The Hortensia Diamond

The Peach-Colored Hortensia Diamond

HORTENSIA DIAMOND

This 20 carat Diamond of peach color and unusual pentagon format sits on the Louvre Museum in Paris.

It belongs to the French Crown jewels since Luiz XIV. However, the Hortensia was not one of the diamonds which the King had purchased from Jean Baptiste Tavernier, the peoples jeweler at that time, because the largest stone of this particular color which he brought back from India weighed only 14 7/8 carats.

It was named after Hortense de Blauharnais, queen of Holland, daughter of Josephine and nice of Napoleon.

In the 1791 inventory of the Crown Jewels it was valued at no more than 48,000 livres on account of a crack extending from the edge of the girdle to near the culet.

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