The Florentine diamond, considered lost since 1918, was found 100 years later in a bank vault in Quebec, Canada, The New York Times reported.
According to reports, this rare gem, weighing over 137 carats, had been stored in the vault for more than a century. The information was disclosed by a representative of the Habsburg family, Charles Habsburg-Lorraine.
This jewel, about the size of a walnut, is ranked among the four largest diamonds in the world. It was taken out of Austria in November 1918, on behalf of Emperor Charles I, shortly before the fall of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and later sent to Switzerland, then to Canada.
The exact location of the diamond was kept secret out of respect for Emperor Charles’s wife, Empress Zita. Only their two sons knew where it was kept, and according to their father’s will, the information was not to be disclosed for 100 years after his death.
In 1940, fearing the threat of fascism, the family left Europe, first moving to the United States and later to Canada. Zita carried the precious stones in a small suitcase, and when she returned to Europe in 1953, she left them stored in a Quebec bank vault.
Currently, the Habsburg descendants have decided to include the Florentine diamond in a special trust in Canada. In the coming years, the family plans to exhibit this historic jewel to the public in one of the country’s museums.
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