The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1856-10-15
From Galignani's Messenger, Aug. ..
Russian Crown Diamonds.


From Galignani's Messenger, Aug. ..
Russian Crown Diamonds.
The Crown Treasury of the Cars atMos.
COW contains precious stones Of consid
erablc amount. The two most consider.
able are diamonds, one the size of pig
cons egg rose.cnt. The Russians have
given it the name of the Orloff The
other has the form ofan irregular prism.
and is of the same size and almost the
length of little finger; it bears the
name Of the Shah, and its history is as
follows: 1t formerly belonged to the
Sophis. and was one of two enormous
diamonds which ornamonted the throne
Of Nadir Sha. and which were designa-
ted by the Persians by the uamcs of
Sun Of the Sea " and Moon Of the
Mountains" When Nadr was assassin.
ated. his treasures were pillaged, and
his precious stones divided among few
soldiers. who carefully concealed them.
An Armenian named Shafras resided at
that period at Bussora with bis two
brothers One day an Afghan came to
him. aud offered for sale the large dia'
mond The Moon Of the Mountain" as
well as an emerald ruby of fabulous
size, sapphire Of the finest water called
by the Persians the Eye of Allah "
and number of other stones, for the
whole of which he asked such moder-
ate sum that Shafras suspected they bad
not boon honestly come by, and told him
to call again as he had not the money
in tho house The Afghan feari g
Shafras was going to act with treachery
towards him. left the plsce aud could
not again be found although the three
brothers made every search f,r him.
Some yeats afterwards the elder
brother met the man at Bagdad, who
told him that he haze just sold all his
precious stones for 50 900 pastres and
a pair of valuable horses. Shafras had
the residence of the purchaser, who was
Jew, pointed out to him, and he went
to him and offered him double tue price
he had given for them, but was refused
The three brothers then agreed to muir
der the Jew and rob him of his purchase,
which they did. and on the following day
poisoned the afghan, and threw both of
the bodies into the river. A dispute
soon after arose between the brothers as
to the division Of the spoil, which ter
minated in Shafras getting rid Of his two
brothers by poison, after which he fed
to Coustan,iuople, and thence to Hol-
land, where he made known the riches
he possessed, and offered them for sale to
the different Courts of Europe. Cath
crime proposed to buy the Moon Of the
Mountains only. Shafras was requested
to come to Russia, and he was introdu-
ced to the Court jewel.er. The terms
demanded by Shafras wcte-letters of
nobility, n life annuity Of 10 900 roub-
les. and 500 900 roubles, payable by c.
quail instalments in ten years. Count
Banin who was then Minister, delayed
thu settlem ent of the bargain as long as
prs,iblc, and in the meantime had the
Armenian led into such extravagences
that he fell into debt, 'and when tho
Minister found ho had no means of pay
ing what he owed, he abruptly broke off
the negotiations. Shafras, according to
the laws Of the-country, could not leave
until ris debts should be paid, and the
Court jewolleT prepared to take advan'
tage Of his onlbarrassments, aud lnien-
ded that the diamond should fall into his
hands for fourth Of its value. Shafras.
however, discovered the trap that had
been laid for him, disposing of soIe of
the less valuable stones among his coun-
trymen, paid his Debts, and disappeared.
Agents were sent after him. who hal
even orders to assassinate and rob him,
but he escaped them.
Ten years after, while he was at AS
nachan, renewed offOrs were made to
him, but he refused TO enter into any
negotiations unless the bargain should
bo settled at Smyrna Catherine ac-
cepted, and became the possessor of the
diamond for letters of nobility, 600 600
roubles, and 10 600 paper roubles. mak
ing together about two and half mil
lions of francs Shafras, not being able
TO return to his country, where he
would have had to give au account Of
two homici6es and two fratrcides, fixed
himself at Astraohan, where he married
couutrywoman of his, aud had seven
daughters. One of his son.iu law polS-
oned him for the sake Of possessing his
share of his property, The immense
fortune which the murderer had acquired
(from ten to twelve millions) was divi-
ded, aud soon spent, by his successors,
aud several of the grandchildren of
Shafras are now living at Astrachan in
abject misery.
A Young fellow haying boen charged