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The Austrian Yellow: Maximilian

Owing to the confusion between the "Fugger" and "Florentine," the latter has sometimes been called the "Maximilian," as by Murray, who writes that "the 'Maximilian,' or Austrian diamond, is of a yellow colour and rose cut, and has been an heirloom in the family ever since the emperor of that name." But we have seen above that it did not pass into the Austrian family until the time of Maria Theresa. It was one of the gems purchased by Jacob Fugger that passed into the hands of Maximilian II., for whom Fugger broke up the "Cap of Maintenance," resetting all the jewels adorning it. He describes it as of silk, and covered with pearls, with a hat-band of sapphires and rubies, and a plume-case set with alternate rows of good-sized diamonds, pearls, and rubies. It would thus seem that one of these "good-sized diamonds" has developed into a stone of 139 1/2 carats, and that the latter has been made an "heir-loom" of the House of Austria nearly two hundred years before it crossed the Alps; for Maximilian II. reigned from 1564 to 1576, while Maria Theresa married Francis Stephen of Lorraine in 1736.

This stone has been variously estimated at pound 40,000 to pound 50,000, and even at pound 155,000. But for its citron hue the latter might not perhaps be too high an estimate of its value.