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The Pitt or Regent: France

At last he was relieved of further anxiety by the negotiations, in consequence of which the "Pitt" became, the "Regent," passing from its English owner into the hands of the Duke of Orleans, Regent of France, in 1717. After being cut in the form of an almost faultless brilliant, a model of the diamond was taken, which is now in the British Museum, and on the silver frame is engraved the legend: "This is the model of Governor Pitt's diamond, weight 136 1/2 carats; was sold to Louis XV. of France, A.D. 1717." This model, or rather a duplicate without the frame, had been sent to Paris and submitted to the famous Scotch financier John Law, at that time at the height of his power in France. Law took the stone first to the Regent, and then to the Duc de Saint Simon, who gives a full account of the affair in his Memoirs. Saint Simon agreed with Law that France ought to possess a gem which up to that time was incomparably the finest ever seen in Europe. Yielding to their combined efforts, the Regent at last consented to purchase it for pound 135,000, including pound 5,000 for the negotiations, a euphemistic expression, which, translated into plain language, meant a bribe for Law. Money, however, was just then so scarce, that the interest alone was paid on the amount, jewels being given as security for the principal until it was paid off. This price, great as it may appear to be, was even then regarded as much below its real value, and in the inventory of the French Crown Jewels, drawn up in 1791, it is valued at 12,000,000 francs, or pound 480,000.