As impressive for its weight—128.48 carats—as for its past, the Star of the South is a lightly pink-hued diamond that was long owned by the maharajahs of Baroda. It was purchased in 2002 by Cartier and mounted on a bracelet.
In 1853 a slave discovered a wonderfully clear rough diamond weighing 261.24 carats in the depths of the Bagagem mine in Brazil, where she worked. As called for by tradition, she was rewarded with her freedom and a pension for the rest of her life.
In 1857 an Amsterdam diamond merchant cut the rough stone into an imposing cushion-shaped diamond weighing 124.48 carats—it lost nearly half its weight in the transformation.
The gem passed through the hands of several dealers before finally being bought by Maharajah Gaekwad of Baroda, Kande Rao, one of the nineteenth-century’s great jewelry collectors. It remained in the Baroda dynasty for nearly eight decades, adding its luster to the ceremonial dress of successive monarchs. A photograph shows the young Sayaji Rao III, aged barely twelve, wearing a ceremonial necklace set with the fabulous diamond. In the 1950s, the famously extravagant Maharani Sita Devi of Baroda also chose this gem to adorn her saris.
It was only much later—in 2002, to be precise—that Cartier bought the Star of the South. On that occasion, the diamond was examined by the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) and was awarded a clarity rating of VS2 and a color grade of Fancy Light Pinkish Brown. Cartier set the stone in the middle of a carefully structured platinum and diamond bracelet.