Spoonmaker's Diamond

The Spoonmaker's Diamond (Turkish: Kaşıkçı Elması) is a 86 carats (17.2 g) pear-shaped diamond in the Imperial Treasury exhibitions at the Topkapi Palace Museum and its most valuable single exhibit. It is considered the fourth largest diamond of its kind in the world.

Set in silver, surrounded by a double row of 49 Old-mine cut diamonds (brilliants), it hangs in a glass case on the wall of the third room in Imperial Treasury section of Topkapı's "Conqueror’s Pavilion".

These surrounding separate brilliants give it "the appearance of a full moon lighting a bright and shining sky amidst the stars" and are considered to have been commissioned either by Ali Pasha or by Sultan Mahmud II – though this, as all other details of the diamond's origins, is doubtful and disputed.

It is not known with any certainty how this diamond came to the Topkapı Palace. The museum's records do list a ring stone called the Spoonmaker's Diamond, which is noted as having already belonged to the 17th century Sultan Mehmet IV. However, this stone, along with its gold, is only 10–12 g (50–60 carats), which is much smaller than the present Spoonmaker's Diamond. Several mutually exclusive accounts exist regarding the origin of the Spoonmaker's Diamond. They continue to circulate, having become part of the Turkish popular culture and being repeated by tourist guides, and in printed guide books.

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 and over, not knowing what it was. After carrying it about in his pocket for a few days, he stopped by the jewelers' market, showing it to the first jeweler he encountered. The jeweler took a casual glance at the stone and appeared uninterested, 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 jeweler 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 said that for this reason the diamond came to be named "The Spoonmaker's Diamond". Later, the diamond was bought by a vizier on behalf of the Sultan (or, by a less likely version, it was the vizier who dealt directly with the fisherman).

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Wikipedia