Famous Nassak diamond - pried from God's eye !

Like most famous diamonds of Indian origin such as Kohinoor, Hope, Regent and a host of others, the well known

India's stolen diamond, the Nassak diamond. mishramit.wordpress.com

Nassak diamond is a glaring example or rather a poignant remainder of India's past glorious wealth that had been plundered and devastated by the invaders from north west and later by the British.

Nassak diamond stolen from Triyambakeshwar Temple.Indiaharekrsna.com

The Nassak Diamond (also known as the Eye of the Idol) is a large, 43.38 carats (8.68 g) diamond that originated as a larger diamond in the 15th century in India. Found in the Amaragiri mine located in Mahbubnagar, Andhra Pradesh, south India, and originally cut here, the diamond adorned the idol of Shiva at least from 1500 to 1817 in the Trimbakeshwar Shiva Temple, near Nashik (hence the name Nassak), now a big city on the upper Godavari River in the state of Maharashtra, India.

The British East India Company got the diamond through the Third Anglo-Maratha War (1817- 1818) after defeating a local Pashwa ( Martha ruler) Baji Rao II and gave it to British colonel by the name of J. Briggs. As a courtesy the military official handed over the valuable diamond to Francis Rawdon - Hastings, the 1st Marquess of Hastings of East India company who led the forces against the Maratha rulers. The semi-triangular Mogul cut diamond, then weighing 89.75 carat changed hands to London-based jewelers Rundell and Bridge in 1818 for 3000 pounds.In the same year they recut the diamond which now weighed 78.625 carats. After which it finally made its way in 1837 to Robert Grosvenor (the 1st Marquess of Westminster)'s dress sword.

The Nassak Diamond, that was taken to the United States in 1927, was then considered one of the first best 24 great diamonds of the world by 1930. In the US the diamond was a subject of litigation over imposition of import duty tax of 20% and funnily during that period two failed robbery attempts had been made by the gangs to get the diamonds. American jeweler Harry Winston acquired the Nassak Diamond in 1940 in Paris, France and recut it to its present flawless 43.38 carats (8.68 g) emerald cut shape. Later it changed a few hands and it was last sold at an auction in New York in 1970 to Edward J. Hand, a 48-year old trucking firm executive for $ 500,000.00 (roughly equal to $3.04 million in the 1070s), a large sum in those days. Richard Burton, the famous British actor paid the highest price for the Taylor-Burton diamond - $1.1 million for his wife Elizabeth Taylor, well-known Hollywood actress and legend only year earlier and it was the first million dollar deal for a diamond - a piece of compacted, superheated carbon in the bowels of Earth.

The name Idol's Eye seems to indicate the origin of the diamond, which is believed to have been stolen from the eye of a Hindu idol belonging to a sacred Hindu temple in western India. Other diamonds which were believed to have had similar origins were the Orlov and the Hope diamonds. The latter particularly became not only famous but also notorious, as it was believed, that a nasty curse was placed on the diamond by the priests of the Hindu Temple, from where the diamond was stolen.

The Idol's Eye diamond is a, colorless diamond with a slightly bluish tinge, typical of diamonds originating from the Golconda Mines in South India.

http://listverse.com/2012/11/09/top-10-creepy

Diamond, Once an Idol's Eye, Sold for $500,000". New York Times. 17 April 1970. p.32. Retrieved 14 November 2008.

Sucher, Scott (2006). "Nassak". museumdiamonds.com. Archived from the original on December 01, 2008. Retrieved 15 November 2008. "The dimension estimate was derived from GemCad modeling."