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3 unusual facts about Lodewyk van Berken


Diamond industry in Israel

Since the fifteenth century, when an Antwerp Jewish diamond cutter Lodewyk van Berken invented the scaif, diamond cutting was one of traditional Jewish crafts.

Lodewyk van Berken

One stone was the Beau Sancy, another became the property of Pope Sixtus V, and the third was given by Charles to Louis XI.

Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy became the patron of van Berken and in the 1470s commissioned him to cut a 137 carat (27.4 g) stone that later became known as the Florentine Diamond.



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