Koh I Noor Drawing Ink

One of the largest cut diamonds in the world.

Koh-i-Noor
Replica of the Koh-i-Noor
Weight	105.602 carats (21.1204 g)^[a]
Dimensions	3.6 cm (1.4 in) long 3.2 cm (1.3 in) wide 1.3 cm (0.5 in) deep
Colour	D (colourless)^[4]
Type	IIa^[4]
Cut	Oval brilliant
Facets	66^[5]
Country of origin	India
Mine of origin	Kollur Mine
Cut by	Levie Benjamin Voorzanger
Owner	Queen Elizabeth II in right of the Crown^[6]

The Koh-i-Noor (; lit. "Mountain of light"),^[7] ^[8] also spelt Kohinoor and Koh-i-Nur, is one of the largest cut diamonds in the world, weighing 105.6 carats (21.12 g).^[a] It is part of the British Crown Jewels.

Possibly mined in Kollur Mine, India, during the period of the Kakatiya dynasty, there is no record of its original weight – but the earliest well-attested weight is 186 old carats (191 metric carats or 38.2 g). It was later acquired by Afghan Delhi Sultan Alauddin Khalji. The diamond was also part of the Mughal Peacock Throne. It changed hands between various factions in south and west Asia, until being ceded to Queen Victoria after the British annexation of the Punjab in 1849, during the reign of eleven-year-old emperor Maharaja Duleep Singh under the shadow influence of the British ally Gulab Singh the 1st Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir, who had previously been in possession of the stone.

Originally, the stone was of a similar cut to other Mughal-era diamonds, like the Darya-i-Noor, which are now in the Iranian Crown Jewels. In 1851, it went on display at the Great Exhibition in London, but the lacklustre cut failed to impress viewers. Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, ordered it to be re-cut as an oval brilliant by Coster Diamonds. By modern standards, the culet (point at the bottom of a gemstone) is unusually broad, giving the impression of a black hole when the stone is viewed head-on; it is nevertheless regarded by gemologists as "full of life".^[9]

Because its history involves a great deal of fighting between men, the Koh-i-Noor acquired a reputation within the British royal family for bringing bad luck to any man who wears it. Since arriving in the UK, it has only been worn by female members of the family.^[10] Victoria wore the stone in a brooch and a circlet. After she died in 1901, it was set in the Crown of Queen Alexandra, wife of Edward VII. It was transferred to the Crown of Queen Mary in 1911, and finally to the Crown of Queen Elizabeth (later known as the Queen Mother) in 1937 for her coronation as Queen consort.

Today, the diamond is on public display in the Jewel House at the Tower of London. The governments of India, Pakistan, Iran, and Afghanistan have all claimed ownership of the Koh-i-Noor and demanded its return ever since India gained independence from the UK in 1947. The British government insists the gem was obtained legally under the terms of the Last Treaty of Lahore and has rejected the claims.

History [edit]

Origin [edit]

The diamond may have been mined from Kollur Mine,^[11] ^[12] a series of 4-metre (13 ft) deep gravel-clay pits on the south bank of the Krishna River in the Golconda (present-day Andhra Pradesh), India.^[13] It is impossible to know exactly when or where it was found, and many unverifiable theories exist as to its original owner.^[14]

Early history [edit]

Babur, the Turco-Mongol founder of the Mughal Empire, wrote about a "famous" diamond that weighed just over 187 old carats – approximately the size of the 186-carat Koh-i-Noor.^[15] Some historians think Babur's diamond is the earliest reliable reference to the Koh-i-Noor.^[16] According to his diary, it was acquired by Alauddin Khalji, second ruler of the Khalji dynasty of the Delhi Sultanate, when he invaded the kingdoms of southern India at the beginning of the 14th century and was probably in the possession of the Kakatiya dynasty.^[17] It later passed to succeeding dynasties of the Sultanate, and Babur received the diamond in 1526 as a tribute for his conquest of Delhi and Agra at the Battle of Panipat.^[14]

One of Ranjit Singh's favourite horses with the head of his stables. His jewels are shown, to scale, including the Koh-i-Noor (top centre).^[18]

Shah Jahan, the fifth Mughal emperor, had the stone placed into his ornate Peacock Throne. In 1658, his son and successor, Aurangzeb, confined the ailing emperor to Agra Fort. While in the possession of Aurangzeb, it was allegedly cut by Hortense Borgia, a Venetian lapidary, reducing the weight of the large stone to 186 carats (37.2 g).^[19] For this carelessness, Borgia was reprimanded and fined 10,000 rupees.^[20] According to recent research, the story of Borgia cutting the diamond is not correct, and most probably mixed up with the Orlov, part of Catherine the Great's imperial Russian sceptre in the Kremlin.^[21]

