The jewels belonging to the Habsburg dynasty, including the Florentine diamond, which was considered lost after the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1918, were stored for decades in a bank safe in Canada. This is reported by the portal Der Spiegel.
A yellow stone the size of a walnut and weighing 137 carats, previously considered the fourth largest diamond in the world, the diamond crown of Empress Elizabeth of Bavaria, a round—cut diamond bracelet with a large emerald belonging to Empress Maria Theresa — a total of 15 jewelry pieces – were secretly removed from the treasury in the Vienna Hofburg when Emperor Charles I was forced to leave Vienna for Switzerland.
According to Charles I’s 64-year-old grandson, businessman Karl von Habsburg-Lothringen, the jewels were later taken to Canada, where the imperial family fled during World War II.
“The Florentine diamond is in a safe deposit box in Canada along with other family jewels. Strictly speaking, the jewels were not missing. It’s just that few people knew where they were,” said the heir to the dynasty, adding that he himself had only recently found out where they were stored.
He added that the safe deposit box with jewelry in a leather briefcase is located in the French-speaking province of Quebec. The widow of Charles I, Zita of Bourbon-Parma, the grandmother of Habsburg-Lothringen, placed the treasures in a safe deposit box, telling only two sons about it and asking them to keep the information secret for 100 years. Before they died, they told their children about the diamonds. The grandson of Zita himself saw these treasures, their authenticity is confirmed by the report and the attached photographs, which are available to the publication. Christoph Toepfert, a sixth-generation Austrian jeweler, is also confident in the authenticity of the jewels, whose ancestors have been running a jewelry store within walking distance of the Hofburg treasury since 1814.
The story of the “Florentine” has been overgrown with many rumors and legends since its disappearance; some called it the “stone of destiny.” It was believed that the trace of the stone was lost in 1921. Some publications reported that the former emperor pawned the family jewel in order to regain power in Hungary. According to another version, a fraudster took possession of the diamond. In 1923, a yellow cushion-shaped diamond weighing 99.52 carats appeared on the American market. Rumors quickly spread that it could be the newly faceted Florentine. In 1966, Swiss diamond merchant Alphonse de Sondheimer claimed that the jewels had been offered to him by Charles I’s private secretary, a man named Steiner. Allegedly, he even bought some diamonds. Then Der Spiegel wrote, referring to Sondheimer’s story, that the diamond had been split. To confirm this version, an unnamed yellow diamond weighing just under 82 carats appeared at the Christie’s autumn auction in Geneva in 1981.
Now the heir of the Habsburgs is planning to exhibit The Florentine to the public in Canada. However, the family has concerns that the property of the Habsburgs will be declared state property of Austria.
After the article about the jewels appeared, Austrian Vice Chancellor and Minister of Culture Andreas Babler announced the need for an “immediate inspection.”
“If it turns out that the Florentine diamond is the property of the Republic of Austria, I will initiate the process of its return,” he stressed.
3,030 total views, 2 views today
