The Portland daily press., 1895-03-30
MILLION DOLLAR DIAMOND.
Recently Found in South Africa and Pre-
sented to the Pope.

The pope has received from the Pre- sidcns
of tue Transva republic liamond welgh-
| ing OIL carets y he stone was (, und in the
Jagrsontein mines aud is declared 10 be the
largest known diamond and valued
| Sl,00O000. The monster diamond is of
bluish-white cast aud practically perfect,
its only bleuish being tiny spot in tue
center. invisible to the naked eye.
1t was picked mp by native while he
was loading truck. Al hougb a white
| nverseer was standing near i i'm, he n an
aged to hide it and keep it on his perscn for
some time. 1t turned out, however. hat he
did not wish to steal it, Tor he delivered it
personally to the manager. AS Il reward he
received $3.50 and horse and saddle.
. The exact weight OF the ii mond is 81 "a
| carets, CT about seven and one-quarter
ounces avoidupois. Il therefore weighs
uncut nearly half pound. diamond of
fair size for Il ring weighs ret.
The largest cut diamond in he world is
the 0rloH IN tho sceptor of The Emperor of
Russia, weighing 1874 81 carets, 1t is CO in
the rose form. with a fat sun f1ce pel1w.
According to one story, ii formed the eye
of an Indian idol ard Was stolen by d
French deseIter. In i?s2 Count Orloff
bought it for the Empress Gather ne at a
cost of $3.50. 600.
Tie next largest is the Pitt diamond,
bought in 1902 by Mr.. tit, Governor Of
Madras, for Si0n,t00. he Duke of GREENS.
Regent of France, fought it or Louis Nv.
fer $780, 00 1t is now reported O be worth
| twice that sum At the lin Ct the reyolu-
ton it was sent 10 Berlin. LIt feappeared
in the Iii of the sword of state used by
Napoleon !. 1t weighs l36 "a carrots. but
originally weighed 40.
After This comes the Fiorentiue. or Grand
Duke, now in the possession of the Emper.
or of Austria. 1t is of u yellow color. oo-
long in shape and cut in the ruse pattern.
Its exact weight is given as 1876 carrots.
Tradition says it was lost by Charles the
Bold at the battle of Granson aid picked
ur by Swiss soldier, who sold il FOR a few
pence.
The kohinoor, the largest diamond in the
possession of tie British crown. is believed
to he the finest and purest in existence. 1t
also has the ost singular ii { ~. The
Indian legend says hat it Was ound in one
of the Golcoda ruincs. near the hIna River,
and was VOL 500 Years ago by Kama.
one of the heroes celebrated in the Mahab-
harata. 1t passed through many hands to
baber. founder of the Mogul dynasty. in
1876. 1rGyenier. the French explorer. saw
it in 1866
II was then of the shape of half an egg
and wei L. he'd ESQ Garrett. It had been re-
ducod 10 that weight from 1913 5-S carets by
an unsbillful sionecutt-r
In 1893 it pa, sed 10 " dii a.h, the Ter.
sian invader Of lni.i I've it it's name
of kohinooi, or n.GIhtaln Of light. In lS49,
when the conquest of punjab was finally
completed, it was s,riendered to the
British. and i'll 1850 it was pre- sented to
Queen Victoria.
When it was shown in the exhibition of
1867 in London it Weighed 1856 lie carsts.
sinre then it has ! ell recut, and it now
weighs 106 1-l6 carets.
1t mas Deen conjecture that the kohinoor
orig nally formed part Of the IS me stone as
the OrloH diamond, TO of hem having
been i'll the pIssessie n Ct the great Mogul. A
stone of i3S carets captured by AbbAs Mira
Il e storiDing CT Coocha in 1882 may BE-
Il hiru fragment. 7 his was loag used by
pr asant as aint for striking fire.