Following the 1739 invasion of Delhi by Nadir Shah, the Afsharid Shah of Persia, the treasury of the Mughal Empire was looted by his army in an organised and thorough acquisition of the Mughal nobility's wealth.^[22] Along with millions of rupees and an assortment of historic jewels, the Shah also carried away the Koh-i-Noor.^[23] He exclaimed Koh-i-Noor!, Persian and Hindi-Urdu for "Mountain of Light", when he obtained the famous stone.^[24] ^[7] One of his consorts said, "If a strong man were to throw four stones – one north, one south, one east, one west, and a fifth stone up into the air – and if the space between them were to be filled with gold, all would not equal the value of the Koh-i-Noor".^[25]

After Nadir Shah was killed and his empire collapsed in 1747, the Koh-i-Noor fell to his grandson, who in 1751 gave it to Ahmad Shah Durrani, founder of the Afghan Empire, in return for his support.^[23] One of Ahmed's grandsons, Shuja Shah Durrani, wore a bracelet containing the Koh-i-Noor on the occasion of Mountstuart Elphinstone's visit to Peshawar in 1808.^[26] A year later, Shuja formed an alliance with the United Kingdom to help defend against a possible invasion of Afghanistan by Russia.^[27] He was quickly overthrown, but fled with the diamond to Lahore, where Ranjit Singh, founder of the Sikh Empire, in return for his hospitality, insisted upon the gem being given to him, and he took possession of it in 1813.^[22]

In Ranjit Singh's possession [edit]

Ranjit Singh had the diamond examined by jewelers of Lahore for two days to ensure that Shuja had not tricked him. After the jewelers confirmed its genuineness, he donated 125,000 rupees to Shuja. Ranjit Singh then asked the principal jewelers of Amritsar to estimate the diamond's value; the jewelers declared that the value of the diamond was "far beyond all computation".^[28] Ranjit Singh then fixed the diamond in the front of his turban, and paraded on an elephant to enable his subjects to see the diamond.^[29] He used to wear it as an armlet during major festivals such as Diwali and Dusserah, and took it with him during travel. He would exhibit it to prominent visitors, especially British officers.^[30]

2009 portrait of Ranjit Singh wearing the Koh-i-Noor armlet

One day, Ranjit Singh asked the diamond's former owners - Shuja and his wife Wafa Begum - to estimate its value. Wafa Begum replied that if a strong man threw a stone in four cardinal directions and vertically, Koh-i-Noor would be worth more than the gold and precious stones filled in the space. Ranjit Singh grew paranoid about the Koh-i-Noor being stolen, because in the past, another valuable jewel had been stolen from him while he was intoxicated. He kept the diamond within a high-security facility at the Gobindgarh Fort when it was not in use. When the diamond was to be transported, it was placed in a pannier on a guarded camel; 39 other camels with identical panniers were included in the convoy; the diamond was always placed on the first camel immediately behind the guards, but great secrecy was maintained regarding which camel carried it.^[30] Only Ranjit Singh's treasurer Misr Beli Ram knew which camel carried the diamond.^[31]

In June 1839, Ranjit Singh suffered his third stroke, and it became apparent that he would die soon. On his deathbed, he started giving away his valuable possessions to religious charities, and appointed his eldest son Kharak Singh as his successor. A day before his death, on 26 June 1839, a major argument broke out between his courtiers regarding the fate of Koh-i-Noor.^[32] Ranjit Singh himself was too weak to speak, and communicated using gestures. Bhai Gobind Ram, the head Brahmin of Ranjit Singh, insisted that the king had willed Koh-i-Noor and other jewels to the Jagannath Temple in Puri: the king apparently supported this claim through gestures, as recorded in his court chronicle Umdat ul-Tawarikh.^[33] However, treasurer Beli Ram insisted that it was a state property rather than Ranjit Singh's personal property, and therefore, should be handed over to Kharak Singh.^[34]

After Ranjit Singh's death, Beli Ram refused to send the diamond to the temple, and hid it in his vaults.^[35] Meanwhile, Kharak Singh and prime minister Dhian Singh also issued orders stating that the diamond should not be taken out of Lahore.^[36]

In Gulab Singh's possession [edit]

On 8 October 1839, the new emperor Kharak Singh was overthrown in a coup by his prime minister Dhian Singh. The prime minister's brother Gulab Singh, Raja of Jammu, came into possession of the Koh-i-Noor.^[37] Kharak Singh later died in prison, soon followed by the mysterious death of his son and successor Nau Nihal Singh on 5 November 1840. Gulab Singh held onto the stone until January 1841, when he presented it to emperor Sher Singh in order to win his favour,^[38] after his brother Dhian Singh negotiated a ceasefire between Sher Singh and the overthrown empress Chand Kaur. Gulab Singh had attempted to defend the widowed empress at her fort in Lahore, during two days of conflict and shelling by Sher Singh and his troops.^[39] Despite handing over the Koh-i-noor, Gulab Singh as a result of the ceasefire returned safely to Jammu with a wealth of gold and other jewels taken from the treasury.^[40]

