Habsburg family's Florentine diamond found in bank vault after a century

2025-11-06 16:02:00, Kuriozitete CNA

The legendary "Fiorentin" diamond, a 137-carat yellow jewel of the Habsburg family, has resurfaced after 100 years hidden in Canada, ending decades of speculation.

The legendary "Fiorentin" diamond, a 137-carat yellow pear-shaped jewel that belonged to the Austro-Hungarian imperial family, has resurfaced 100 years after its reported disappearance, with descendants discovering that it had been hidden in a Canadian bank vault throughout that period under the orders of Empress Zita.

The diamond emerged amid the aftermath of the audacious theft of royal jewels at the Louvre in Paris, which has revived interest in other famous stolen or missing objects.

The reappearance of the Florentine has put an end to decades of rumors, films and novels that speculated about the jewel's fate. The jewel likely belonged to the Medici family of Florence before the Habsburgs, although its origins remain unknown. However, there is speculation that it was made for Charles the Bold, the last Duke of Burgundy.

The diamond disappeared when Emperor Charles I fled Vienna in search of asylum abroad sometime around 1918. It was known that some of the jewels had been transported to Switzerland for protection, leading to speculation that the Florentine disappeared during that period.

The descendants of the Habsburgs have now revealed that the diamond was never lost, according to reports in the American and German media. After the imperial family fled Nazi persecution to Canada during World War II, they stored the diamond - which they had kept the entire time - along with other jewels in a bank vault.

Only a few people knew its location, according to the wishes of Empress Zita, widow of Charles I. She revealed the diamond's location only to her sons, Robert and Rudolf, requesting that it be kept secret for security reasons until 100 years after Charles's death in 1922. The brothers passed this information on to their sons before they died, according to family accounts.

Three relatives of the Habsburg family confirmed the story to the New York Times. Now that the centennial vow has been fulfilled, descendants, including Karl Habsburg-Lothringen, the grandson of the last emperor, and cousins ??Lorenz von Habsburg-Lothringen and Simeon von Habsburg, decided that the private jewels should be put on display.

In gratitude to Canada for sheltering the former monarch's family, the collection will remain there, and the Florentine diamond and other jewels can be publicly displayed.

The 137-carat stone is notable for its pear-shaped, bright golden yellow color, making it one of the most important jewels in history. Its reappearance solves one of the greatest mysteries of 20th-century artifacts.

In October, the Louvre made headlines around the world after thieves used a truck-mounted cherry picker to steal the crown jewels from the Apollo gallery./ CNA