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PRECIOUS STONES.
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weighed one hundred and fifty-seven and one-fourth carats,
reduced to ninety-four and one-fourth by cutting. It is supposed to belong to the imperial treasury of Russia, but if this is true, it is remarkable that a diamond of that size should not be known outside the Empire. The Turkey, I and II. — These gems, represented as weighing one hundred and forty-seven, and eighty-four carats, respectively, belong to the Turkish regalia, but little or nothing
more is known of them. The Polar Star, formerly owned by Joseph Bonaparte and
purchased by Paul III. of Russia, is a brilliant of forty carats, and is distinguished for its superior lustre and perfect purity. The Pasha of Egypt, bought by Ibrahim Pasha, for one hundred and forty thousand dollars, is a brilliant of the same size
as the Polar Star, and has been considered the finest diamond in the Egyptian collection. The Coulour. — Eut little is known of some of the historical
diamonds except their names and possibly their size ; hardly anything of their origin or present owners. Such was the Coulour, a gem weighing fifty carats, brought to Europe by Tavernier from the mines of India. The Pear, of about the same size, seen by this traveller
among the jewels of the Great Mogul, was reckoned one of the trophies of Nadir Shah, and has been lost sight of in the vast Persian collection, or has been reçut and cannot now be identified. The Tavernier, A, B, C, three diamonds sold to Louis
XIV., were supposed to be lost at the robbery of the Garde Meuble, though there is some probability that the beautiful stone, weighing fifty-one carats, purchased by Napoleon III. for the empress, in i860, may have been one of them, reçut as a brilliant. |
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