Worn by child emperor Duleep Singh [edit]

On 15 September 1843, both Sher Singh and prime minister Dhian Singh were assassinated in a coup led by Ajit Singh Sandhawalia. However, the next day in a counter coup led by Dhian's son Hira Singh the assassins were killed. Aged 24, Hira Singh succeeded his father as prime minister, and installed the five-year old infant Duleep Singh as emperor. The Koh-i-noor was now fastened to the arm of the child emperor in court at Lahore. Duleep Singh and his mother empress Jind Kaur, had till then resided in Jammu, the kingdom governed by Gulab Singh.^[41]

Following his nephew Prime Minister Hira Singh's assassination on 27 March 1844, and the subsequent outbreak of the First Anglo-Sikh War, Gulab Singh himself led the Sikh empire as its prime minister, and despite defeat in the war, he became the first Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir on 16 March 1846, under the Treaty of Amritsar.

Acquisition by Queen Victoria [edit]

On 29 March 1849, following the conclusion of the Second Anglo-Sikh War, the Kingdom of Punjab was formally annexed to Company rule, and the Last Treaty of Lahore was signed, officially ceding the Koh-i-Noor to Queen Victoria and the Maharaja's other assets to the company. Article III of the treaty read:

The gem called the Koh-i-Noor, which was taken from Shah Sooja-ool-moolk by Maharajah Ranjeet Singh, shall be surrendered by the Maharajah of Lahore to the Queen of England [sic].^[42]

The lead signatory of the treaty for the eleven-year-old Maharaja Duleep Singh was his commander-in-chief Tej Singh, a loyalist of Maharaja Gulab Singh who had previously been in possession of the Koh-i-Noor and gained Kashmir from the Sikh empire, via treaty with Britain, following the First Anglo-Sikh War.

The Governor-General in charge of the ratification of this treaty was the Marquess of Dalhousie. The manner of his aiding in the transfer of the diamond was criticized even by some of his contemporaries in Britain. Although some thought it should have been presented as a gift to Queen Victoria by the East India Company, it is clear that Dalhousie believed the stone was a spoil of war, and treated it accordingly, ensuring that it was officially surrendered to her by Duleep Singh, the youngest son of Ranjit Singh.^[43] The presentation of the Koh-i-Noor by the East India Company to the queen was the latest in a long history of transfers of the diamond as a coveted spoil of war.^[44] Duleep Singh had been placed in the guardianship of Dr John Login, a surgeon in the British Army serving in the Presidency of Bengal. Duleep Singh would move to England in 1854.

Journey to the United Kingdom [edit]

Diagram of the pre-1852 cut.^[45]

Fig I. Shaded area is the base.
Fig II. A: flaw; B and C: notches cut to hold stone in a setting; D: flaw created by fracture at E; F: fracture created by a blow; G: unpolished cleavage plane; H: basal cleavage plane.
Fig III. Opposite side, showing facets and peak of the "Mountain of Light"

In due course, the Governor-General received the Koh-i-Noor from Dr Login, who had been appointed Governor of the Citadel, on 6 April 1848 under a receipt dated 7 December 1849, in the presence of members of the Board of Administration for the affairs of the Punjab: Sir Henry Lawrence (President), C. G. Mansel, John Lawrence and Sir Henry Elliot (Secretary to the Government of India).

Legend in the Lawrence family has it that before the voyage, John Lawrence left the jewel in his waistcoat pocket when it was sent to be laundered, and was most grateful when it was returned promptly by the valet who found it.^[46]

On 1 February 1850, the jewel was sealed in a small iron safe inside a red dispatch box, both sealed with red tape and a wax seal and kept in a chest at Bombay Treasury awaiting a steamer ship from China. It was then sent to England for presentation to Queen Victoria in the care of Captain J. Ramsay and Brevet Lt. Col F. Mackeson under tight security arrangements, one of which was the placement of the dispatch box in a larger iron safe. They departed from Bombay on 6 April on board HMS Medea, captained by Captain Lockyer.

The ship had a difficult voyage: an outbreak of cholera on board when the ship was in Mauritius had the locals demanding its departure, and they asked their governor to open fire on the vessel and destroy it if there was no response. Shortly afterwards, the vessel was hit by a severe gale that blew for some 12 hours.

