The Dresden Green Diamond, also known as the Dresden Green, is a natural green

diamond Diamond is a Allotropes of carbon, solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Diamond is tasteless, odourless, strong, brittle solid, colourless in pure form, a poor conductor of e ...

which originated in the

mines Mine, mines, miners or mining may refer to: Extraction or digging *Miner, a person engaged in mining or digging *Mining, extraction of mineral resources from the ground through a mine Grammar *Mine, a first-person English possessive pronoun Mi ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. The Dresden Green is a rare Type IIa, with a clarity of VS1 and is said to be potentially internally flawless, if slightly recut. It is named after

Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...

, the capital of the German state of

Saxony Saxony, officially the Free State of Saxony, is a landlocked state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, and Bavaria, as well as the countries of Poland and the Czech Republic. Its capital is Dresden, and ...

, where it has been on display for most of the last two centuries, latterly in the New Green Vault at

Dresden Castle Dresden Castle or Royal Palace ( or ) is one of the oldest buildings in Dresden, Germany. For almost 400 years, it was the residence of the electors (1547–1806) and List of rulers of Saxony, kings (1806–1918) of Kingdom of Saxony, Saxony from ...

. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, it was relocated to

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

for a decade before being returned to Dresden. In November 2019, it was sent on loan to the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, so it was not taken in the jewel theft of 25 November.

History

The Dresden Green Diamond has a historical record dating back to 1722, when a London news-sheet carried an article about it in its 25 October-27th edition. It was acquired by

Augustus III of Poland Augustus III (; – "the Saxon"; ; 17 October 1696 5 October 1763) was List of Polish monarchs, King of Poland and Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1733 until 1763, as well as List of rulers of Saxony, Elector of Saxony i ...

from a Dutch merchant in 1742 at the Leipzig Fair. In 1768, the diamond was incorporated into an extremely valuable hat ornament, surrounded by two large and 411 medium-sized and small diamonds.Dirk Syndram, ''Prunkstücke des Grünen Gewölbes zu Dresden'', 5th ed. Leipzig: Seemann, 2006, , pp. 166-173 This is the setting that the Dresden Green still appears in today. In 2000, American jewelry firm

Harry Winston Harry Winston (né Weinstein; March 1, 1896December 8, 1978) was an American jeweler. He donated the Hope Diamond to the Smithsonian Institution in 1958 after owning it for a decade. He also traded the Portuguese Diamond to the Smithsonian in ...

arranged to display the Dresden Green at the New York flagship store and then at the Smithsonian in

Washington, DC Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and Federal district of the United States, federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from ...

, United States, where it was displayed in the Harry Winston pavilion next to the largest blue diamond in the world, the

Hope Diamond The Hope Diamond is a blue-violet diamond that has been famed for its great size since the 17th century. It was extracted in the 17th century from the Kollur Mine in Guntur, India,. The Hope Diamond is a blue diamond. Its exceptional size h ...

. In 2019, the Dresden Green Diamond narrowly escaped being stolen in the Dresden Green Vault burglary, due to it being loaned to

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

at the time.

Color

The stone's unique apple green color is due to natural exposure to radioactive materials, as the irradiation of diamonds can produce changes in color. The Dresden Green Diamond has been used to compare natural versus lab-produced green diamonds — it is hoped that it can be used to devise a test to differentiate between naturally green diamonds, which are quite rare, and lab-produced ones.

In popular culture

The plot of

Nicolas Freeling Nicolas Freeling (born Nicolas Davidson; 3 March 1927 – 20 July 2003), was a British crime novelist, best known as the author of the "Van der Valk" series of detective novels. A television series based on the character, ''Van der Valk'', was pro ...

's 1966 novel ''The Dresden Green'' concerns an imaginary theft of the Dresden Green diamond and attempts to recover it.

References

External links

{{commons category-inline Individual diamonds Dresden Diamonds originating in India Green diamonds

History

Color

In popular culture

See also

Further reading

References

External links