A rare pink diamond has gone back on show in France, almost exactly a century after it was stolen. It was last displayed to the public at the time of the theft.
The nine-carat, pear-shaped gemstone, known as the Grand Condé, will be shown in the Condé Museum at the Château de Chantilly until 3 January. It is one of the few royal jewels to have survived the French Revolution.
The 1926 theft and the apple that exposed it
The gem was taken in an overnight raid on the Château de Chantilly in October 1926. The thieves hid it inside a hollowed-out apple.
It was recovered a few weeks later, when a hungry maid at the hotel where the thieves were staying bit into the apple. The museum’s director, Mathieu Deldicque, said the account may sound far-fetched, but newspapers widely covered it at the time.
Security questions as the diamond returns to public view
Deldicque has been asked whether showing the stone again could be tempting fate. Cultural institutions across Europe have faced a string of heists in the past 12 months, including a daring daylight robbery of jewellery from the Louvre museum in Paris.
He declined to say how much the diamond is insured for. He did note that extensive academic study had been carried out on the gem’s properties, making it uniquely identifiable. The results of that analysis, along with previously unseen archive material about its history and theft, form part of the exhibition, according to the museum.
A mysterious past and high market value
Naturally occurring pink diamonds are exceptionally rare and often sell for tens of millions of dollars. According to Sotheby’s, the highest price ever paid for one at auction was $71.2m (£53.6m), in 2017.
The Grand Condé’s exact origins remain a mystery. The Château de Chantilly said it was first mentioned in 1740, in an inventory of Louis Henri de Bourbon, Prince of Condé, drawn up after his death. It later passed to Queen Marie-Amélie, wife of French King Louis Philippe I, and then to her son, Prince Henri of Orléans, the Duke of Aumale.
He bequeathed it to the Institut de France, which owns the Château de Chantilly, about 50km north of Paris. The institute also holds thousands of artworks and manuscripts that form the Musée Condé collection.