On arrival in Britain on 29 June, the passengers and mail were unloaded in Plymouth, but the Koh-i-Noor stayed on board until the ship reached Spithead, near Portsmouth, on 1 July. The next morning, Ramsay and Mackeson, in the company of Mr Onslow, the private secretary to the Chairman of the Court of Directors of the British East India Company, proceeded by train to East India House in the City of London and passed the diamond into the care of the chairman and deputy chairman of the East India Company.

The Koh-i-Noor was formally presented to Queen Victoria on 3 July 1850 at Buckingham Palace by the deputy chairman of the East India Company.^[44] The date had been chosen to coincide with the Company's 250th anniversary.^[47]

The Great Exhibition [edit]

In the armlet given to Victoria

Members of the public were given a chance to see the Koh-i-Noor when The Great Exhibition was staged at Hyde Park, London, in 1851. It represented the might of the British Empire and took pride of place in the eastern part of the central gallery.^[48]

Its mysterious past and advertised value of £1–2 million drew large crowds.^[49] At first, the stone was put inside a gilded birdcage, but after complaints about its dull appearance, the Koh-i-Noor was moved to a case with black velvet and gas lamps in the hope that it would sparkle better.^[50] Despite this, the flawed and asymmetrical diamond still failed to please viewers.^[3]

1852 re-cutting [edit]

Originally, the diamond had 169 facets and was 4.1 centimetres (1.6 in) long, 3.26 centimetres (1.28 in) wide, and 1.62 centimetres (0.64 in) deep. It was high-domed, with a flat base and both triangular and rectangular facets, similar in overall appearance to other Mughal era diamonds which are now in the Iranian Crown Jewels.^[51]

Disappointment in the appearance of the stone was not uncommon. After consulting mineralogists, including Sir David Brewster, it was decided by Prince Albert, the husband of Queen Victoria, with the consent of the government, to polish the Koh-i-Noor. One of the largest and most famous Dutch diamond merchants, Mozes Coster, was employed for the task. He sent to London one of his most experienced artisans, Levie Benjamin Voorzanger, and his assistants.^[22]

On 17 July 1852, the cutting began at the factory of Garrard & Co. in Haymarket, using a steam-powered mill built specially for the job by Maudslay, Sons and Field.^[52] Under the supervision of Prince Albert and the Duke of Wellington, and the technical direction of the queen's mineralogist, James Tennant, the cutting took thirty-eight days. Albert spent a total of £8,000 on the operation,^[53] which reduced the weight of the diamond from 186 old carats (191 modern carats or 38.2 g) to its current 105.6 carats (21.12 g).^[54] The stone measures 3.6 cm (1.4 in) long, 3.2 cm (1.3 in) wide, and 1.3 cm (0.5 in) deep.^[55] Brilliant-cut diamonds usually have fifty-eight facets, but the Koh-i-Noor has eight additional "star" facets around the culet, making a total of sixty-six facets.^[5]

The great loss of weight is to some extent accounted for by the fact that Voorzanger discovered several flaws, one especially big, that he found it necessary to cut away.^[22] Although Prince Albert was dissatisfied with such a huge reduction, most experts agreed that Voorzanger had made the right decision and carried out his job with impeccable skill.^[53] When Queen Victoria showed the re-cut diamond to the young Maharaja Duleep Singh, the Koh-i-Noor's last non-British owner, he was apparently unable to speak for several minutes afterwards.^[54]

The much lighter but more dazzling stone was mounted in a honeysuckle brooch and a circlet worn by the queen.^[3] At this time, it belonged to her personally, and was not yet part of the Crown Jewels.^[22] Although Victoria wore it often, she became uneasy about the way in which the diamond had been acquired. In a letter to her eldest daughter, Victoria, Princess Royal, she wrote in the 1870s: "No one feels more strongly than I do about India or how much I opposed our taking those countries and I think no more will be taken, for it is very wrong and no advantage to us. You know also how I dislike wearing the Koh-i-Noor".^[56]

Crown Jewel [edit]

The Koh-i-Noor in the front cross of Queen Mary's Crown

After Queen Victoria's death, the Koh-i-Noor was set in the Crown of Queen Alexandra, the wife of Edward VII, that was used to crown her at their coronation in 1902. The diamond was transferred to Queen Mary's Crown in 1911,^[57] and finally to The Queen Mother's Crown in 1937.^[58] When The Queen Mother died in 2002, the crown was placed on top of her coffin for the lying-in-state and funeral.^[59]

All these crowns are on display in the Jewel House at the Tower of London with crystal replicas of the diamond set in the older crowns.^[60] The original bracelet given to Queen Victoria can also be seen there. A glass model of the Koh-i-Noor shows visitors how it looked when it was brought to the United Kingdom. Replicas of the diamond in this and its re-cut forms can also be seen in the 'Vault' exhibit at the Natural History Museum in London.^[61]

