The Wittelsbach Blue

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& Woods, 1931). From the day of the auction throughthe next 30 years, the whereabouts of theWittelsbach Blue were kept secret from the public. In1951, the WAF secretly sold the Wittelsbach Blue,which was then rediscovered in 1961 by Antwerpdiamond dealer Jozef Komkommer. In 1964, it waspurchased by a private German collector whose iden-

tity was not revealed until recently.During the authors investigations in theBavarian State Archive in Munich, in the AustrianState Archives in Vienna, and in three Spanish his-torical archives in Madrid, Simancas, and Valladolid,it became evident that many of the accepted factsabout the Wittelsbach Blue and its history that werepublished by Antwerp diamond specialist K. deSmet in his book, The Great Blue Diamond, TheWittelsbacher, Crown Witness to Three Centuriesof European History (1963), and cited afterwards bymany others, had no archival basis. Based on ourcomprehensive review of the available documents,

we can now correct the historical record and reporton the true, exciting history of the Wittelsbach Blueas it moved through Europe.

THEWITTELSBACH BLUE

Rudolf Drschel, Jrgen Evers, and Hans Ottomeyer

See end of article for About the Authors and Acknowledgments.

GEMS & GEMOLOGY, Vol. 44, No. 4, pp. 348363.

2008 Gemological Institute of America

The 35.56 ct Wittelsbach Blue is one of the largest historic blue diamonds ever fashioned. Itbelonged to the Bavarian House of Wittelsbach and was displayed in the Treasury of the MunichResidence until it disappeared in 1931. It was secretly sold in 1951, rediscovered in 1961, andthen sold again in 1964 to an undisclosed private buyer. In December 2008, the WittelsbachBlue was sold at Christies London to jeweler Lawrence Graff for just over $24.3 million, a recordprice for any diamond at auction. This article describes what is known about the WittelsbachBlue since it was first reported in 1666, and the gemological information released to date on thisdiamond, which was recently graded Fancy Deep grayish blue. Investigations in the historicalarchives of Bavaria, Austria, and Spain revealed that there is no archival evidence to supportmany previous statements about this stone.

348 THE WITTELSBACH BLUE GEMS & GEMOLOGY WINTER 2008

ue to their extreme rarity, blue diamonds,even more than colorless ones, have histori-cally epitomized rank and wealth. Two of

the largest known blue diamonds were once part ofthe crown jewels of European monarchies. TheHope diamond (now 45.52 ct) once belonged to theFrench royal family (Kurin, 2006), and the Wittels-

bach Blue (now 35.56 ct, figure 1) was owned by theBavarian royal family, the House of Wittelsbach.Like the Hope, the Wittelsbach Blue is an intense

steely blue. It is widely accepted that both originatedfrom the Kollur mine in Indias Golconda District(Bauer, 1932; Balfour, 1987). According to its previ-ously published history (e.g., Gaal, 1977; Bruton,1981, Balfour, 1997; Morel, 2001; Christies, 2008a,b),the Wittelsbach Blue arrived in Vienna in 1666 aspart of a dowry for a marriage into the House ofHapsburg. In 1722, it passed to the House of Wittels-bach in Munich, again as part of a dowry. It wasmounted as a symbol of dominion and power (de

Smet, 1963, p. 48) on the globe above the BavarianRoyal Crown around 1806 or 1807 (figure 2). Duringthe 20th century, the Wittelsbach Blue was involvedin a series of unusual events, which began in 1931when the Wittelsbach Equity Foundation (Germanacronym WAF, for Wittelsbacher Ausgleichsfonds)tried in vain to sell it at the Christie, Manson &Woods auction house in London (Christie, Manson

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INDIAN ORIGINS

India w as the w orlds only source of diamonds

(U nt rach t, 1997) un ti l a bout 1725 (Balfo ur, 1987),

w h e n t h e f i r s t B r a z i l i a n m i n e s beg a n t o o pe n

(Legrand, 1981). Thus, all diamonds in Europe before

that date, including the Wittelsbach Blue, must have

had t heir origin in Ind ia (Ha rlow , 1998; Webster,

1994). Most of Indias diam onds, and i ts largest, w erefound in a vast area on the eastern side of the Deccan

plateau (Bharadw aj, 2002). Ma ny of th ese diamon d

sources w ere locat ed in the former kingdom of

G olconda, which lay betw een the rivers G odavari in

the north and Pennar in the south.

Jean Baptiste Tavernier (160589), the famed

French diamond dealer, visited three mines in the

G olconda region betw een 1630 and 1668, among them

Coulour (also spelled Kollur). This famous mine w as

the source of several historic diamonds, including the

Koh-i-Noor, the Hope, the D resden G reen, the Orlov,

the Regent, and the Sancy (Kurin, 2006). According to

Bauer (1932), it w as also the source of nice blue dia-monds. Balfour (1987, p. 112) w rote tha t the Kollur

mine, then, appears to be the only . . . know n source of

Type IIb natural blue diamonds in India. The identit y

of the party w ho brought t he Witt elsbach Blue (per-

haps still in rough form) to Europe has been lost to the

mists of history, but Tavernier is a possibility, given

the tim ing of its arrival.

DOWRY OF AN EMPRESS

Madrid. In his book, de Smet (1963) reported the

findings of D r. Klaus Schneider, Munich, w ho w as

engaged by Jozef Komk omm er to investigate the his-

tory of the Wittelsbach Blue after he had purchased

th e stone in 1961 (Burgerw elzi jn, 1962). Schn eider

according to de Smetw as then a final-year doctoral

student of history at Ludwig-Maxim ilian U niversity

THE WITTELSBACH BLUE GEMS & GEMOLOGY WINTER 2008 349

Figure 1. The Wi tt elsbach Blue (35.56 ct) is one of th e

largest and m ost famous bl ue diamonds in t he world ,

w it h a know n provenance that stretches back to th e

17th century. Largely out of t he publi c eye for more

than 40 years, it w as sold in D ecember 2008, earnin g

a record price for any di amond at aucti on. Photo

court esy of Chri sties.

