A distinctive pink diamond is set to go on display in France for the first time in nearly 100 years since its theft, which also marked its last public showing.

The nine-carat pear-shaped gem known as the "Grand Condé" was taken during an overnight break-in at the Château de Chantilly in October 1926 and hidden inside a hollowed apple.

The diamond, one of the few royal jewels that survived the French Revolution, was found weeks later after a hungry maid at the thieves' hotel bit into the apple.

It will be exhibited again at the Condé Museum inside the Château de Chantilly until 3 January.

Museum director Mathieu Deldicque noted that although the apple tale may sound improbable, it received wide newspaper coverage at the time.

Deldicque has been asked if the show might invite risk, given recent thefts at European cultural sites over the past year, including a bold daytime jewellery robbery at the Louvre in Paris.

He would not disclose the insurance value to CNN but explained that detailed scientific analysis of the diamond's traits was completed to ensure it can be uniquely identified.

The findings from this study, together with new archive documents on the gem's past and theft, are included in the exhibition, the museum stated.

Naturally formed pink diamonds are very scarce and frequently reach tens of millions of dollars at sale. The record price for one at auction stood at $71.2m (£53.6m) in 2017, per Sotheby's.

The precise origins of the Grand Condé are still unknown.

It first appeared in 1740 within an inventory of Louis Henri de Bourbon, Prince of Condé, compiled after his death, according to the Château de Chantilly.

It later entered the holdings of Queen Marie-Amélie of Bourbon-Sicily, spouse of King Louis Philippe I, and then passed to her son, Prince Henri of Orléans, the Duke of Aumale.

He left it to the Institut de France, which owns the Château de Chantilly 50km (31 miles) north of Paris, along with many artworks and manuscripts that form the Musée Condé collection.