During the Second World War, the Crown Jewels were moved from their home at the Tower of London to Windsor Castle.^[62] In 1990, The Sunday Telegraph, citing a biography of the French army general, Jean de Lattre de Tassigny, by his widow, Simonne, reported that George VI hid the Koh-i-Noor at the bottom of a pond or lake near Windsor Castle, about 32 km (20 miles) outside London, where it remained until after the war. The only people who knew of the hiding place were the king and his librarian, Sir Owen Morshead, who apparently revealed the secret to the general and his wife on their visit to England in 1949.^[63]

Ownership dispute [edit]

The Koh-i-Noor has long been a subject of diplomatic controversy, with India, Pakistan, Iran, and Afghanistan all demanding its return from the UK at various points.^[64]

India [edit]

The Government of India, believing the gem was theirs, first demanded the return of the Koh-i-Noor as soon as independence was granted in 1947. A second request followed in 1953, the year of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. Each time, the British Government rejected the claims, saying that ownership was non-negotiable.^[53]

In 2000, several members of the Indian Parliament signed a letter calling for the diamond to be given back to India, claiming it was taken illegally.^[65] British officials said that a variety of claims meant it was impossible to establish the diamond's original owner,^[66] and that it had been part of Britain's heritage for more than 150 years.^[67]

In July 2010, while visiting India, David Cameron, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, said of returning the diamond, "If you say yes to one you suddenly find the British Museum would be empty. I am afraid to say, it is going to have to stay put".^[53] On a subsequent visit in February 2013, he said, "They're not having that back".^[68]

In April 2016, the Indian Culture Ministry stated it would make "all possible efforts" to arrange the return of the Koh-i-Noor to India.^[69] It was despite the Indian Government earlier conceding that the diamond was a gift. The Solicitor General of India had made the announcement before the Supreme Court of India due to public interest litigation by a campaign group.^[70] He said "It was given voluntarily by Ranjit Singh to the British as compensation for help in the Sikh Wars. The Koh-i-Noor is not a stolen object".^[71]

Pakistan [edit]

In 1976, Pakistan asserted its ownership of the diamond, saying its return would be "a convincing demonstration of the spirit that moved Britain voluntarily to shed its imperial encumbrances and lead the process of decolonisation". In a letter to the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, James Callaghan, wrote, "I need not remind you of the various hands through which the stone has passed over the past two centuries, nor that explicit provision for its transfer to the British crown was made in the peace treaty with the Maharajah of Lahore in 1849. I could not advise Her Majesty that it should be surrendered".^[72]

Afghanistan [edit]

In 2000, the Taliban's foreign affairs spokesman, Faiz Ahmed Faiz, said the Koh-i-Noor was the legitimate property of Afghanistan, and demanded for it to be handed over to the regime. "The history of the diamond shows it was taken from us (Afghanistan) to India, and from there to Britain. We have a much better claim than the Indians", he said.^[66] The Afghan claim derives from Shah Shuja Durrani memoirs, which states he surrendered the diamond to Ranjit Singh while Singh was having his son tortured in front of him, so argue the Maharajah of Lahore acquired the stone illegitimately.^[73]

Possible compromises [edit]

Because of the quadripartite dispute over the diamond's rightful ownership, there have been various compromises suggested to bring the dispute to an end. These include dividing the diamond into four, with a piece given to each of Afghanistan, India, and Pakistan, with the final piece retained by the British Crown. Another suggestion is that the jewel be housed in a special museum at the Wagah border between India and Pakistan. However this suggestion does not cater to Afghan claims, nor the reality of current British possession.^[74] The British Government rejects these compromises, and has stated since the end of the British Raj that the status of the diamond is 'non-negotiatable'.^[75]

In popular culture [edit]

The Koh-i-Noor made its first appearance in popular culture in The Moonstone (1868), a 19th-century British epistolary novel by Wilkie Collins, generally considered to be the first full length detective novel in the English language. In his preface to the first edition of the book, Collins says that he based his eponymous "Moonstone" on the histories of two stones: the Orlov, a 189.62-carat (37.9 g) diamond in the Russian Imperial Sceptre, and the Koh-i-Noor.^[76] In the 1966 Penguin Books edition of The Moonstone, J. I. M. Stewart states that Collins used G. C. King's The Natural History, Ancient and Modern, of Precious Stones ... (1865) to research the history of the Koh-i-Noor.^[77]

The Koh-i-Noor also features in Agatha Christie's 1925 novel The Secret of Chimneys where it is hidden somewhere inside a large country house and is discovered at the end of the novel. The diamond had been stolen from the Tower of London by a Parisian gang leader who replaced it with a replica stone.^[78]

The Koh-i-Noor is a central element in the book Flashman and the Mountain of Light written by George MacDonald Fraser where Flashman becomes entangled in the intrigues of the Punjabi court before being called personally by the Maharani of the Punjab to attend to an urgent mission: smuggling her son Daleep Singh and the Koh-i-Noor diamond out of the country.

