WORLD'S BEST DIAMONDS

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 161, 6 January 1912, Page 9 (Supplement)

WORLD'S BEST DIAMONDS

CROWN JEWELS THAT WERE SECURED BY LOOT. "Most of the famous diamonds that are the pride of Crown collections today have been secured at one time or another by loot." This remarkable statement is made by Mr. W. R. Cattelle in a recentlyjpublished volume entitled "The Diamond." Mr. Cattelle tells many interesting stories concerning Crown jewels of various countries, and incidentally offers some good advice to purchasers of diamonds. "The most ancient and celebrated Indian diamond is known as the Great Mogul. The stone is said to have been found in the mines of Kollud between 1550 and 1630, Another tradition is that a diamond of 280 carats was owned by Babour, founder of the Mogul dynasty, and was celebrated in India before 1550. "The French jeweller, Tavernier, saw it at the palace of the King in Delhi on November 2, 1665. Summoned by five or six .officers to appear at the palace, lie was conducted into the Royal presence. The chief keeper of the jewels then, at the King's command, ordered four eunuchs to bring the jewel for his inspection. "The Great Mogul he found to be of good water, and he estimated the value to be in the neighborhood of 12,000,000 francs. Western knowledge of the stone ceases at the point. Some think it is in the possession of one of the Hindu princes; others surmise that it is among the Crown jewels of Persia; many think it is identical with the Orloff,'or the Koh-i-nor. "The Orloff is the most renowned of the Crown jewels of Russia. It is now the chief ornament of the Imperial sceptre. ... It is about the size of a pigon's egg, and has a slightly yellow tinge. "Writers claim that it was one of the eyes of a statue of Brahma in a temple on the fortified island of Seringham. As the story goes, in the beginning of the 18th century a soldier of the French garrison in India plotted to rob the idol of his precious eyes. . . . and though the temple was jealously guarded and surrounded by a wall four miles in circumference he secured one of the stones and fled with it to Madras. . . "Linked by tradition with the Great , Mogul and the Orloff is the Koh-i-noor, of the British Crown jewels. This is. one of the diamonds taken from Delhi by Nadir Shah when he destroyed the kingdom of the Mogul in 1739. It is said that Mohammed Shah wore it in his turban when Nadir took possession of the Mogul's city, and that the latter, with the polite insistence of a conqueror, compelled an exchange of turbans as a mark of his friendly intentions towards the victim's person." After a precarious history the Koh-i----noor fell into the hands of the East India Company in part payment of a debt due to the Lahore Government, with the proviso that the stone should be presented to Queen Victoria.