First mentioned in 1304, this remarkable diamond weighed 186 carats. It was believed to have been set as one of the eyes in the famous peacock throne of the Shah of Jahan. It was presented to Queen Victoria in 1850, who had it recut to 108.93 carats. Now set in the coronation crown of Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, it is on display at the Tower of London.

Blue Hope Diamond

The most notorious of all diamonds, the Hope was originally owned by Louis XIV but was stolen during the French Revolution. It reappeared in London in 1830 and was bought by a banker, Henry Philip Hope (after whom it is named). It was believed to bring bad luck as all of Hope's family died in poverty.

It was eventually acquired by American mining heiress Evalyn Walsh Mclean, whose family also suffered a series catastrophes. It is now kept in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC.

The Regent

Discovered near the Indian town of Golconda in 1701 by an Indian slave, the stone weighed 410 carats until the British Prime Minister William Pitt had it cut into a cushion-shaped brilliant of 140.50 carats. The Pitt, as it came to be known, was sold to the Duke of Orleans, Regent of France, in 1717. It was renamed The Regent when it was set into Louis XV's coronation crown.

After the French Revolution, it was owned by Napoleon Bonaparte, who had it set it in the hilt of his sword. It is now on display in the Louvre.

Taylor-Burton

This pear-shaped, 244-carat diamond was unearthed at the Premier mine in South Africa's Transvaal in 1966 and cut and polished to 69.42 carats. Hollywood heart-throb Richard Burton bought the stone as a gift for his wife Elizabeth Taylor in 1996 and renamed it the Taylor-Burton. After their divorce, she sold it to a Saudi Arabian buyer in 1979 for US$3 million, using part of the proceeds to build a hospital in Botswana.