Notes [edit]

^ ^a ^b Weights from 82+ 3⁄4 to 122+ 3⁄4 carats have been erroneously published since the 19th century.^[1] Until 1992, the official weight of the Koh-i-Noor was 108.93 metric carats,^[2] but this figure has been revised to 105.602 metric carats,^[3] or 102+ 13⁄16 old English carats.^[1]

References [edit]

^ ^a ^b Israel, p. 176.
^ Balfour, p. 184.
^ ^a ^b ^c Rose, p. 31.
^ ^a ^b Sucher and Carriere, p. 126.
^ ^a ^b Smith, p. 77.
^ "Crown Jewels". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). 211. United Kingdom: House of Commons. 16 July 1992. col. 944W. Archived from the original on 10 August 2016. Retrieved 30 June 2016.
^ ^a ^b "Koh-i-Noor". Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Encyclopaedia Britannica. 2008. p. 1046. ISBN9781593394929. Archived from the original on 26 December 2019. Retrieved 26 August 2019. The Koh-i-noor (Hindi for "mountain of light") was acquired by the British in 1849 and became part of the Crown Jewels of Queen Victoria.
^ Collins English Dictionary. "Definition of 'Koh-i-noor'". HarperCollins. Retrieved 26 November 2017.
^ Howie, p. 293.
^ Mears, et al., p. 27.
^ Fanthorpe, p. 202.
^ Mears (1988), p. 100.
^ Kurien, p. 112.
^ ^a ^b Rose, p. 32.
^ Streeter, pp. 116–117, 130.
^ Lafont, p. 48.
^ Asher, Catherine B.; Talbot, Cynthia (2006). India Before Europe. Cambridge University Press. p. 40. ISBN978-0-52180-904-7. Archived from the original on 27 December 2019. Retrieved 20 February 2019.
^ Eden, p. 14.
^ Leela Kohli (30 May 1953). "Fascinating history of world's best diamonds". The Northern Star. Lismore, New South Wales: National Library of Australia. p. 6. Retrieved 31 August 2013.
^ Younghusband and Davenport, pp. 53–57.
^ "Koh-i-Noor: Six myths about a priceless diamond". BBC News. 9 December 2016. Archived from the original on 10 September 2017. Retrieved 30 November 2017.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Davenport, pp. 57–59.
^ ^a ^b Kim Siebenhüner in Hofmeester and Grewe, pp. 27–28.
^ Argenzio, p. 42.
^ Anita Anand (16 February 2016). "The Koh-i-Noor diamond is in Britain illegally. But it should still stay there". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 13 April 2016. Retrieved 8 April 2016.
^ The Asiatic Journal and Monthly Register for British India and its Dependencies. 27. W. H. Allen & Co. 1838. p. 177.
^ William Dalrymple (2012). Return of a King: The Battle for Afghanistan. Bloomsbury. p. 5. ISBN978-1-408-8183-05.
^ Dalrymple & Anand 2017, p. 83.
^ Dalrymple & Anand 2017, pp. 83–84.
^ ^a ^b Dalrymple & Anand 2017, p. 84.
^ Dalrymple & Anand 2017, p. 106.
^ Dalrymple & Anand 2017, p. 91.
^ Dalrymple & Anand 2017, pp. 91–92.
^ Dalrymple & Anand 2017, p. 92.
^ Dalrymple & Anand 2017, p. 107.
^ Dalrymple & Anand 2017, p. 108.
^ Amini, Iradj (1 June 2013). The Koh-i-noor Diamond. Roli Books Private Limited. ISBN978-93-5194-035-7.
^ History of Koh-i-Noor, Darya-i-Noor, and Taimur's Ruby. Atlantic Publishers & Distri. 1985.
^ Sheikh, Mohamed (17 March 2017). Emperor of the Five Rivers: The Life and Times of Maharajah Ranjit Singh. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN978-1-78673-095-4.
^ Chhabra, G. S. (2005). Advance Study in the History of Modern India (Volume-2: 1803-1920). Lotus Press. ISBN978-81-89093-07-5.
