The Bazu was a colourless stone of 32.62 carats. It has only been mentioned once in history, but what a time!
Fact Sheet
• Weight: 32.62 carats
• Dimensions: 17.74mm x 12.44mm
• Colour: colourless
• Rough weight: 195 carats
• Origin: suspected India
• Date found: unknown
• Current location: unknown
It was the largest diamond set with the French Blue in an ornament called The Order of the Golden Fleece created by King Louis XV around 1749 and also employing the 107.88-carat Cote de Bretagne spinel, three large yellow topazes, a handful of 5-carat diamonds and several hundred 0.1-carat diamonds.
At the time, this ornament was considered to be the most lavish and -expensive single piece of jewellery in all of Europe.
The Golden Fleece was stolen along with many of the French Crown Jewels in September, 1792. It was apparently broken up, with the French Blue recut into the Hope diamond. The Cote de Bretagne spinel was recovered many years later but all other stones have since disappeared into the mists of history.
The Bazu was also the largest diamond cut in the form of a regular hexagon. The replica shown here is the only one known to exist, and is the result of on-going research concerning the Hope and French Blue diamonds.
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ABOUT SCOTT SUCHER
When one thinks of diamonds, Tijeras, New Mexico is not the first place that springs to mind, but it’s home to Scott Sucher, the Master behind the research and replicas that form the World Famous Diamonds.
Scott Sucher’s lifelong interest in geology commenced when a local museum hosted an exhibition of famous diamonds made of quartz when he was just a young boy. Whenever he could find time in his busy life, he published a collection of internet articles and lectures.
After retirement, Sucher returned to stone cutting with renewed vigour when a Discovery Channel producer requested help for a program on famous diamonds. The 14-month collaboration resulted in Unsolved History: the Hope Diamond, which first aired in February 2005.
The program gave Sucher the chance to handle the unset Hope diamond, the 31-carat Blue Heart diamond and Napoleon’s necklace – a 234-diamond necklace that Napoleon gave to his second wife Marie-Louise.
Sucher then worked with the Natural History Museum in London to recreate a replica of the historic Koh-i-noor. The entire process took 12 months – photo analysis took four months alone – and concluded in July 2007. The cutting alone took 46 hours, and Sucher likened it to “brain surgery, as one mistake can be non-recoverable.”
Sucher continues his work in partnership with many other experts and museums in the field. If anyone knows anything about the world’s most famous diamonds, it’s Scott Sucher.
To follow his ongoing works click here.
