Orloff
Diamond |
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| Sketch
of the Orloff diamond from the book Precious Stones by
Max Bauer, published in 1904. |
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| Within
the Diamond Fund of the Kremlin is a large diamond known
as the Orloff (sometimes spelt Orlov). The origin of this
resplendent relic—described as having the shape
and proportions of half a hen's egg—can be traced
back to a Hindu temple in 18th century Mysore, southern
India. |
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| The particulars
of the Orloff's story have been lost with time,
but it is widely reported that the diamond once
served as the eye of a Hindu devotional statue.
The man held responsible for its removal was a French
deserter, a grenadier from the Carnatic wars who
apparently converted to the Hindu faith and worshipped
at the temple for many years. Whether the deserter
did this sincerely or solely to gain access to the
statue is not known. The temple, situated on an
island in the Cauvery River, was surrounded by seven
enclosures; no Christians were ever permitted farther
than the fourth. Once having pilfered the stone
from its sacred home around 1750, perhaps after
untold years of patient planning, the deserter fled
to Madras where he would find protection with the
English army, as well as a buyer. |
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| The as
yet unnamed stone passed from merchant to merchant in
the everlasting quest for profit, eventually appearing
for sale in Amsterdam. Salfras, an Armenian (some say
Persian) merchant who then owned the Orloff, found an
eager buyer in Grigory Grigorievich Orlov. The Count paid
a purported 400,000 Dutch florins, but would likely have
agreed to any amount demanded. |
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| Years
before the purchase, Count Orloff had been romantically
involved with a German princess by the name of Sophie
Frederick Augusta. The princess was destined to become
history's Catherine the Great of Russia. Count Orloff
sought to rekindle their forlorn romance by offering her
the diamond, as it is said he knew she had wished for
it. While he failed to regain her affections, Catherine
did bestow many gifts upon Count Orloff; these gifts included
a marble palace in St. Petersburg. Catherine named the
diamond after the Count, and had her jeweller, C. N. Troitinski,
design a sceptre incorporating the Orloff. |
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| Now known
as the Imperial Sceptre, it was completed in 1784. A
description is given by Burton (1986):
The sceptre is a burnished shaft in
three sections set with eight rings of brilliant-cut
diamonds, including some of about 30 carats each and
fifteen weighing about 14 carats each. The Orloff is
set at the top, with its domed top facing forward. Above
it is a double-headed eagle with the Arms of Russia
enameled on its breast. |
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| The Orloff
is a rarity among historic diamonds, for it retains its
original Indian rose-style cut (see diamond cut). Its
colour is widely stated as white with a faint bluish-green
tinge. Data released by the Kremlin give the Orloff's
measurements as 32 millimetres x 35 millimetres x 31 millimetres,
its weight being 189.62 carats. |
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| Quite a few
sources perpetuate the belief that the Orloff is but a
part of the larger Great Mogul and therefore the same
stone which vanished after the pillaging of Delhi in 1739.
Most historians now agree that the two diamonds have completely
different origins. |
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