Spoonmaker's Diamond

The Spoonmaker's Diamond (Turkish: Kaşıkçı Elması), also known as the Kasikci, is the pride of the Topkapi Palace Museum and its most valuable single exhibit, it is an 86 carat (17 g) pear-shaped diamond. Surrounded by a double-row of forty nine old mine cut diamonds and well spotlighted, it hangs in a glass case on the wall of one of the rooms of the treasury. The forty nine separate brilliants surround it, giving it the appearance of a full moon lighting a bright and shining sky amidst the stars.

History

Various stories are told about the Spoonmarker's Diamond. According to one tale, a poor fisherman in Istanbul near Yenikapi was wandering idly, empty-handed along the shore when he found a shiny stone among the litter, which he turned over one over not knowing what it was. After carrying it about in his pocket for a few days, he stopped by the jewellers market, showing it to the first jeweller he encountered. The jeweller took a casual glance at the stone and appeared disinterested, saying "It's a piece of glass, take it away if you like, or if you like I'll give you three spoons. You brought it all the way here, at least let it be worth your trouble." What was the poor fisherman to do with this piece of glass? What's more the jeweller had felt sorry for him and was giving three spoons. He said okay and took the spoons, leaving in their place an enormous treasure. It is for this reason they say that the diamond's name became the "Spoonmaker's Diamond".

According to another tale, the person finding the diamond was a spoonmaker, or the diamond was given this name because it resembled the bowl of a spoon. Even today it is not known how this diamond came to the Topkapı Palace, who it was obtained from or how. Even though a ring stone called the Spoonmaker's Diamond which belonged to Sultan Mehmet IV appears listed in museum records, this stone along with its gold is only 10 to 12 grams, which is much smaller than our Spoonmaker's Diamond.

So where did the Spoonmaker's Diamond come from then? While the experts go on researching this subject, in recent years a new story has begun to be told. It goes like this:

In 1774 a French officer by the name of Pigot purchased a diamond from the Maharajah of Madras and brought it to France. After changing a number of hands, the diamond was put up for sale at auction, in which Napoleon's mother purchased it. For a long time she wore it on her breast. When Napoleon was sent into exile, his aged mother put the diamond up for sale in order to be able save her son.

One of Tepedelenli Ali Pasha's men, who was in France at the time, bought the diamond on the Pasha's behalf for 150 thousand gold pieces, bringing it back and handing it over. During the reign of Mahmud II, Tepedelenli Ali Pasha was killed on allegations of rebelling against the State, and his treasure was confiscated. The whole lot of precious jewelry was moved to the Ottoman Treasury, during the course of which the diamond purchased from Napoleon's mother, subsequently becoming famous as the Spoonmaker's Diamond, also entered the Treasury.

It is known that the stone known in France as the Pigot Diamond which was purchased by Tepedelenli Ali Pasha's men was 86 carats (17 g). The Spoonmaker's Diamond in the Treasury of Topkapı Palace is also 86 carets. Thus, the world-renowned Pigot diamond is believed to be the Spoonmaker's Diamond in Topkapı .

The 49 brilliants were ordered arranged either by Tepedelenli Ali Pasha, or by Mahmud II. These brilliants provide an additional beauty to the Spoonmaker's Diamond and increase its value by as much again.

The gold, the silver, the rubies, the emeralds of the Topkapı Palace Treasury notwithstanding, the Spoonmaker's Diamond, has drawn the adoring, amazed looks of countless favourites, queens and mothers of sultans.