Diamond Tuscany

In 1694-95 Cosmus III, Grand Duke of Tuscany, made it possible for Giuseppe Averani and Cipriano Antonio Targioni of Florence to heat a diamond with a large burning glass. The gem was destroyed (255). Various modifications of this experiment were tried in Vienna and Paris (256). 

The Austrian lellow or Grand Duke of Tuscany Diamond, known also as the Florentine Diamond, is probably of Indian origin it was cut as a briolette in 1476 for Charles the Bold. It is pale yellow in colour, and weighs 137 27 metric carats. Prior to World War II it was kept in Vienna. It was one of the heirlooms of the Royal House of Austria. 

Cosmo III, Grand Duke of Tuscany, in 1694-5 caused experiments to be made by Averani and Targioni with a large burning mirror, when diamonds disappeared in a few minutes. The combustibility of diamond was foreshadowed by Newton." The German Emperor Francis I in 1751 caused... 

Fig. 1. Chloride (a) and sulphate (b) squeezed pore-water concentration profiles for three boreholes in Pliocene mudrocks at Orciatico, Tuscany, Italy. Boreholes 15, II and 12 (represented by open circles, open squares and an open diamond respectively) are at increasing distance from the exposed contact with the intrusion (40, 150 and approximately 1000m). Adapted from Rochelle et al. (1998).

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