Sancy Diamond

The Sancy is a 55.23 carat pale yellow diamond of Indian origin, cut in an asymmetrical pear shape faceted on both sides, with sixty-eight facets arranged in a star pattern. The cut is attributed to a Parisian lapidary of the second half of the 16th century. It belongs to the French Crown Jewels collection of the Musée du Louvre in Paris, though the Louvre's collection database currently lists it as not on display.

Traditional accounts trace the stone to earlier Burgundian and Portuguese royal jewels, but its first owner identified with certainty is Nicolas de Harlay, seigneur de Sancy, a diplomat and financier to Henry IV of France, who gave the diamond its name. It was sold to King James I of England in the early 17th century and remained with the English crown until Cardinal Mazarin purchased it in 1657. Mazarin bequeathed it to the French Crown in 1661 as one of the eighteen Mazarin diamonds.

The Sancy formed the heart of the fleur-de-lis at the top of the crown used for the coronation of Louis XV in 1722. It was stolen from the Garde-Meuble in September 1792 and recovered two years later, then passed through the Demidov family, Sir Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy, and the Astor family before the Louvre purchased it from the Astors in 1978 for one million dollars.