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The Pitt or Regent: Government

Since its recovery and redemption from the Dutch Government, the "Regent" seems to have remained in the French treasury to the present time. The first emperor is known to have worn it in the pommel of his sword, and Barbot tells us expressly that it was publicly shown amongst the Crown jewellery, at the Paris Exhibition of 1855. Still it is remarkable that this brilliant does not figure in the inventory of the State Jewels, drawn up by order of Napoleon in 1810, nor apparently in any of the subsequent official reports on the Crown jewels. This circumstance, however it is to be explained, has doubtless, lent some colouring to the many conflicting statements regarding its subsequent vicissitudes. Kluge asserts that after its recovery in 1792, it was pledged, not to the Dutch Government, but to Treskow a merchant in Berlin. He also refers to the highly improbable report that, after the battle of Waterloo, where the Prussians found it in the Emperor's State carriage, it was carried off to the Prussian treasury. If it really was taken to Berlin on that occasion, it was subsequently restored to the French Government, for Ersch and Gruber, writing in 1833, distinctly state that at that time it was "the first diamond in the French treasury." Barbot also justly regards it as the most conspicuous gem in the now disused crown of France. This crown, which also contains eight other diamonds, weighing from 19 to 28 carats, is thus by far the richest in the world.

The form of the "Regent," is somewhat round, an inch broad, 1 1/6 of an inch long, and 3/4 of an inch thick. It was reduced in cutting from 410 to 136 7/8 carats, and has been estimated to be worth pound 480,000.