Figure 2. Ki ng Lud w ig I of Bavari a (17861868) is

shown h ere in 1826 in his coronation robes. The

Bavarian crow n w ith the Wit telsbach Blue is at his

right. The crown and t he right hand of the ki ng

(hold in g a scepter) rest on the Bavarian constit ut ion .

Pain ted b y Joseph K arl Sti eler (17811858), thi s por-

trai t n ow h angs in the Neue Pinakothek m useum in

M uni ch. Courtesy of Th e Bavarian State Paint ing

Coll ections, M uni ch.


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(LMU) of Munich. (Interestingly, our inquiry at theLMU library in 2006 revealed that Klaus Schneider

never completed his doctoral thesis, at least not at

LMU or any ot her G erma n university [see, e.g.,

Jahresverze ichn is der D eutschen Hoch schu l -

schriften, 19601970]. D uring 2006 and 2007, one of

the authors [JE] conducted exhaustive efforts to

locate Schneider and de Smet, w ithout success.)

After invest igat ions in the s ta te archives of

Bavaria and Austria during September and October

of 1961, Schneider traveled to Spain early in 1962 to

begin research in an unident ified Madrid a rchive (de

Smet, 1963). Here, he said, he found the first men-

tion of the Wittelsbach Blue as early as 1664,w hen Ki ng Phil ip IV (16051665) of t he Spani sh lin e

of the H ouse of Hapsburg, ordered the treasurer to

gather a dowry for his daughter, Infanta Margarita

Teresa (16511673; figure 3), from new acq uis i-

tions of precious stones from India and Portugal. . . .

It inclu ded a large blue diam ond (de Smet, 1963, p.

16). According to Schneider, he could find no addi-

t iona l in format ion on t he Wi t te l sbach Blue in

Madrid, allegedly because in th e bloody years of

the Spanish Civil War (19361939) the last existing

documents w ere undoubtedly lost w ith t he destruc-

tion of t he Ma drid arch ives (de Smet , 1963, p. 17).

One o f the au thors ( JE) v i s i ted Spa in in

N o v e m be r a n d D e c em be r 2 00 7 t o s e e k s o m earchival basis for Schneiders statements. These

investigations w ere performed w ith the support of

five Spanish archivists in t he G eneral Archive of the

Royal Palace in Madrid (which had no record of

Schneiders visit in 1962), in th e Archiv o G eneral

(G eneral Archive) of Sim ancas, a nd in the Archivo

de l a Rea l Chanc i l l er i a (Archive o f the Roya l

Chancery) of Valladolid. No documents could be

found to support the content ion tha t Ph ilips treasur-

er had purchased a large blue diamondor other

stones from India a nd Portu gal as early as 1664.

In addi t ion, the archivists w ere unaw are of any

records being lost during the Spanish C ivil War.

Our 2007 research also review ed the in voices of

the silver- and goldsmiths of the Spanish Court in

the G eneral Archive of the Royal Pala ce in Madrid

from 1660 to 1669 for any mention of a large blue

diam ond, w ithout success. Simila rly, the invoices of

court treasurers Baltasar Molinet, Antonio de Len,

and Agustn Spinola for 16601669, stored in the

Valladolid archive, have no mention of a great blue

diamond. One document in particular (found in file

number 1816-19) seems to rebut de Smets con-

tent ions. This record dealt w ith Margarita Teresas

trip to Vienna in 1666 to prepare for her marriage toEmperor Leopold I (Widorn, 1960). The document

includes several quotes from goldsmith Luis de

Sa u a l c a , w h o h a d s e t d i a m o n ds fo r M a r g a ri t a

Teresas mother, Queen Maria Anna (163496), and

w ho w ould likely have been comm issioned to set a

stone such as the Wittelsbach Blue (J. Menndez

Trigos, pers. com m., 2007). Again, how ever, there is

n o m e n t i o n w h a t s o e v e r o f s u c h a d i a m o n d .

Therefore, Schneiders statements (de Smet, 1963)

dealing w ith Spanish origins of the Wittelsbach Blue

must be considered unsubstantiated. The only men-

tion w e could find of such a diamond as part of the

dow ry w as in statement s made by Margarita Teresaafter she had reached Austria.

Vienna.Margarita Teresa married her uncle, Emperor

Leopold I (16401705), in Vienna in 1667 (Widorn,

1960). Figure 3 show s the youn g Empress wi th her

daughter Maria Antonia three years after the mar-

riage. The m arriage contract, da ted D ecember 18,

Figure 3. Empress Margarit a Teresa of A ustria and

her daughter M aria An tonia are shown here in t his

paint in g attr i but ed to Jan Thom as at th e end of th e

17th century . Courtesy of the Kun sth istorisches

M useum , Vienna.


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1663, and currently stored in the Austrian StateArchive in Vienna (Marriage contract . . . , 1663), con-tains no mention of a large blue diamond, so thestone likely was not acquired before this date. In1673, six years after the marriage, Margarita Teresadied. In her testamentary bequest (figure 4), she stat-

ed that her daughter, Maria Antonia, was her soleheiress (Widorn, 1960), with one exception: a pre-cious ornament, which she had brought from Spain,was left to Leopold: a great breast ornament with agreat diamond in the midst. Though the blue coloris not mentioned, this diamond was most likely thefuture Wittelsbach Blue: No other large diamond isknown to have been possessed by Margarita Teresa,and the court officials at the time would not neces-sarily have recorded the diamonds color (I. Aguirre,pers. comm., 2008; G. Gonsa, pers. comm., 2008).

