18 Facts About Koh-i-Noor

Koh-i-Noor, spelled Kohinoor and Koh-i-Nur, is one of the largest cut diamonds in the world, weighing 105.

However, the first verifiable record of the diamond comes from the 1740s when Muhammad Maharvi notes the Koh-i-Noor as being one of many stones on the Mughal Peacock Throne that Nader Shah looted from Delhi.

The governments of India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan have all claimed ownership of the Koh-i-Noor and demanded its return ever since India gained independence from the British Empire in 1947.

Koh-i-Noor was quickly overthrown, but fled with the diamond to Lahore, where Ranjit Singh, founder of the Sikh Empire, in return for his hospitality, insisted upon the gem being given to him, and he took possession of it in 1813.

Koh-i-Noor used to wear it as an armlet during major festivals such as Diwali and Dusserah, and took it with him during travel.

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Wafa Begum replied that if a strong man threw a stone in four cardinal directions and vertically, Koh-i-Noor would be worth more than the gold and precious stones filled in the space.

Ranjit Singh grew paranoid about the Koh-i-Noor being stolen, because in the past, another valuable jewel had been stolen from him while he was intoxicated.

Koh-i-Noor kept the diamond within a high-security facility at the Gobindgarh Fort when it was not in use.

Gem called the Koh-i-Noor, which was taken from Shah Sooja-ool-moolk by Maharajah Ranjeet Singh, shall be surrendered by the Maharajah of Lahore to the Queen of England [sic].

Lead signatory of the treaty for the by then eleven-year-old Maharaja Duleep Singh was his commander-in-chief Tej Singh, a loyalist of Maharaja Gulab Singh who had previously been in possession of the Koh-i-Noor and gained Kashmir from the Sikh empire, via treaty with Britain, following the First Anglo-Sikh War.

Koh-i-Noor was formally presented to Queen Victoria on 3 July 1850 at Buckingham Palace by the deputy chairman of the East India Company.

At first, the stone was put inside a gilded birdcage, but after complaints about its dull appearance, the Koh-i-Noor was moved to a case with black velvet and gas lamps in the hope that it would sparkle better.

Koh-i-Noor sent to London one of his most experienced artisans, Levie Benjamin Voorzanger, and his assistants.

Brilliant-cut diamonds usually have fifty-eight facets, but the Koh-i-Noor has eight additional "star" facets around the culet, making a total of sixty-six facets.

Koh-i-Noor has long been a subject of diplomatic controversy, with India, Pakistan, Iran, and Afghanistan all demanding its return from the UK at various points.

In 2000, the Taliban's foreign affairs spokesman, Faiz Ahmed Faiz, said the Koh-i-Noor was the legitimate property of Afghanistan, and demanded for it to be handed over to the regime.

Koh-i-Noor was one of the inspirations for the eponymous gemstone in The Moonstone, a 19th-century British epistolary novel by Wilkie Collins, generally considered to be the first full length detective novel in the English language.

Koh-i-Noor is a central plot point in George MacDonald Fraser's 1990 historical novel and satire, Flashman and the Mountain of Light, which refers to the diamond in its title.