According to Ian Balfour in Famous Diamonds there are some queries about when and where the Tiffany diamond was found. The year could be either 1877 or 1878. He suggests it may have been found in the mine then owned by what was colloquially called the French Company, or more formally the Compagnie Francaise de Diamant du Cap. In part, the claim that the diamond was found in the French Company's mine is based on the fact that the diamond was sent to France to be cut. The mystery about the precise origins of the diamond has arisen because it was found before accurate records were kept of finds in the Kimberley mine.
Gideon Reed, the head of Tiffany's Paris office, purchased it for $18,000.00, and it was then imported into the US in 1879.
According to Balfour, the diamond has 90 facets, not to make it sparkle more but to make it smoulder!
From what I have read Marc the diamond is normally on display in Tiffany's headquarters in New York when it is not lent to an exhibition -- so potentially many can view it.
I know it is a matter of taste but there is something charmingly appealing about Jean Schlumberger's "Bird on a rock" setting. Otherwise I prefer the setting of the stone as in the necklace worn by Mrs Whitehouse to the legendary ball.
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