Schneider claimed that, on Leopolds marriage tohis third wife, Eleonora Magdalena, in 1676 (after thedeath of his second wife, Archduchess ClaudiaFelicitas, heiress of Tirol, that same year), he was soenchanted by her beauty that he gave the Empressall the jewelry which he had inherited fromMargarita Teresa (de Smet, 1963, p. 18). Schneideralso suggested (de Smet, 1963) that Empress EleonoraMagdalena gave the Wittelsbach Blue by testamen-tary bequest to her granddaughter, ArchduchessMaria Amalia (17011756); he based this on docu-

ments relating to the Trousseau of ArchduchessMaria Amalia. However, investigations in theAustrian State Archive between August 2006 andJuly 2008 failed to uncover any records supportingSchneiders claims.

Nor does Empress Eleonora Magdalenas testa-mentary bequest, written between 1711 and 1720,make any mention of leaving the Wittelsbach Blueto Maria Amalia. During her lifetime, EleonoraMagdalena distributed her jewels to her daughters

and also one piece to her son Joseph (Maria Amaliasfather), who had succeeded Leopold as Emperor in1705, but she did not itemize gifts for her grand-daughters. She left such decisions to her heirs.However, other documents in the Austrian StateArchives may lead to a new explanation for thetransfer of the Wittelsbach Blue to Maria Amalia.

Archduchess Maria Antonia (figures 3 and 5),

Figure 5. Archduchess Maria Antonia (seen in figure 3as a toddler) is shown here at the age of 15. She mar-

ried Bavarian Elector Max Emanuel in 1685, but wasnot happy with her husband and returned to Viennain 1692. Painting by Benjamin von Block, 1684; cour-

tesy of the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.

Figure 4. The Testamentary Bequest of MargaritaTeresa, dated March 23, 1673, appears to leave the

Wittelsbach Blue to her husband Emperor Leopold I.The document reads, In an Indian writing box. No 1.

An ornament of diamonds from her Maj., the Empressbrought from Spain; with thick and thin stones withsome rhombs; this consists of the following pieces. A

great breast ornament with a great diamond in themidst. The color of the diamond is not mentioned.Courtesy of the Austrian State Archives, Vienna,HHStA FUK 1745, 1 and 2.


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Hapsburg court in Vienna, where it had been at herdeath, effectively under Emperor Josephs control.Thus, these documents may explain why thefuture Wittelsbach Blue became part of Maria

Amalias dowry in 1722, when she, EmperorJosephs second daughter, married Bavarian CrownPrince Charles Albert (16971745).

CROWN JEWEL OF BAVARIA

Munich. Charles Albert was the son of MaximilianII Emanuel and his second wife, Princess ThereseKunigunde Sobieska. In the inventory of the mar-riage contract (figure 8), it was agreed that MariaAmalia would bring from Vienna to Munich gems,jewels, and ornaments, and that inventory docu-mented for the first time a large blue brilliant,

encircled with small brilliants. The official bridalportrait of Maria Amalia, painted in 1722 by Fransvan Stampart (Glaser, 1976) and currently exhibitedat Castle Hmelschenburg in Emmerthal, Lower-Saxony, shows Maria Amalia wearing a hair orna-ment set with a blue diamond that is clearly identi-fiable as the Wittelsbach Blue (figure 9). This paint-ing is the oldest visual record of the diamond.


Figure 8. Inventory of the marriage contractbetween Maria Amalia and Crown PrinceCharles Albert of Bavaria, dated 1722. The top of

the contract shows a merger of the heraldicemblems of the Houses of Wittelsbach (blue andwhite) and Hapsburg (red and white). The cover(left) reads in part: Inventory of the pieces of

precious jewelry and clothes which belong to HerHighness Princess Maria Amalia, Archduchess of

Austria as married Princess of Bavaria. Above isthe entry for the Wittelsbach Blue, readingWhole diamond ornaments. No. 1: A large bluebrilliant, encircled with small brilliants, price240,000 guilders. Courtesy of the BavarianSecret House Archives.

Figure 9. In what is believed to be the oldest paintingof the Wittelsbach Blue, Maria Amalias bridal por-trait shows the large blue diamond as the centerpiece

in her hair ornament. Detail from a painting by Fransvan Stampart, 1722; courtesy of Lippold von Klencke,Castle Hmelschenburg.


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After the 1742 coronation of her husband,Emperor Charles VII, now-Empress Maria Amaliawore the Wittelsbach Blue in a crown made toresemble the Ottonian imperial crown (Ottomeyer,1979; figure 10; the Ottonian dynasty was a line of

Holy Roman emperors during the 10th and 11thcenturies).Maria Amalia died in 1756 and in 1761 her son,

Elector Maximilian III Joseph (17271777), had theWittelsbach Blue mounted in a badge of the Order ofthe Golden Fleece, surrounded by large white andyellow diamonds (Schatzkammer der MnchnerResidenz, 1937; Brunner, 1970, 1977; figure 11). Thisbadge is currently displayed in the Treasury of theMunich Residence, though with the WittelsbachBlue replaced by a glass imitation (Ottomeyer, 1979).A January 1774 inventory of all jewels stored in theMunich Treasury described the Carat 36 Wittels-

bach Blue as the most precious gem in the collection,with a value of 300,000 guilders (see the G&G DataDepository at www.gia.edu/gemsandgemology).

In January 1806, the kingdom of Bavaria wasfounded with Maximilian I Joseph as its first king.The new royal Bavarian crown (figure 12) promi-nently featured the Wittelsbach Blue in the orbunder the cross, representing the heraldic blue color

of the House of Wittelsbach. It occupied this uniqueposition from 1807 to 1931.

