The diamond he brought to India in early 1891 is believed to have been found in an African mine by a security guard and was smuggled out. It was then bought by a ‘Syndicate’ in Europe and was cut in a rectangular cushion-cut, with 58 facets.The 7th and the last Nizam of Hyderabad, Mir Osman Ali Khan, is believed to have found the diamond in one of the shoes of his father Mir Mahboob Ali Khan at Chowmahalla Palace and used it as a paperweight for a long time. Jacob had sold this diamond to Nizam Mir Mahboob Ali Khan. Though the Nizam had paid an advance of Rs. 25 lakh, he refused to pay the rest of the amount, citing lack of funds.It is believed he was forced to repudiate the sale because of palace intrigue and pressure from the then British Resident in Hyderabad.The Nizam however surreptitiously took delivery of the diamond later in an undeclared and unconfirmed compromise. But, by then Jacob had been ruined, having lost his reputation and his clients. The only saving grace was that he was acquitted of any wrongdoing and the jury found him not guilty of any fraud.A romantic career ends in poverty’, wrote The Statesman, Calcutta, in his obituary of 12 January 1921. The newspaper had reported extensively on the ‘Jacob Diamond trial’. It was almost impossible to write about Jacob’s life with sobriety, the obituary said, ‘so amazing was his history and so extraordinary the stories which had grown up around him’ that people might believe or reject the legends about Jacob as a wonder worker but of his eminence as an art dealer and jeweller there were no question.Contemporary news reports described him as a Persian living in Shimla, an Armenian, a Greek or a Turk and even as a Gypsy. Jacob neither denied nor confirmed any of them. Some avid researchers claim that Rudyard Kipling in his novel, Kim, had created the character of Lurgan Sahib of the British Secret Service after Jacob. American author F. Marion Crawford is said to have written the novel Mr Isaacs about him in 1882. And, as recently as in 2012, Sydney-based journalist John Zubrzycki wrote a biography, a page turner, ‘The Mysterious Mr Jacob: Diamond Merchant, Magician and Spy’.
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