Transporting the Cullinan diamond back to Britain posed an enormous security challenge for its owners, since the discovery of the largest ever rough diamond had been widely reported in the newspapers. Notorious criminals like Adam Worth, the inspiration for Sherlock Holmes’s nemesis, Moriarty, who had already managed to steal a whole shipment of diamonds, were perceived to be a real threat. In the end, a plan worthy of Sherlock Holmes was hatched and executed. A decoy stone was dispatched on a steamboat under high security while the real one was sent by post in a plain brown paper box. The
...more