European crowns typically have a main stonethat exceeds all other personal possessions of theruler in size, color, and value. The Bavarian crownwas a state symbol of a constitutional monarchy,

and its legal possession was an outward sign of thelegitimacy of the king. In Bavaria, the crown andother regalia, such as the sceptre, sword, orb, andthe like, served as symbols of the sovereignty of the

Figure 10. After her accession as empress in 1742,Maria Amalia wore the Wittelsbach Blue mounted in

her crown (on the table to her right). This detail isfrom a picture painted in 1766, 10 years after herdeath. From the atelier of Georges Desmares; cour-tesy of the Bavarian Palace Department.

Figure 11. Maria Amalias son, Elector Maximilian IIIJoseph, had the Wittelsbach Blue set in a badge of theOrder of the Golden Fleece in 1761. The blue stone inthis figure is a glass imitation. Altogether, 700 dia-monds were used in the setting (many of which aresmall or not visible here). Photo by J. Evers.
http://lgdl.gia.edu/pdfs/gemsandgemology/Munich-1774-Inventory.pdfhttp://lgdl.gia.edu/pdfs/gemsandgemology/Munich-1774-Inventory.pdf


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new kingdom during the opening of parliament, theoath of each new King of Bavaria, and other stateceremonies (unlike the practice in other monar-chies, the Bavarian crown was not used in corona-tions or worn by the king). Thus, the jewel on thetop of the crown had a meaning beyond its material

existence (Puhle, 2006).The crown was designed in 1806 by Charles

Percier, a famous Paris architect and designer forEmperor Napoleon I. Actual construction was bygoldsmith Martin-Guillaume Biennais and hiscraftsmen. The jeweler Borgnis in Frankfurt servedas an intermediary to match existing gems in thetreasury with new acquisitions to complete the ringof pearls and the settings of various secondary stones(Ottomeyer, 1979; Erichsen and Heinemann, 2006).

The Munich Residence was the city palace of theBavarian dukes, electors, kings, and emperors from1508 to 1918. The Treasury of the MunichResidence, located on the ground floor in the easternpart of the Royal Palace (figure 13), is among theforemost of such collections in Europe (Heym, 1999).Until 1931, the most precious gem stored here wasthe Wittelsbach Blue. In a general bill (General-rechnung) from 1807, the Wittelsbach Blue wasappraised at 300,000 florins, as much as all otherroyal ornaments combined (Ottomeyer, 1979).

DISAPPEARANCE AND REDISCOVERY

London. In 1918, at the end of the First World War,

the Kingdom of Bavaria was replaced by the demo-cratic Free State of Bavaria. After years of difficultnegotiations, a contract was arranged in 1923between the House of Wittelsbach and the Wittels-bach Equity Foundation (WAF). All former proper-ties of the House of Wittelsbach, including theinventory of the Treasury of the Munich Residence,were transferred to the WAF to be displayed in pub-lic museums. In an appendix, it was stated that thesale of any property belonging to the WAF requiredthe approval of the Bavarian state government. In1931, the House of Wittelsbach and its head, CrownPrince Rupprecht, were faced with grave financial

problems (Verkauf . . . , 1931), so much so thatthe WAF decided to sell the Wittelsbach Blue andvarious other jewels through the auction house ofChristie, Manson & Woods (later Christies) inLondon (Christie, Manson & Woods, 1931). TheBavarian State Government, under minister presi-dent Dr. Heinrich Held, gave the required exportpermission for the Wittelsbach Blue. However, at

the London auction on December 21, 1931 (figure14), bidding failed to reach the reserve price, and the

Wittelsbach Blue was not sold (Bruton, 1981). Fromthe day of the auction until 1961, the whereaboutsof the diamond were not publicly known.

Figure 12. From 1807 to 1931, following the establish-ment of the Kingdom of Bavaria by Maximilian IJoseph in 1806, the Wittelsbach Blue sat at the top ofthe royal Bavarian crown. As with the badge in figure11, it has since been replaced by an imitation made ofblue glass. Photo by J. Evers.

Figure 13. The Royal Palace of the MunichResidence was built over 10 years, from 1823 to1832. The Treasury of the Munich Residence is onthe first/ground floor, to the right of the entranceas one goes into the building. It was home to theWittelsbach Blue during most of the 19th and early20th centuries. Photo by J. Evers.


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Antwerp, Brussels, and Bruges. Acting in secret, theWAF sold the Wittelsbach Blue in Antwerp in 1951to a merchant specializing in jewels and ornaments(Kuballa, 1964; Biehn, 1965). Baron Teuchert, speak-ing for the administration of the WAF, later statedthat they did not know the name of this buyer

because he was represented by an agent (Der BlaueWittelsbacher . . . , 1964). Later in 1951, theWittelsbach Blue was resold to Antwerp diamantaireRomi Goldmuntz (Kuballa, 1964; figure 15), one ofthe worlds most prominent diamond dealers (deSmet,1963; Er rhrte . . . , 1972; Laureys, 2006).

Recently, Dr. Gerhard Immler, director of theBavarian Secret House Archives, shared with one ofthe authors (JE) his research into the sales of preciousart and gems by the WAF in the early 1950s. At thetime, the WAF needed funds to repair damage totheir properties that was sustained during WorldWar II. The most direct method for obtaining thesefunds was by selling art in the WAFs collection. Theresponsible ministries and their leading secretaries,as well as the Bavarian minister president, supportedthe decision (G. Immler, pers. comm., 2006).

However, the financial situation of the WAF inthe 1950s, as judged by statements made by mem-

bers of the House of Wittelsbach during a court casein 1962 (Wer hat denn . . . , 1962), do not seem tobear out a dire need to sell the diamond. Then, thefunds of the WAF were estimated to be DM300500 million. The value of the Wittelsbach Bluein 1951, based on events during the 1960s (seebelow) was probably about DM 1 million.Compared to the estimate of the WAFs total funds,an additional DM 1 million gained by selling the

Wittelsbach Bluethe most precious piece of theMunich crown jewelsseems to be a very smallimprovement, even in a strained financial situation.

