship, sailing to England.

At the time the Koh-i-Noor was deposited in the Government treasury in Bombay, it was put in an iron box, which was again placed in a larger dispatch box.

Even the officer in the treasury was not aware of the contents of the box, as it was kept a secret, for security reasons. The dispatch box was loaded into the ship H. Medea, but the identity of the contents in the box was withheld from it's Captain Commander Lockyer.

The only individuals who knew about it were the officers entrusted with the custody of the dispatch, Lieutenant Colonel Mackeson and Captain Ramsay. Medea sailed from Bombay on the 6th of April The voyage of the H. Medea turned out to be a perilous one, which the feeble minded would have attributed to the unwelcome guest aboard the vessel-the Koh-i-Noor.

There were two occasions on which disaster was narrowly averted. The first one was when the ship reached the Mauritius Island. Cholera broke out on board the vessel, and the local people refused to sell necessary supplies to the crew, requesting the immediate departure of the ship.

When the Medea did not move, they asked their Governor to open fire and destroy the vessel. However, the ship left Mauritius after some days. A few days later the Medea was caught up in a severe storm, that lasted for about twelve hours, before subsiding finally. Eventually the H. Medea reached the port of Plymouth in England, where all the passengers disembarked, and the mail was unloaded except for the box containing the Koh-i-Noor, which was forwarded to Portsmouth.

The two officers in charge disembarked at Portsmouth, with the box containing the precious cargo, which was then delivered to the Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the East India Company.

The arrival of the Koh-i-Noor in England caused a lot of unease among people who were aware of the superstitions associated with the diamond. Certain unfortunate happenings involving the Queen was attributed to it's arrival, and necessitated Lord Dalhousie's intervention, in reassuring the Queen, that the stories associated with the Koh-i-Noor, that it always brings misfortune to it's possessor were all baseless.

On the Contrary, Dalhousie said that the stone could bring good fortune to it's possessor, and grants superiority to the possessor over all his enemies. He quoted the conversation which the owner of the diamond Shah Shoja had with Ranjith Singh at a subsequent occasion, after surrendering the diamond. When asked by Ranjit Singh, as to what was the value of the Koh-i-Noor, Shah Shoja replied, "It's value is good fortune, for whoever possessed it has been superior to all his enemies.

The diamond had to be removed from the setting it was placed in , when it arrived from India. One of those involved in this task, Sebastian Garrard, keeper of he Majesty's Jewels, took this opportunity to find out the exact weight of the stone. The weight of the stone turned out to be But, all these doubts were laid to rest, when people acquainted with the diamond, asserted that it was impossible for Dulip Singh, to have substituted the diamond, when the young king's habit of wearing it on state occasions , must have rendered it perfectly familiar to thousands , who would have instantly detected any attempt at substitution.

It was said that the more probable explanation for the discrepancy would have been that the weight of the Koh-i-Noor had been somewhat exaggerated. Dulip Singh traveled to England, to take part in the official presentation ceremony. Later in the same year, the British public was given a chance to see the renowned Koh-i-Noor diamond, when the great Exhibition was staged in Hyde Park, London.

Queen Victoria opening the great exhibition , inside the Crystal Palace. While the Great Exhibition was on, at the Crystal Palace, a massive structure measuring ft by ft by ft, built especially for the occasion, a correspondent of the Times newspaper reported as follows For some hours yesterday there were never less than couple of hundred persons waiting their turn of admission, and yet after all , the diamond does not satisfy.

Either from the imperfect cutting or the difficulty of placing the lights advantageously, or the immovability of the stone itself, which should be made to revolve on it's axis, few catch any of the brilliant rays, it reflects when viewed at a particular angle. Aerial view of the Crystal Palace, built for the exhibition, it burned down in Even Governor Dalhousie was not impressed by the brilliance of the diamond.

In a letter he wrote from Delhi at the time of the exhibition, he says, "The Koh-i-Noor is badly cut. It is rose and not brilliant-cut, and of course won't sparkle like the latter. But, it should not have been shown in a huge space.

