The Beau Sancy
A drawing I made of the Beau Sancy, based closely on
illustrations
I've seen of it. I have also seen a couple photos. Unfortunately,
none of them are clear enough to be worth showing here.
At the time of the marriage of Prince Albert of Prussia with
Princess Mary of Sachsen-Altenburg in Berlin, the bridge was described in the
newspaper accounts of the wedding as wearing "the crown necklace, with the
celebrated 'Sancy' diamond." Much surprise and mystification were caused by this
statement, apparently made on authority; for amongst the many strange
peregrinations of the "celebrated 'Sancy' diamond," a visit to the Prussian
"Schatz-Kammer" had not hitherto been mentioned. We are now in a position to
clear up the mystery, thanks to the subjoined extract from an official
communication obligingly made to us on June 7th, 1881, by Herr Smernitz,
minister of the Royal Household, Berlin: --
"Amongst the numerous diamonds of the Royal Treasury there is
one only possessing historical interest. This is a brilliant of splendid shape
weighing 34 carats, worn as a pendant to a necklace, and known as the 'Little
Sancy.' This diamond was bought by Prince Frederick Henry of Orange, who died in
the year 1647, and who was grandfather of King Frederick I of Prussia. Through
King Frederick it passed from the Orange bequests to the Prussian Royal
Treasury."
It thus appears that at her wedding Princess Mary of
Sachen-Altenburg wore not the celebrated "Sancy" diamond, but this "Little Sancy",
correctly enough described as attached to the "crown necklace." Of the very
existance of this "Little Sancy", the public has been hitherto profoundly
ignorant. Nor does it even now appear by what right it bears the name "Sancy" at
all. The explanation, however, is not far to seek. We already have seen that
Nicholas Harlai, Signeur de Sancy, was evidently a diamond collector, and that
he died in the year 1627. After his death his collection was no doubt dispersed
by his family, and in this way the diamond, weighing 34 carats, would be thrown
into the market. Hence its purchase by Frederick Henry of Orange, in 1647, is
easily accounted for. A diamond of its weight, rare enough in those days, at
least in Europe, would naturally be associated with its owner, the famous
collector, M. Sancy, and as the largest, weighing 54 carats, was known as the
"Great Sancy"; the other, weighing 34 carats probably the next in size, took the
name of the "Little Sancy." Source: Great Diamonds of the World, by Edwin
Streeter, second edition, printed 1882.
The above account of this diamond was written by Edwin
Streeter. He was the first author to write in-depth on the subject of famous
diamonds. His book Great Diamonds of the World actually went on to have
about five or six editions. This diamond is now more commonly known as the Beau
Sancy Diamond.
Nicholas Harlay de Sancy, diplomat, financier and ardent
monarchist, is remembered as the owner of the 55.23-carat shield-shaped diamond,
the Sancy, one
of the most celebrated gems in history. Sancy also owned another sizeable and
beautiful diamond whose existence was documented on January 31st, 1589 as
follows:
"A great flawless diamond, facet cut, weight 37 to 38 carats
or thereabouts, set in a golden frame and the end of which hangs a great round
pearl, flawless and perfect, of about 20 carats; also a great heart-shaped ruby
set in gold at the base of which hangs a great pear-shaped pearl, for the price
of 20,000 ecus. The large jewels were pladged and put into the hands of the said
Sieur de Sancy that he might pawn them in Switzerland, Germany or elsewhere with
the charge that if they were pledged for less than 24,000 ecus. His Majesty will
only pay the said Sancy the price for which they were pledged."
This diamond came to be known as the 'Beau Sancy', or 'Little
Sancy' and was destined to pursue a different course of history from Sancy's
larger diamond. The Beau Sancy is a colorless, rounded pear shape, cut with a
total of 110 facets, including the two small table facets.
Both of Nicholas de Sancy's diamonds came to be the subject
of protracted negotiations with parties in Constantinople and the Duke of
Mantua, a connoisseur and avid collector of fine gems. On October 10th, 1589,
Sancy wrote to M. de la Brosse, who was acting on behalf of the Duke:
"One of my diamonds weighs 60 [old] carats. I want nothing
less than 80,000 ecus for the big diamond and 60,000 for the smaller. If it
pleases His Highness to take one or both of them, I will sell them to him, but I
wish ready money, or most of it guaranteed, for the rest, in Venice or France,
and wish no delay for the most shall not exceed three years."
The negotiations with the Duke of Mantua continued well into
1604 and ultimately came to nothing. Instead, Sancy sold the large diamond to
King James I of England. There remained the Beau Sancy which, in 1604, was
bought for merely 25,000 ecus by Marie de Medicis, the consort of King Henry IV
of France. In The French Crown Jewels, Bernard Morel suggests that it is
a strong bet that the King himself paid for the diamond in order to assuage the
feelings of indignation aroused in the Queen when she learned that Sancy had
sold his bigger diamond to the King of England. The Beau Sancy was set in the
top of the crown which Marie de Medicis wore at her coronation in 1610.
After the murder of Henry IV in the same year, the Queen
became Regent and devoted herself to affairs of state; she developed a passion
for power which led to civil unrest in France and estrangement from her son,
King Louis XIII. Marie de Medicis was exiled in disgrace to Compiegne, escaped
to Brussels in 1631 and at Cologne in 1642, having intrigued in vain against
Cardinal Richelieu, the statesman who is acknowledged as the architect of
France's greatness in the seventeenth century. She died in straitened financial
circumstances which led to the sale of her possessions to pay her debts. The
Beau Sancy was sold to Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange, for 80,000 florins. It
is said that history never repeats itself but does sometimes produce curious
parallels: in 1644, two years after the death of Marie de Medicis, her daughter,
Queen Henrietta Maria, the wife of Charles I, King of England, was forced to
pawn the Sancy's large diamond so as to raise funds to support the Royalist
cause in the Civil War in England.
Prince Frederick Henry (1584 - 1687), the son of William the
Silent, the principal leader of the Dutch struggle for independence from Spain,
achieved fame as a general and a politician. He was the first of his line to
assume, as leader of the United Provinces of Holland, a semi-monarchical status
and to determine both domestic and foreign policies. Until the age of 41 it was
said of him that he was 'too fond of women to tie himself permanently to one of
them.' He did eventually succumb, to endow the Hague in the seventeenth century
with some semblance of baroque court life.
It was a grandson of Prince Frederick Henry who, in 1689,
ascended the throne of England as William III. He inherited the Beau Sancy and
gave it to his consort, Queen Mary II, as a wedding gift. The couple were
childless so the diamond came into the possession of another grandson of the
Prince of Orange, Frederick III, Elector Prince of Brandenburg, who, in 1701,
became King of Prussia under the name of Frederick I. Valued at 300,000
Reichstalers, the Beau Sancy became the most important stone in the Crown Jewels
of Prussia and was set in the royal crown. In an inventory of the crown jewels
made in 1913 the diamond featured as the pendant to a necklace of 22 diamonds,
part of a diamond suite which also included a large breast ornament, a pair of
earrings and a fan.
The Beau Sancy is now in the possession of the head of the
house of Hohenzollern, Prince Louis-Ferdinand of Prussia, grandson of William
II, the last Emperor of Germany. Source: Famous Diamonds by Ian Balfour
and Thomas Cletscher's Sketchbook, published in the seventeenth century.