From April 17 to October 19, 1958, theUniversal and International Exhibition (EXPO58)was held in Brussels. Forty-seven Belgian jewelers,including Romi Goldmuntz and J. Komkommer &Son, displayed their gems at the Belgian Diamond

Figure 15. Romi Benjamin Goldmuntz (18821960)was one of the greatest diamond dealers in the world.In 1951, he purchased the Wittelsbach Blue in

Antwerp, after it was sold in secret that year by theWAF. Photo by Beurs van Diamanthandel.

Figure 14. In 1931, the Wittelsbachs were forced toput the Wittelsbach Blue (apparently once againmounted in the Golden Fleece ornament in figure 11)and numerous other items of jewelry up for auction.Shown here is the diamonds entry in the auction cat-

alogue; it did not sell. Note that the carat weight asgiven here is incorrect.


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I n d u s t r y p a v i l i o n (Exposi t i o n U n i v e r sel l e et

In ternationale de Bruxel les, 1958, 1961; Off ic ia l

Guide. . . , 1958). There, among other gems, G old-

mu ntz displayed the Wittelsbach Bluew ithout

giving its nam e or origin. N or was it know n at the

time that G oldmunt z w as the owner of the large

blue diamond. Further, though the Wittelsbach Bluew as one of the largest and m ost historic blue dia-

monds in t he w orld, not one of the mil l ions of

EXPO visitorsincluding diam ond expert a nd lat er

purchaser Jozef Komkommerappeared to recog-

niz e it (de Sm et, 1963).

After G oldmunt zs death in 1960, his heirs dis-

covered the diamond in his gem collection, think-

ing it nothing but a large old-mine-cut stone. Not

know ing the origin of the blue gem , in August 1961

they a sked Antw erp jew eler Jozef Kom komm er to

recut it in to a pear-shape, em erald-cut or oval (de

Sm et, 1963, p.7). How ever, contrary t o de Sm ets

claims, Komkommer may not at first have realized

w hat t hey had brought him . In a January 2008 inter-

view w ith Jan Walgrave, form er director o f the

Provincial D iamond Museum Antw erp, Komkom-

mers son Jacques claimed that he initially suggest-

ed a probable historic origin for the blue gem (J.

Walgrave, pers. comm., 2008). Father and son com-

pared characteristic data for historic diamonds in

The Diamond D ict ionary(C opeland et a l., 1960),

and in doing so quickly identified the unknow n

blue diamond a s th e m issing Wit te lsbach Blue.

Together w ith some closely a ssociated jew elers,

Jozef Komkommer purchased the Wittelsbach Blueon August 28, 1961 (Burgerw elzijn, 1962; V. D e Boi,

pers. com m ., 2007).

Soon thereaf ter , Komkommer contacted the

Treasury of the Munich Residenceincluding

D uke Albrecht of Bavaria, then head of the House of

Wittelsbach, and Baron Teuchert of the WAF

offering to sell back the diamond. We do not know

the price he quoted, but it has been reported as

ei ther D M 1.5 mil l ion (~ $375,000; D er Blaue

Witt elsbacher . . . , 1964) or D M 2 milli on ( Wer

hat denn . . . , 1962). Whatever the price, Duke

Albrecht refused the offer. Baron Teuchert, for his

part, called the Wittelsbach Blue an unproductiveasset not w orth buying back ( D er Blaue Wittels-

bacher . . . , 1964). He also then revealed w here the

diamond had been during 19311951: back in the

WAFs safe in M unich .

Lucerne, Hamburg, and Dsseldorf. Spurned by theWittelsbachs, Komkom m er sought other buyers.

On August 14, 1963, dur ing the In te rna t ion a l

L u c e rn e M u s ic F e s t i v a l , h e e x h ib i t e d t h e

Wittelsbach Blue at the G belin jew elry store, then

overseen by famed gemologist D r. Edw ard G belin.

At the tim e, the Witt elsbach Blue w as valued at

about 2 milli on Sw iss francs or around $500,000.

Publi city w as high: Three local new spapers reportedon th e event ( Ein berhmt er Steinerner . . . , 1963;

D e G r ot e Bl au w e D i a m an t . . . , 1963; D er

Witt elsbacher in Luzern, 1963). Komkom m er had

hoped to sell the Wittelsbach Blue to one of the fes-

tival guests, but by mid-September had seen no suc-

cess. How ever, w hile the stone was in Lucerne, D r.

G belin was able to conduct the first gemological

exam inat ion of the diam ond (see below ).

In 1964, H am burg jew eler Renatu s Wilm recog-

nized a chance to sell the Wittelsbach Blue to one

of his countrymen (Kuballa, 1964, Biehn, 1965).

Some residual pa trio t ism led him to fear tha t

this most im portant historic G erm an gem could

drift to America, as had happened earlier w ith

t h e H o pe d i a m o n d . K o m k o m m e r a n d Wi l m

entered into a cont ract: Wilm w ould earn a $50,000

finders fee i f he sold the Wit te lsbach Blue by

January 31, 1965, but Kom komm er w ould get t he

same amount of money from Wilm should Wilm

be unsuccessful (Kuballa, 1964; Biehn, 1965). To

this end, Wilm exhibited the Wittelsbach Blue in

his jew elry shops in D sseldorf and Ham burg dur-

ing Oct ober.

Wilm s efforts saw m ore success than th ose of

Komkommer. At the end o f 1964, he so ld theWitt elsbach Blu e and earned his $50,000. The na m e

of the buyer w as not disclosed.

