the
stone to Amsterdam, where it was seen by Prince Orloff, of Russia, and
purchased for the sum of four hundred and fifty thousand dollars in
cash and an annuity of twenty thousand dollars. By Orloff the diamond
was presented to Catherine II. of Russia, the Czarina, as a means of
restoring him to her favor, he having forfeited this some time before.
Catherine accepted the gift, and the diamond has remained among the
Russian crown jewels since. It is mounted in the Imperial scepter, and
is hence sometimes known as the "Scepter" diamond. It is the largest of
the Indian diamonds now extant, its weight being 193 carats. It has the
shape and about the size of half a pigeon's egg with facets. On one
surface is a V-shaped incision, and the stone has a slight yellow tinge.
Our
knowledge of the diamond called the " Great Mogul" is wholly of the
past. It was described by the French traveler Tavernier, as seen by him
in 1665 at the court of Aurung-zeb, a ruler of Hindostan. Tavernier
gave its weight at the time he saw it as 319-1/2 ratis, i.e., 280
carats; but states that it had been cut from a stone which weighed in
the rough 787-1/2 carats. The diamond is further described by him as
having the form (though not the size, as often stated) of an egg cut in
half, as being rose cut, round, and very high on one side, and as being
of a very pure water. The subsequent history of the diamond is not
known. Attempts have been made to identify it with the Kohinoor and
Orloff; but in the view of Streeter, the eminent English authority on
diamonds, there is no ground for these views. The "Great Mogul" has
probably been either wholly lost, or it has been cut into smaller
stones.
The
"Florentine " diamond is also known as the "Austrian Yellow " and
"Tuscan." It has a weight of 139-1/2 carats, and is cut so as to form a
nine-rayed star of the rose form. It is of a citron hue. Its authentic
history is known only back to the time of Tavernier, that writer having
seen it in the collection of the Grand Duke of Tuscany. By the latter
it was transferred to the Empress Maria Theresa, and it has since
remained in the possession of the royal House of Austria. It is often
asserted to have been owned by Charles the Bold, and to have been lost
by him on the battle-field of Nancy or Granson; but Streeter regards
this story incorrect.
The
Sancy diamond was purchased in 1570 in Constantinople by M. de Sancy,
French ambassador to the Ottoman court. On his return to France he
permitted his sovereign, Henry IV. of Navarre, to use it as security
for a loan, for the purpose of employing -a body of Swiss recruits. But
the messenger to whom the gem was intrusted disap-
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