Daryā-e Nūr

famous diamonds

Daryā-e Nūr, also spelled Darya-i-noor, largest and finest diamond in the crown jewels of Iran. A pale pink tablet-shaped stone weighing about 185 carats, it is from Golconda, Andhra Pradesh, India. Inscribed on a rear facet is the name of Fatḥ ʿAlī Shāh and the date 1834, the year of his death. Experts from the Royal Ontario Museum have postulated that the Daryā-e Nūr (meaning “sea of light”) is the major portion of the Great Table diamond, seen by the French jewel trader Jean-Baptiste Tavernier in Golconda in 1642. The other piece of the Great Table is thought to have been recut as an oval, pink, 60-carat brilliant called the Nūr ol-ʿEyn (meaning “light of the eye”).