SOLD TO A PRIVATE PARTY

Antibes and Zurich. Here, the previously publishedhistory of th e Witt elsbach Blue (e.g., G aal, 1977;

Bruton , 1981; Bal four, 1997; M orel, 2001) com es t o

an end, w ith t he fate of the diamond a fter 1964

largely a my stery. In March 2006, w e began our

investigations to determine the name of the private

purchaser in the digital archives of G erman new s-

papers and magazines. Our attention soon focusedon H elm ut H orten (19091987) of D sseldorf, at

one t ime the ow ner of one of G erman ys largest

department-store chains. One of the authors (RD)

had first speculated on Hortens identity as the

buyer of the Wittelsbach Blue in an article pub-

lished in a small journal on Palatine topography in

1982 (D rsc hel , 1982).


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The first reports connecting Horten w ith a n

unna m ed 35 ct blue diam ond w ere published in

1966. Horten had married in secret that year; his

bride w as a young secretary from Vienna nam ed

Heidi Jelinek, 32 years his junior (Bissinger and

Lebeck, 1971a). Reports of the w edding appeared in

the Rhei ni sche Post(D iebck er, 1966) an d ot herpublications (Adabei, 1966a,b) on August 3, 1966.

Among other salacious details about the party at

w hich H orten celebrated his second ma rriage, the

article reported that H orten had presented his w ife

with a 35 ct blue diamond as a wedding gift. For

Rhein ische Postjournalist Diebcker, the article

had severe consequences (J. D iebcker, pers. comm .,

2006). H orten w ithdrew all a dvertisements for his

stores (in the order of DM1.5 million), demanding

that Diebcker be fired. Fortunately for Diebcker,

the publishers of Rheini sche Postrefused. (The tw o

ot her articl esAdabei, 1966a,bw ere publish ed

pseudonymously.)A tw o-part 1971 article in Sternmagazine (Bis-

singer and Lebeck, 1971a,b) provided more details of

the H ortens post-w edding party a t C ap dAntibes,

France, w hich a ccording to D iebcker featu red per-

forman ces by the fam ed BlueBell G ir ls dancing

troupe from Las Vegas, a ballet troupe from Tokyo,

a dancing group from Oslo, and musicians from

G reece (D iebck er, 1966). Reportedly , Helm ut

Horten presented the diamond to Heidi by simply

pulling it from his trouser pocket in the midst of

this gala. The 240 guests in attendance likely did

not realize that the blue gem at the center of this

scene w as irreplaceable, once part of t he Treasury of

the Munich Residence.Ot her popular journalist s w ere also seeking the

diamond. Academy Awa rdw inning Sw iss film pro-

ducer Ernst Albrecht Heiniger (19091993; L.

Picco lin, pers. comm ., 2004) and h is w ife Jeann e

w ere also avid gem phot ographers. The Great Book

of Jewels(Heiniger and Heiniger, 1974) includes the

story of their years-long search for the Wittelsbach

Blue in the early 1970s.

The Heinigers had traveled thousands of miles

to locate th e gem w ithout success. The diamond

w as now here to be found, and the nam e of the 1964

purchaser w as guarded wi t h u t mos t secrecy

(Heiniger and Heiniger, 1974). Finally, after three

years, they learned by chance that the Wittelsbach

Blue was stored in a vault not far from their photo

studio in t he Zurich Bah nhofst rasse (G . Kling, pers.

comm., 2007). Photographing the Wittelsbach Blue

required lengthy negotiations and a costly insurance

policy (Heiniger and Heiniger, 1974). In addition,

they were required to sign documents stating that

they would never reveal any information about the

ow ner or the stones location. The photo of the

Wittelsbach Blue taken by the H einigers is show n

in figure 16.

A variety of other reports of the blue diamondappeared in G erman publicat ions over th e ensuing

decades (e.g., Neuhauser, 1971; Zipser, 1991).

Although no other blue diamond of this particular

w eight ha s ever been reported, none of t hese articles

identified the stone as t he m issing Witt elsbach Blue.

How ever, a brief 1979 article discussing t he 70th

birthday celebration of Helm ut H orten ( 70 Jahre H.

Horten, ) finally confirmed the Hortens ow nership

of the historic diamond. The article mentioned that,

in 1966, Horten ha d presented H eidi w ith one of the

greatest diamonds that ever adorned a woman: the

fam ous Witt elsbach Blue (figure 17).

I n M a r c h 2 0 06 , 27 y e a r s a f t e r t h i s a r t i c l eappeared, on e of t he au th ors (JE) asked t he Welt am

Sonntageditor responsible for the 1979 report

about its factual basis. He replied that the paper

w ould not have published informa tion on a stone

like the Wittelsbach Blue from t he private life of a

person l ike Helmut Horten w ithout his specific

agreement.

Figure 16. Thi s photo of t he Wi tt elsbach Bl ue was

tak en b y Ernst A lbrecht H eini ger and hi s wi fe Jeanne

after years spent tracki ng down the diam ond. The

m ounti ng was created in t he 1960s by H arry Wi nston

and w as designed t o reduce the visibil it y of th e

extremely large culet, and t hus im prove the overall

appearance of the histori c stone. Reprin ted by perm is-

sion of J. Heini ger.


12/16


The authors also contacted Jeanne Heiniger in

Septem ber 2007 asking her to review the sections

of this article dealing with the Hortens ownership

and t he Heiningers photograph of it. She answ ered

by e-ma il that no addendum and no correction

w ere required (J. Hein iger, pers. com m ., 2007). This

i s t h e s ec o n d i n d e pe n d e n t s o u r c e f o r t h eHortens ownership.

St. Moritz and London. In November 2006, the

authors received a report that the elusive Wittels-

bach Blue had recently been displayed in a private

e x h ib i t io n a t t h e B u lg a r i s t o r e in S t . M o r i t z ,

Sw itzer land. This exhibit ion and a la ter one in

Vienna w ere probably th e f irst indicat ions tha t

Heidi H orten planned to sell th e Wittelsbach Blue.

