The Florentine Diamond is a lost diamond of Indian origin. It is light yellow in color with very slight green overtones. It is cut in the form of an irregular (although very intricate) nine-sided 126-facet double rose cut, with a weight of 137.27 carats (27.454 g). The stone is also known as the Tuscan, the Tuscany Diamond, the Grand Duke of Tuscany, the Austrian Diamond, Austrian Yellow Diamond, and the Dufner Diamond.
The stone's origins are disputed. Reportedly, it was cut by Lodewyk van Becken for Chales the Bold, Duke of Burgundy.Charles is said to have been wearing it when he fell in the Battle of Nancy, on 5 January 1477. A peasant or foot soldier found the diamond on the Duke's person and sold it for 2 francs, thinking it was glass. The new owner Bartholomew May, a citizen of Bern, sold it to the Genoese, who in turn sold it to Ludovico Sforza. By way of the Fuggers, it came into the Medici treasury at Florence. Pope Julius II is also named as one of its owners.
Another version of the stone's early history claims that the rough stone was acquired in the late 16th century from the King of Bijavanagar in southern India by the Portuguese Governor of Goa. Ludovico Castro, Count of Montesanto. The crystal was deposited with the Jesuits in Rome until, after lengthy negotiations, Ferdinando I de' Medici. Grand Duke of Tuscany, succeeded in buying it from the Castro-Noronha family for 35,000 Portuguese...
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| Atocha Divers Showing Recent Finds. Source: See link below. |
We are excited to share with you our recent discoveries:
• 2 - Pottery shards with glaze intact (Majolica blue on blue)
• 1- Pottery fragment with sweeping handle
• 2- Silver-encrusted objects (possible silver plate rim)
Here is that link.
New Discoveries on the Atocha site! – MFST
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With a minimum of 19 specimens of rattles, the assemblage from Hama forms the largest collection of securely identified rattles from the EBA Near East. Given the fact that the excavators of the domestic neighborhood did not recognize the rattles as such, but interpreted them as variously handles, spouts, and perforated bottles, there may potentially be more rattle fragments in the Hama Collection, both in Copenhagen and in Syria, where the remaining half of the excavated material is kept. Other types of rattles (and other toys) are also very likely to have been present, i.e. those made of perishable materials such as wood, reeds, and straw, which have not survived in the archaeological record. Nevertheless, our understanding of the fragmentary handles and pierced bodies found in the neighborhood at EB IV Hama as fragments of baby rattles forms important new evidence for children in this time period...
“When you find items such as these, the tendency in archaeology has been to interpret them as musical instruments or even cultic objects when, really, they are something much more down-to-earth and relatable such as toys for children,” says Mette Marie Hald...
Here is the link for more about that.
Identifying things like this can be a problem, and I'm not totally confident that is the last word on the items.
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Good hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net