REMARKABLE DIAMONDS AND GEMS
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of all these considerations there lies a subconscious appeal,
something psychic and primitive that moves one frequently to lie,
murder, and steal for the sake of some sparkling shred of mother earth.
We have every reason to believe that this appeal swayed men and women
since the beginning of history. The subtle charm that renders a modern
woman spellbound before a jeweler's show case is the same that urged
her earliest forebears to hang bright colored stones about themselves
before it occurred to them to adopt any other means of adornment.
The
most valuable gems are generally owned by royal families or are
treasured by governments as state jewels. A striking hindrance to an
adequate appreciation of the diamond as a jewel was its lack of color.
The ruby, emerald, and other stones, attracted the Oriental eye by
their color, but the glory of the diamond is its brilliancy and that
was partly hidden. For that reason, the ruby and inferior stones were
preferred to those of diamonds.
ORLOFF
The
great diamonds of the world are as famous as the great mountains and
river. Who has not read of the Orloff or Orlow also called the
Amsterdam Diamond, so named because purchased by Prince or Count Orloff
for Empress Catharine II, is the most renowned of the crown jewels of
Russia. Bauer says it is the finest water, greatest luster and
perfectly clean.
Orloff, one of the largest, was owned by the Czar of Russia. It weighs 195 carats and is cut in rose form. Its
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