Overview
- Three Habsburg descendants revealed to The New York Times that the 137-carat Florentine Diamond has been safeguarded with other family jewels in a Quebec bank vault.
- Independent experts, including AE Köchert’s Christoph Köchert, authenticated the stone as the historical Florentine Diamond.
- The trove has been placed in a Canadian trust with Habsburg descendants as beneficiaries, with plans for public exhibitions in Canada rather than a sale.
- Empress Zita brought the jewels to North America in 1940 in a small suitcase and ordered their location kept secret for 100 years after Emperor Charles I’s 1922 death.
- The cache includes pieces associated with Maria Theresa, Marie-Antoinette, and Franz I, while the exact bank and vault remain undisclosed for security reasons.