30 Apr 2021, 20:42 BST
Louis XV’s Order of the Golden Fleece was one of the most lavish pieces of jewellery ever made. A replica created in 2010 based on an illustration gives a sense of its majesty. Containing famous stones like the French Blue and the Côte de Bretagne, it was stolen in 1792 and dismantled. Many of its components were lost, but the fate of others is known: The Côte de Bretagne was recovered and is held at the Louvre, and the French Blue is known today as the Hope Diamond.
Photograph by MANUEL COHEN/AURIMAGES
Known by awed gemologists simply as “the Blue,” the world’s biggest blue diamond first vanished in a jewel heist during the turmoil of revolutionary Paris in 1792. Since then, it has resurfaced and disappeared several times around Europe and across the Atlantic. Historians and jewellers have finally ended this treasure hunt that lasted more than two centuries.