Diamond in a Shoe: The Jacob Diamond

We have all heard of the famous Kohinoor diamond, which is currently housed in the Tower of London. But did you know that there is another diamond, double the size of the Kohinoor, still in India?

This diamond belonged to the Nizam of Hyderabad, who was also once the richest man in the world. But what makes the diamond even more interesting is how it was found – it was discovered in a shoe – and the man it was named after, a very mysterious Mr Jacob. How did all this happen? Let’s find out.

The story of Jacob diamond is the story of three very interesting characters, Mahboob Ali Khan, the 6th Nizam of Hyderabad, his Armenian valet Albert Abid, and a mysterious jeweller named Alexander Malcolm Jacob. As if this cast of characters was not intriguing enough, the diamond, in the 1890s, caused quite a scandal!