In November 2008, Christies announced that

the Wittelsbach Blue w ould be sold at a uction in

London on D ecember 10, 2008 (C hrist ies, 2008a,b;

Kratz er and Evers, 2008). This au ction w as con-ducted at Christies headquartersthe same build-

ing w here the Wittelsbach Blue w as unsuccessfully

offered nearly 80 years earlier. The w inning bid w as

placed by London jew eler Law rence G raf f , who

paid a hammer price of 16,393,250, or just over

$24.3 mill ion a nd $683,000 per carat (C hrist ies,

2008c). This is a record price for any diamond or

piece of jew elry at auct ion. The WAF did not par-

ticipate in the auction, but the authors have been

told that it intends to negotiate w ith G raff to pur-

chase the diamond (R. Borchard, pers. comm.,

2008). How ever, no decisions in t hat respect ha d

been ma de w hen this article w ent to press.

GEMOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS

D uring th e short period in 1963 and 1964 betw een

the rediscovery of the Wittelsbach Blue by Jozef

Komkommer and its sale to Horten, a few diamond

specialists had the opportunity to examine it. In

addition to D r. G belin, these included Finnish jew -

eler and diamond historian H erbert Tillander, w ho

measured the cut , w eight, a nd dim ensions (Tillan-

der, 1965). Ham burg jew eler Renat us Wilm , w ho

had sold the Wittelsbach Blue to Horten in 1964,supported Tillanders findings. Most recently, the

C hristies catalogue in w hich the diam ond appears

published a copy of the September 24, 2008, G IA

C olored Diam ond G rading Report on this stone

(C hrist ies, 2008b, p. 126).

Th e r o ug h d i a m o n d f r o m w h i c h t h e

Wittelsbach Blue w as cut w as probably a flat slab

about 9 mm thick. This can be deduced from the

broad proportions of the cut and the extremely

large culet. Where the Witt elsbach Blue w as cut

and polished cannot be stated w ith certainty, but

Pa ris (Mo rel, 1988), Lisbon and Venice (Tilla nder,

1995), and Bruges, Antw erp, and London (Bruton ,1981) have all been proposed in the literature.

Joze f Komkommer repor ted the po l i sh o f the

Wittelsbach Blue as being uncomm only smooth,

smoot her than th e w ork of the very best polishers

of tod ay (de Smet , 1963, p. 8). Tilla nder also

reported that the appearance of this stone is par-

t icularly st r iking because of i t s unusually f ine

Figure 17. This bri ef articl e in t he January 7, 1979

issue of the Germ an nat ional Sunday newspaperWelt

am Sonntag, marks Helmut Hortens 70th b irthday,

and for the first t im e publicly link s Horten and his

wi fe wi th t he Witt elsbach Blue.


13/16


polish and the absolute flatness of the facet sur-

fac es (Tillan der, 1965).

In the G IA report, th e cut of the Wittelsbach

Blue is described as a cushion m odified brilliant.

Like a modern bri l l iant cut , i t show s excellent

e igh t fo ld symmetry ( f igure 18) . Accord ing to

Tillander, it is basica lly a star cu t (figure 18, top left)

w ith its a pex replaced by a t able facet (figure 18, top

center), so that the radially bisected girdle facets

remained unchanged. Then, a br i l l iant cut was

superimposed to complete the cut (figure 18, top

right; Tillander, 1965). In addition to the main andgirdle facets, the Wittelsbach Blue has double pavil-

ion facetsperhaps unique for a historic diamond

cutw ith eight precisely developed facets around

the culet (figure 18, bott om ). According t o Tillander

(1995), it is th e earliest know n brillian t.

Phot os of the stone and the G IA report indicate

that over the years the knife-edge girdle w as dam -

aged in several places (figure 19). One can only

hope that a fut ure ow ner of the Witt elsbach Blue

does not repolish it in order to remove this minor

dam age, as it w ould result in a loss of the stones

subtle original substance, identity, and historic

form. H ow ever, a statement from G raff Diam ondsshortly after the December 10 auction indicated

that they intended to do just that, with the aim of

m aking the diamond flaw less and a deeper color

(Reyburn, 2008).

As noted, the first gemological characterization

of the Wittelsbach Blue as a ty pe IIb diam ond w as

per formed in 1963 by D r . G be l in ( D e G ro te

Blauw e D iam ant . . . , 1963). Balfour (1987) lat er

reported tha t G belin observed red phosphores-

cence after exposure of the stone t o short-w ave

ultraviolet radiation. Most blue diamonds display a

chalky blue to green phosphorescence; only very

rarely, as with the Hope diamond, do they exhibit

red or orange-red (King et al., 2003; King et al.,1998). G belin also reported strong semicon duc-

tivity ( Ein berhmter Steinerner . . . , 1963; D e

G rote Blauw e Diamant . . . , 1963). In a letter that

a cco m p a n ie d t h e d i a m o n d g r a d in g r e p o r t

(C hristies, 2008b, p. 124), G IA confirmed t hat the

35.56 ct diamond w as a ty pe IIb w ith a moderate

concentration of boron and that it ha d bright and

persistent red phosphorescence, sim ilar to th at pre-

sent in the Hope diamond. It is also interesting to

note tha t, like the H ope, the Wittelsbach Blue w as

color graded Fanc y D eep grayish blu e. The G IA

report gave the clarity grade as VS2

and t he color as

even. Polish and symm etry were good, andas

noted by ot hersthe girdle w as extrem ely thin.

Measurements revealed a 64% table, extremely

large culet, and 38.8% tot al depth.

