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FIRE IN THE EARTH
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gem experts that continues1
even to this day. In view of the fact that Tavernier usually was quite
accurate, in the light ot his descriptions ot diamonds still in the
vaults and ex-crown jewels of Europe, you would think that they would
take his word for the actual existence of the Great Mogul.
But
historians are not like that. They haven't a shred of historical
evidence to contradict Tavernier, but somehow they sit hack in their
worn leather chairs, work themselves into some kind of hypnotic state,
and emerge with brand-new theories. Thus, one great contemporary
Russian gem authority, Fersman, insists that there is no such stone as
the Mogul and that what Tavernier really saw was the Orloff. Another
expert, one Maskelyn, says that what Tavernier saw was the Koh-I-Noor.
Now Tavernier was the only one there, and when he returned to Europe he
even published a sketch of the Mogul. From this sketch a model was made
to serve as the present facsimile of the stone. The sketch suggests the
Great Mogul is or was a stone not even resembling the Orloff or the
Koh-I-Noor in shape or size.
But
it isn't the only "famous" diamond that has been ruled off the records
because some expert had a brainstorm of doubt. A good many years ago an
almost pure white diamond was reported found in Borneo, where diamonds
have been mined for decades. It was said to weigh 367 carats and to
be in the possession of the Rajah of Mattan (or Marram), in whose
domain it was mined. The Rajah, according to the same reports, received
at one time an offer of $150,000 and "two large war brigs" but declined
it.
Nor
did he allow the stone to leave Borneo or to be put on display as "one
of the world's great stones," something which the experts simply cannot
abide. So they proceeded to End a flaw in the story. It seems Borneo is
famous for the large proportion of fancy-colored diamonds and the
(54)
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