KOH-I-NOOR

also spelled Kuh-e Nur, the diamond with the longest history for an extant stone, though its early history is controversial. Originally a lumpy Mughal-cut stone that lacked fire and weighed 191 carats, it was recut to enhance its fire and brilliance to a 109-carat, shallow, oval brilliant in 1852 at Garrards of London, with indifferent results. According to some experts, Sultan 'Ala'-ud-Din Khalji is credited with having taken the jewel in 1304 from the raja of Malwa, India, whose family had owned it for many generations. Other writers have identified the Koh-i-noor (meaning mountain of light) with the diamond given to the son of Babur, the founder of the Mughal dynasty in India, by the raja of Gwalior after the battle of Panipat in 1526. Still others have contended that it came originally from the Kollur mine of the Krishna River and was presented to the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in 1656. Some claim that the stone was cut from the Great Mogul diamond described by the French jewel trader Jean-Baptiste Tavernier in 1665, but the Koh-i-noor's original lack of fire and shape make that unlikely. In any case, it most likely formed part of the loot of Nader Shah of Iran when he sacked Delhi in 1739. After his death it fell into the hands of his general, Ahmad Shah, founder of the Durrani dynasty of Afghans. His descendant Shah Shoja', when a fugitive in India, was forced to surrender the stone to Ranjit Singh, the Sikh ruler. On the annexation of the Punjab in 1849, the Koh-i-noor was acquired by the British and was placed among the crown jewels of Queen Victoria. It was incorporated as the central stone in the queen's state crown fashioned for use by Queen Elizabeth, consort of George VI, at her coronation in 1937.