200 THE GREAT DIAMONDS OF THE WORLD
in
order to profit by his mismanagement. To elude his creditors, he was
obliged to abscond to Astrakhan. At length the negociations with
Russia were re-commenced by Count Gregory Grigorievitsh OrlofF, who was
afterwards created a Prince of the Empire, and the diamond was
purchased for 450,000 roubles, ready money, together with the grant of
Russian nobility. Of that sum it is said, 120,000 roubles fell to the
share of the negotiators for commission, interest, and similar
expenses. Shaffrass settled at Astrakhan, and his riches, which by
inheritance devolved to his daughters, had, by the extravagance of his
sons-in-law, been in a great measure dissipated."
It
is obvious that Pallas received this version of the story from " the
heirs" of Shaffrass, whom he met in Astrakhan, and who were naturally
interested in suppressing the series of crimes, by which the Armenian
merchant got possession of the diamond. It is also obvious that Pallas
has wrongly transferred the whole story from the "Moon of Mountains" to
the " Orlofif." According to his own showing, the sale to the Russian
Government was effected after Shaffrass had been "obliged to abscond to
Astrakhan," that is, some years after his arrival in Amsterdam. But we
have the already quoted contemporary testimony of the Museum Britannicum, to
the effect that the diamond associated with the name of Prince Orloff,
and now set in the Imperial sceptre of Russia, was purchased by Orloff,
not in Astrakhan from Shaffrass, but in Amsterdam, from a Persian merchant in the year 1776. Pallas is, no doubt, quite right in supposing that the
