Nicolas de Harlay, seigneur de Sancy

In the second half of the 16th century, de Harley served as the French ambassador at the court of Sultan Selim II in Constantinople, where he acquired a number of diamonds that had been mined near Golconda, now in the Indian state of Telangana.

In 1589 he obtained in Geneva and Bern sums sufficient to raise an army of mercenaries for Henry III, partly by the sale of a number of his jewels.

The Sancy is a pale yellow diamond of 55.23 carats (11.046 g) bought by de Harley around 1570, who had already acquired a reputation as a gem connoisseur.

[1] It was described in the Tower of London's 1605 Inventory of Jewels as "...one fayre dyamonde, cut in fawcetts, bought of Sauncy.

After 370 years in the possession of the House of Hohenzollern, the diamond was sold in 2012 at Sotheby's auction in Geneva for $9.57 million to an anonymous buyer.