^ Dalrymple, William; Anand, Anita (2016). Kohinoor: The Story of the WorldÕs Most Infamous Diamond. Juggernaut Books. ISBN978-93-86228-08-6.
^ Login, p. 126.
^ Broun-Ramsay, pp. 87–88
^ ^a ^b Keay, pp. 156–158
^ Valentine Ball in Jean Baptiste Tavernier, Travels in India, 1889, Macmillan, vol. II, Appendix, plate VI.
^ William Riddell Birdwood (1946). In My Time: Recollections and Anecdotes. Skeffington & Son. p. 85.
^ Tarshis, p. 138.
^ Davis, p. 138.
^ Young, p. 345.
^ Jane Carlyle (11 May 1851). "The Carlyle Letters: The Collected Letters, Volume 26". Duke University Press. Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 25 November 2017.
^ Sucher and Carriere, pp. 140-141
^ The Illustrated London News. Illustrated London News & Sketch Ltd. 24 July 1852. p. 54.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Neil Tweedie (29 July 2010). "The Koh-i-Noor: diamond robbery?". The Telegraph . Retrieved 13 January 2016.
^ ^a ^b Sucher and Carriere, pp. 124, 126.
^ Bari and Sautter, p. 178.
^ Tarling, p. 27.
^ "Queen Mary's Crown". Royal Collection Trust. Inventory no. 31704.
^ "Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother's Crown". Royal Collection Trust. Inventory no. 31703.
^ "Priceless gem in Queen Mother's crown". BBC News. 4 April 2002. Retrieved 5 January 2016.
^ "The Crown Jewels: Famous Diamonds". Historic Royal Palaces. Archived from the original on 4 January 2016. Retrieved 6 January 2016.
^ "Glittering finale for the Museum of Life documentary". Natural History Museum. 22 April 2010. Retrieved 13 January 2016.
^ Hennessy, p. 237.
^ "British Crown Jewels hidden in lake in World World II, newspaper says". AP News Archive. Associated Press. 10 June 1990. Retrieved 5 January 2016.
^ Dalrymple & Anand 2017, p. 13.
^ "Indian MPs demand Koh-i-Noor's return". BBC News. 26 April 2000. Retrieved 10 August 2009.
^ ^a ^b Luke Harding (5 November 2000). "Taliban asks the Queen to return Koh-i-Noor gem". The Guardian . Retrieved 14 January 2016.
^ Andrzej Jakubowski (2015). State Succession in Cultural Property. Oxford University Press. p. 93. ISBN978-0-19-873806-0. Archived from the original on 28 December 2019. Retrieved 12 August 2018.
^ Nelson, Sara C. (21 February 2013). "Koh-i-Noor diamond will not be returned to India, David Cameron insists". The Huffington Post. Archived from the original on 19 August 2013. Retrieved 27 July 2013.
^ Nida Najar (20 April 2016). "India says it wants one of the Crown Jewels back from Britain". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 21 April 2016. Retrieved 21 April 2016.
^ "Koh-i-Noor not stolen but gifted: Centre". The Telegraph. Calcutta, India. 18 April 2016. Retrieved 20 July 2016.
^ "India: Koh-i-Noor gem given to UK, not stolen". Sky News. 19 April 2016. Retrieved 21 April 2016.
^ Pakistan Horizon. 29. Pakistan Institute of International Affairs. 1976. p. 267. Archived from the original on 9 December 2019. Retrieved 12 October 2016.
^ Jamal, Momin (26 February 2017). "Kohinoor's story: from treachery to treasury". Daily Times . Retrieved 19 June 2018.
^ Dalrymple & Anand 2017, p. 281.
^ Dalrymple & Anand 2017, p. 272.
^ Wilkie Collins (1874). The Moonstone: A Novel. Harper & Brothers. p. 8.
^ Goodland, p. 136.
^ Bargainnier, Earl F. (1980). The Gentle Art of Murder: The Detective Fiction of Agatha Christie. Popular Press. p. 89. ISBN978-0-87972-159-6.

