Passed Down for 300 Years: Royal Diamond to be Sold in Switzerland

Photo from sothebys.com

The Farnese Blue diamond was passed down through European royal families for some 300 years. And now it’s going on sale. A little over six carats, the dark grey-blue stone is valued between $3.7 and $5.3 million US dollars.

It was first given in 1715 to Elisabeth Farnese, the daughter of the Duke of Parma when she married Philip the 5th of Spain. It was passed down through more than seven generations and traveled from Spain to France, Italy to Austria.

For those interested, and who can afford it, the stone will appear at Sotheby’s Geneva Jewelry sale on May 15th.

“It is an amazing diamond that managed to remain in the hands of the ruling families of Spain, France, Italy, and Austria until today. So we have 300 years of history completely mapped for the diamond and what is even more exciting is that apart from the family and obviously jewelers who looked after the family’s possessions, nobody knew about it. So it is not one of those diamonds that had been recorded in the list of the very special, very historical diamonds,” said the Sotheby’s Jewelery Department Deputy Chairman in Europe,Daniela Mascetti.