A rare pink diamond is being exhibited in France for the first time since it was taken in a burglary nearly a century ago, according to the BBC. The nine-carat, pear-shaped stone, known as the "Grand Condé," was stolen during an overnight break-in at the Château de Chantilly in October 1926 — the last occasion it was put before the public. It is now on view again at the Condé Museum inside the château until 3 January.
Why it matters
The gem is among the small number of royal jewels that came through the French Revolution intact, the BBC reports. Its return to public view also revives one of the more improbable stories in the history of art crime: the diamond was reportedly concealed inside a hollowed-out apple, and it was a hungry maid who inadvertently brought about its recovery.
The exhibition arrives at a sensitive moment for European museums. Mathieu Deldicque, the museum's director, has been asked whether putting the diamond on display might be tempting fate, particularly after a run of thefts from cultural institutions across Europe over the past year, including a brazen daylight raid in which jewellery was taken from the Louvre in Paris, according to the BBC.
An apple, a maid and a missing jewel
As the BBC recounts it, the thieves hid the diamond inside a piece of fruit with its centre carved out. Weeks later, a maid at the hotel where the culprits were staying bit into the apple and found the stone, leading to its recovery.
Deldicque acknowledged that the tale can sound implausible, but told the BBC that newspapers of the period covered it extensively. The exhibition draws on that history, presenting archive material about the gem and the theft that has not previously been made public, the museum said.
On the question of security, Deldicque would not tell CNN what the diamond is insured for. He did say, however, that the stone has been the subject of thorough academic analysis intended to make it uniquely identifiable, and the findings of that work form part of the display, according to the BBC.
From a prince's inventory to the Institut de France
The château said the diamond was first recorded in 1740, in a list of possessions compiled after the death of Louis Henri de Bourbon, Prince of Condé, the BBC reports. It later passed into the collection of Queen Marie-Amélie of Bourbon-Sicily, consort of King Louis Philippe I, and from her to her son, Prince Henri of Orléans, the Duke of Aumale.
The duke left it to the Institut de France, which owns the Château de Chantilly, about 50km (31 miles) north of Paris, together with a large body of artworks and manuscripts that formed the Musée Condé collection, according to the BBC.
Pink diamonds formed by natural processes are extremely uncommon, and they regularly change hands for tens of millions of dollars. Sotheby's told the BBC that the record auction price for one stands at $71.2m (£53.6m), set in 2017.
Visitors have until 3 January to see the Grand Condé at the Condé Museum; after that, the stone returns to storage, and attention will likely shift to whether the exhibition's unusual security arrangements hold up through the winter.
