RARE BLUE DIAMOND

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 53, Issue 150, 6 April 1933, Page 8

RARE BLUE DIAMOND

STOLEN IN DAYLIGHT. WORK OF FOUR BANDITS. One of the most beautiful diamonds in tho world—once the centre stone in the crown of an Eastern prince—was stolen in a daylight smash-and-grab raid in the West of London .recently. Valued at £7OOO, it was set in a ring, which was lifted with a pair of pliers from the shop window of James Ogden and Son, Ltd., in Duke Street, St. James'. Four bandits carried out the raid. Throe drove slowly along in a blue saloon car, and as they approached the shop a young, man,in a blue serge suit who had been walking just ahead on the pavement punched a tsix-ineh hole in the glass with a brick wrapped in paper, .and with the pliers, hooked the ring through the bars of a steel grille. Women screamed and men shouted— ; one hurled a suitcase at the thief—but the man darted to the car, jumped on the running-board and was whisked round the corner and out of sight before the jewellers' staff had time, to reach the door. An errand boy took the number of the car, and was also able to give the police a description of the man who broke the window. "The stone is of 10.60 carats, and is one of the most beautiful diamonds in the world," said Mr J, Ogden, a prineipal of the firm. "It has a delicate blue-white lustre, is three-quarters of an inch square, and very deep. Collectors and merchants all over the world are familiar with its appearance and history, so that it will be a difficult matter for the thieves to dispose of it." In the window with the .ring were jewels valued in all at £35,000 among them a diamond bracelet worth £4OOO. "The fact that nothing else was taken from the window except this ring suggests to us," Mr Ogden said, "that the robbery had been planned very carefully by ( the thieves." As soon .as the police arrived warnings were telephoned to railway stations, Channel ports, and aerodromes in order to prevent the stone from being smuggled to the Continent. The Continental police were also warned.