rest
of the diadem by eight gold branches. Just beneath the Sanci blazed the
royal Regent with the Portugal, the Sand's old companion and fellow
diamond. Pity that a head once so gorgeously bonneted should roll in
the bloody sawdust of the guillotine !
The
Sanci shared the fate of the Regent in being stolen in 1792, but it did
not share its luck in being found again. As early as February in that
eventful year rumors began to circulate of the intention of the
royalists to lay violent hands upon the Crown Jewels, but the
commissioners ordered to make the inventory for the National Assembly
declared such rumors devoid of truth. The fact remains however that all
the diamonds were stolen, and all, except the Regent, disappeared
completely for many years.
In
1828 the Sanci comes to light once more. A respectable French merchant
sold it in that year to Prince Demidoff, Grand Huntsman to the Czar,
for a large sum, apparently one hun-
