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The Koh-I-Nur: Mogul

When brought to Europe it was found to weigh exactly 186 1/16 carats. We have seen that Baber gives the weight of Bikermajit's diamond at "about eight mishkels," or somewhat over 187 carats, while Tavernier repeatedly declares that the "Great Mogul" was reduced by Borgio to 279 carats. Again the two stones were of totally different form, and the Mogul was without a history, having been quite recently discovered in the Kollur mine, whereas authentic records carried the "Koh-i-Nur" back to the year 1304, beyond which date it had a tradition giving it an antiquity of some fifty centuries. Several recent writers still, however, persist in regarding these two distinct stones as one and the same gem. Even Professor Nicol, in the last edition of the Encyclopadia Britannica, revives this theory, and goes the length of suggesting that the "Great Mogul," the "Koh-i-Nur" and the stone found in Cucha in 1832, were all pieces of one original crystal. Speaking of the "Koh-i-Nur," he remarks that "its lower side is flat and undoubtedly corresponds to a cleavage plane. Hence it has been conjectured that it and the Russian 'Orloff' diamond are portions of the original stone belonging to the 'Great Mogul,' whilst a stone of 132 carats obtained by Abbas Mirza at the storming of Cucha in Khorassan in 1832, may be a third fragment. This portion was long used by a peasant as a flint for striking fire. The three united would have nearly the form and size given by Tavernier, and the 'Koh-i-Nur' would then surpass all known diamonds in its magnitude, as in its eventful history." For a refutation of this theory, the reader is referred to our account of the Abbas Mirza Diamond.