Figure 18. Ti ll anders sequence of draw in gs il lu strat es

how the Wi tt elsbach Bl ue may have been developed

from a v ariant of the pointed star cut (left). At center,

the apex is replaced by a l arge tabl e facet, after wh ich

star facets are added around t he tabl e (right ). The

complete facet diagrams are shown al ong the bott om.

From Til lander, 1995.

Figure 19. O ver the cent uri es, the Wit telsbach Blue

has sustain ed a certai n amount of damage. The worst

is to i ts kni fe-edge gird le, wh ich suffered severe chip-

ping over its three cent uri es of known hi story. Photo

courtesy of Chri sti es.


14/16


CONCLUSION

Helmut Horten died in Switzerland in November

1987. Heidi H orten, w ho ha s no children, is now

the richest w oman in Austria, wit h assets of 3. 7

billion ( Special report: The w orlds billionaires,

2008). Although she can use and increase the pos-

sessions of her former husband, she is not allow ed

to dispose of them in her w ill (Stern, 1971a; D er

Lotto-G ewinn des Jahres . . . , 1994). This may be

th e reason w hy she decided to sell the Witt elsbach

Blue , wh ich w as her persona l proper ty , a t the

C hristies auction.

D uring th e 30 years betw een 1931 and 1964, the

list of poor decisions dealing w ith the fate of the

Witt elsbach Blue is remarkable. How ever, one m an

made the right decision for the Bavarian blue dia-

mond, at the right moment: Jozef Komkommer,

w ho refused to recut the Witt elsbach Blue into a

more modern shape and thereby preserved its sub-tle essence, historical identi ty, and importance.

The photo of Jozef Komkommer examining the

Wittelsbach Blue in figure 20 serves as a small

monum ent to a conscientious man.Figure 20. Jozef Kom kommer (19111980), wh oserecognit ion of the Wit telsbach Blue in 1961 (w it h th e

help of hi s son) saved it from recutti ng, is show n here

examin ing the diamond w ith a loupe.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Mr. Drschel is a d iamond historian in Idar-Oberstein,Germany. Dr. Evers (eve@cup .uni-muenchen.de) is a profes-sor in the Department of Chem istry and B iochemistry,University of Mun ich. Dr. Ottomeyer is a professor atHumb oldt University, Berlin and director general of theGerman Historical Museum , Berlin.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTSThe authors thank the following individuals for assistance inthe preparation of this article: Mrs. W. Bartling, Hamburg;Mrs. Dr. H. Bauer, Kronen Zeitung, Vienna; Mrs. Dr. A.Baumeister and Dr. W. Alberg, Stadtmuseum Dsseldorf;Duke Franz of Bavaria, Munich; Manfred Bissinger, Hoffmannund Campe Verlag, Hamb urg; Mrs. V. de Boi, StedelijkeMusea, Bruges; Ralf Borchard, Bavarian Radio, Munich;R. Burri, Zurich; S. Conrad, A. Neuhoff, Prof. Dr. T. M.Klaptke, and G. Oehlinger, Ludwig-M aximilian University,

Munich; Mrs. K. Dannel, Airport Hamburg GmbH; J.Diebcker, Duisb urg; Dr. R. Dnki, Stadtarchiv Zrich; M rs. L.Enderli, Fotostiftung Schweiz, Winterthur; M rs. E. Heise,Neue Pinakothek, Munich; Dr. F. Falk, SchmuckmuseumPforzheim; Mrs. D. Frost, Staats- und UniversittsbibliothekBremen; J. Glasner and G . Reiprich, BayerischesHauptst aatsarchiv, Munich; Dr. G. Gonsa, Austrian StateArchive, Vienna; Dr. S. Heym, M rs. B. Weis, G. Graml, and J.

Breithoff, Bayerische Verwaltung der st aatlichen Schlsser,

Grten und Seen, M unich; Mrs. A. Grter and M rs. M. Hug ,Zentral- und Hochschulbibliothek, Lucerne; Th. Gbelin,Lucerne; Mrs. J. Gutwein, New York; Dr. O. von Habsburg,Starnberg; K. Hageresch, RotoSmeets, Bielefeld; M rs.Jeanne Heiniger, California; Dr. G. Immler and A. Leipnitz,Geheimes Hausarchiv, Munich; L. von Klencke, Hmel-schenburg; Mrs. Dr. G. Kling, Archiv Swiss PTT, Bern;Jacques Kom kommer, Antwerp; G. Krummenacher, ZrcherHochschule der Knste, Zurich; Mrs. B. Kunze and B.Hinderer, Axel-Springer-Verlag, Berlin; D r. E. Lau reys,Mo rtsel, Mrs. L. Overstreet and Mrs. M . Rosen, SmithsonianInstitution, Washington D.C.; L. Piccolin, Zurich, Mrs. P.Riekel and Mrs. R. Laukhuf, Hubert Burda Medien, Munich;Dr. K. Schtz, Mrs. I. Jung and A. Rhrig, KunsthistorischesMuseum , Vienna; H. H. Serges, Serges Verlag, Solingen; T.Snoeren, Het Parool, Amsterdam; M rs. L. Carillo Carminal,Biblioteca Nacional Mad rid; Mrs. A. Huete, J. L. H. Elvira, A.

A. Zimmerli, Palacio Real, Mad rid; Mrs. I. Aguirre, Simancasand J. M enndez Trigos, Vallado lid; Dr. G. St einhauser,Atom- Institut, Vienna; Mrs. Dr. U . Tillander-Godenh ielm,Grankula; J. Walgrave, Provinciaal Diamond M useum,Antwerp ; and R. Wolfensberger, Museum fr Kommuni-kation, Bern. This article is dedicated to Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c.Heinrich Nth, former President of the Bavarian Academy ofScience, on the occ asion of his 80th birthday.


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Documents

The Wittelsbach Blue