In the Toshakhana at Lahore, Dr. Login used to show it on a table covered with a black velvet cloth, and relieved by the dark color all round. This disappointment in the appearance of the stone was shared by many, including Queen Victoria's consort, Prince Albert.

Later the Prince consulted Sir David Brewster, a Physicist, who had specialized in Optics, and was well known for his work on Polarized light. The Prince inquired from him as to how best the diamond could be re-cut, in order to maximize it's brilliance.

Brewster examined the stone, and found several small inclusions within the stone, which according to him was caused by the expansive force of condensed gases. Brewster was of opinion that re-cutting the diamond, without a serious reduction in weight, would be a very difficult task.

Professor Tennant and Reverend W. Both of them were of the opinion, that re-cutting the stone would definitely improve it's brilliance, but expressed fears that any cutting would endanger it's integrity. Finally the Prince decided to seek the advice of practical and experienced diamond cutters.

The Crown jewelers, Messrs Garrard, were instructed to get a report from some eminent cutters. They entrusted the job to a famous diamond cutting firm in Amsterdam, Messrs Coster of Amsterdam, who in their report noted the validity of the fears expressed in the Tennant report, but nevertheless were of the opinion that the dangers posed were not so formidable as to prevent the intended re-cutting of the diamond.

The Prince lost no time in giving the official approval for the re-cutting to commence, and the delicate task was to be carried out at the Garrard's Jewelry Shop. Two experienced cutters from Messrs. Coster, Mr. Voorzanger and Mr. Fedder arrived in London, to perform the difficult and time-consuming operation. The Duke of Wellington, who had shown a great interest in the proposed re-cutting and attended several preparatory meetings, inaugurated the re-cutting on Friday, July 17th, The Koh-i-Noor was embedded in Lead, with the exception of a small piece of the stone, that was intended to be the first to be subjected, to the cutting process.

A report on the "Times" newspaper reads as follows The Koh-i-Noor is intended to be converted into an oval brilliant, and the two smaller diamonds which accompany it are to be similarly treated as pendants. The present weight of the principal gem is carats, and the process now in progress will not, it is anticipated diminish in any material degree it's weight, while it will largely increase it's value and develop it's beauties.

On the 19th of July, the cutters tried to investigate the nature of the flaws in the stone, which according to Tennant and Mitchell, was not natural but deliberately created for the purpose of holding the stone more firmly in it's setting and noted by them, still to have particles of gold adhering to it. By cutting directly into the stone in the region of the flaws, it was revealed that the flaw was a natural inclusion of a yellow tinge.

The cutters then proceeded to eliminate this flaw. As planned originally the stone was converted to an oval brilliant weighing Such a drastic loss of weight, came as a disappointment to many, including Prince Albert, and prompted the comment in the press, that the re-cutting of the Koh-i-Noor revealed the painful fact, that the art of diamond cutting was extinct in England.

The final form of the Koh-i-Noor was an oval, stellar brilliant-cut, with the crown possessing the regular 33 facets, including the table, while the pavilion had eight more facets than the regular 25, making the total number of facets to Dulip Singh who was now living in London, under the guardianship of Lady Login, was one of the first persons to be shown the Koh-i-Noor in it's new shape. This was on the initiative of Queen Victoria herself, when the Prince visited the Buckingham Palace, for sittings for a portrait of himself, being made by the palace.

But, before doing so, the Queen verified from Lady Login that the Prince had no regrets or worries about the loss of the diamond, and that he would be interested in seeing the stone in it's re-cut form. The Queen herself walked up to the Maharajah who was posing on a Dais, and handed over the Koh-i-Noor to him for his inspection. After he had finished his inspection, Dulip Singh walked across the room, and with a low bow expressed in a few graceful words the pleasure it gave him to have the opportunity of placing the stone in her hands.

However the worries over the supposed bad luck which the Koh-i-Noor would bring to it's owner refused to die down and this led Lord Dalhousie to write his most extended letter refuting the claim. It is not only contrary to fact but contrary to native statements also.