The Topkapi Emerald Dagger.

The Topkapi Emerald Dagger is the renowned jewel-studded dagger of mid-18th century origin, preserved and displayed for public viewing at the treasury of the Topkapi Palace Museum, in Istanbul, Turkey. One side of the handle of the dagger is set with three large Colombian emeralds of good color and clarity whose size and prominence undoubtedly gave the dagger its popular name. The exquisitely crafted jewel-studded dagger was actually one of several other valuable gifts that was carried by an embassy of Sultan Mahmud I (1730-54) to Iran, to be gifted to the mighty Iranian conqueror Nadir Shah, but unfortunately was not delivered as Nadir Shah was assassinated, when the embassy just crossed the borders of the Ottoman Empire into Iranian territory. The gifts including the jewel-studded dagger were then returned to the treasury at Istanbul, and eventually became one of the most celebrated treasures in the treasury of the Topkapi Palace Museum. The popularity of the dagger, as well as the museum that holds it, were given a major boost worldwide, when it was made the subject of a popular Hollywood heist film in 1964, based on Eric Ambler’s novel “The Light of Day.”