FLORENTINE DIAMOND

clear, pale-yellow stone weighing 137 carats; of Indian origin, it was cut as a double rose with 126 facets. Once owned by Charles the Bold, duke of Burgundy, who lost it when he fell in battle in 1477, the stone came into the possession of Pope Julius II and the Medici family early in the 16th century. Maria Theresa of Austria acquired it through her marriage (1736) to the Duke of Tuscany, and it subsequently became part of the Austrian crown jewels. Seized by the Germans when they took over Austria just before World War II, it was recovered by the U.S. 3rd Army and returned to the Viennese by Gen. Mark Clark.