The last Medici to rule Tuscany died in 1737 (per Treccani). His successor married Empress Maria Theresa, ruler of the Holy Roman Empire, matriarch of the imperial Hapsburg family, and a famous connoisseur of jewelry. She immediately added the huge yellow beauty to the Hapsburg family crown jewels, kept in the Hofburg Palace in Vienna.

The Florentine Diamond sat among the crowns, vestments, and cut jewels of the Hapsburgs for almost 200 years, a symbol of that family that ruled almost a third of Europe through wars and upheavals (and which, appropriately for this story, accumulated its fair share of curses.) But when the final reigning Hapsburgs fled from Austria to Switzerland following their defeat in World War I, they smuggled the Florentine Diamond with them. The New York Times, in a 1922 article, estimated the collection to be worth about 25 million Swiss francs.

But what became of it in Switzerland? Nobody knows. One rumor claims that a household servant of the exiled Hapsburgs pocketed the massive gem and slipped away to South America. Another would have it broken into smaller pieces and sold to unsuspecting jewelers for cash. We’ll never know for sure, but remember that second story if you’re ever perusing the stones in a quaint Swiss jeweler’s and see a yellow glint. It might be more mysterious than you know.

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