Bibliography [edit]

Argenzio, Victor (1977). Crystal Clear: The Story of Diamonds . David McKay Co. ISBN978-0-679-20317-9.
Balfour, Ian (2009). Famous Diamonds. Antique Collectors' Club. ISBN978-1-85149-479-8.
Bari, Hubert; Sautter, Violaine (2001). Diamonds: In the Heart of the Earth, in the Heart of Stars, at the Heart of Power. Vilo International. ISBN978-2-84576-032-5. Archived from the original on 9 December 2019. Retrieved 12 October 2016.
Broun-Ramsay, James Andrew (1911). Private Letters (2 ed.). India: Blackwood.
Dalrymple, William; Anand, Anita (2017). Koh-i-Noor: The History of the World's Most Infamous Diamond. Bloomsbury. ISBN978-1-408-88886-5.
Davenport, Cyril (1897). The English Regalia. K. Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co. Archived from the original on 24 March 2016. Retrieved 7 January 2016.
Davis, John R. (1999). The Great Exhibition. Sutton. ISBN978-0-7509-1614-1.
Dixon-Smith, Sally; Edwards, Sebastian; Kilby, Sarah; Murphy, Clare; Souden, David; Spooner, Jane; Worsley, Lucy (2010). The Crown Jewels: Souvenir Guidebook. Historic Royal Palaces. ISBN978-1-873993-13-2.
Eden, Emily (1844). Portraits of the Princes and People of India. J. Dickinson & Son. p. 14.
Fanthorpe, Lionel; Fanthorpe, Patricia (2009). Secrets of the World's Undiscovered Treasures. Dundurn. ISBN978-1-77070-508-1. Archived from the original on 31 December 2019. Retrieved 23 November 2017.
Goodlad, Lauren M. E. (2015). The Victorian Geopolitical Aesthetic: Realism, Sovereignty, and Transnational Experience. Oxford University Press. ISBN978-0-19-872827-6. Archived from the original on 27 December 2019. Retrieved 30 November 2017.
Hennessy, Elizabeth (1992). A Domestic History of the Bank of England, 1930–1960 . Cambridge University Press. p. 237. ISBN978-0-521-39140-5.
Hofmeester, Karin; Grewe, Bernd-Stefan, eds. (2016). Luxury in Global Perspective: Objects and Practices, 1600–2000. Cambridge University Press. ISBN978-1-107-10832-5.
Howie, R. A. (1999). "Book Reviews" (PDF). Mineralogical Magazine. Vol. 63 no. 2. Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland.
Israel, Nigel B. (1992). "'The Most Unkindest Cut of All' - Recutting the Koh-i-Nur". Journal of Gemmology. 23 (3): 176. doi:10.15506/JoG.1992.23.3.176. ISSN 0022-1252.
Keay, Anna (2011). The Crown Jewels. Thames & Hudson. ISBN978-0-500-51575-4. Archived from the original on 27 December 2019. Retrieved 12 October 2016.
Kurien, T. K. (1980). Geology and Mineral Resources of Andhra Pradesh. Geological Survey of India. Archived from the original on 30 December 2019. Retrieved 24 November 2017.
Lafont, Jean Marie (2002). Maharaja Ranjit Singh: Lord of the Five Rivers. Oxford University Press. ISBN978-0-19-566111-8.
Login, Lena Campbell (1890). Sir John Login and Duleep Singh. Punjab: Languages Dept. Archived from the original on 7 April 2010. Retrieved 1 April 2016.
Mears, Kenneth J. (1988). The Tower of London: 900 Years of English History. Phaidon. ISBN978-0-7148-2527-4. Archived from the original on 19 February 2017. Retrieved 12 October 2016.
Mears, Kenneth J.; Thurley, Simon; Murphy, Claire (1994). The Crown Jewels. Historic Royal Palaces. ASIN B000HHY1ZQ.
Rastogi, P. N. (1986). Ethnic Tensions in Indian Society: Explanation, Prediction, Monitoring and Control. Mittal Publications. ISBN978-9-997-38489-8.
Rose, Tessa (1992). The Coronation Ceremony and the Crown Jewels. HM Stationery Office. ISBN978-0-117-01361-2. Archived from the original on 27 December 2019. Retrieved 25 November 2017.
Smith, Henry George (1896). Gems and Precious Stones. Charles Potter. Archived from the original on 21 January 2013. Retrieved 19 February 2020.
Streeter, Edwin William; Hatten, Joseph (1882). The Great Diamonds of the World. G. Bell & Sons. Archived from the original on 4 June 2017. Retrieved 26 November 2017.
Sucher, Scott D.; Carriere, Dale P. (2008). "The Use of Laser and X-ray Scanning to Create a Model of the Historic Koh-i-Noor Diamond". Gems & Gemology. 44 (2): 124–141. doi:10.5741/GEMS.44.2.124.
Tarling, Nicholas (April 1981). "The Wars of British Succession" (PDF). New Zealand Journal of History. University of Auckland. 15 (1). ISSN 0028-8322. Archived (PDF) from the original on 1 February 2016. Retrieved 10 July 2016.
Tarshis, Dena K. (2000). "The Koh-i-Noor Diamond and its Glass Replica at the Crystal Palace Exhibition". Journal of Glass Studies. Corning Museum of Glass. 42: 133–143. ISSN 0075-4250. JSTOR 24191006.
Young, Paul (2007). ""Carbon, Mere Carbon": The Kohinoor, the Crystal Palace, and the Mission to Make Sense of British India". Nineteenth-Century Contexts. 29 (4): 343–358. doi:10.1080/08905490701768089. S2CID 144262612.
Younghusband, Sir George; Davenport, Cyril (1919). The Crown Jewels of England. Cassell & Co. ASIN B00086FM86.

External links [edit]

Works related to the Koh-i-Noor at Wikisource