The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-02-26
K. K. Forbes Piano Go.
 1909 Third Avenue

ghastly crimes were perpetrated, it passed into the hands of the French re- gent. It was then successively stolen, pawned to the Dutch, redeemde by Ma poleon, captured after Waterloo, taken to Berlin, until We hear of it again among the crown jewels of France, it's value be- ing estimated at s4S0.0 900. The necklace of the ill-fated Marie AnIoinette consist ed of equal stones, f1awless of the very first water, and of perfect Brazilian lus- ter The "doubly inexpressibe six-foid row was sold by the French republic not many years ago to MT. Joseph Pu- litzer the proprietor of tho New York World.
 The 193 carats of the Orloff diamond, now put entirely in the shade of the South African discovery, are celebrated in Russia as being the chief ornament of the scepter yielded by the unfortunate Car It reached Russia through Hol- land from India, having been stolen by deserting French grenadier from the eyesocket of a statue in one of the tenn, pies of Brahma.
 The Great Mogul was first seen by a white man in tho year 1865. It belonged to Shah Jehan. This gentleman was put Into prison by the usur per Aurangzen; his four sons were murdered, and his great gem, the only consolation he had left was taken from him. Thencefor- ward it vanIshes from history, having been carried off probably by the Per sians, no European being allowed again to see it. The most terrible chapter in the history of these adornments of Asiatic despotsm is that devoted to the
 Koh-i-noor, the heirloom Of our own royal family
 The stone is first mentioned in the memoirs of the Sultan Baber, the founder of the Mogul line, of whom Shah Jehan was the fifth descendant. It would seem, from this historical narrative, that the son of Sultan Baber captured it in bat tie from the family of the Rajah of Cwalor, they having acquired it from the Sultan Ala-ed-din, whC ruled in Hin dostan from 12SS to 1921. Prior to that it had been an immemorial heirloom of the Rajahs of Malwa. After many bloody adventures it was secured by Nadir Shah, who invaded India in 1739. during the reign of Mahammed Shah Mahammed wore it in his turban, and when the con queror asked lor an exchange of turbans as a pledge of peace the KDh-i-noor went with the royal headgear. After the death of Nadir it went into the possession of his son, Shah Rol<h. Its new owner loved 1t so much that when he was eventually dethroned-for bad luck accompanied the stone wherever 1t went-he suffered the torturers to put out his eyes rather than disclose its whereabouts. In 1751, how ever, he gave it as a pledge of alliance to Ahmed Shah the founder of the Du- rani Afghan empire. and the evil destiny of the gem was again once more in evil dence. The diamond was in the posses sion of of Shah Zaman. Ahmeds suc-4 cessor, when that unfortunate monarch was blinded by his brother Shah Shuja ul Mulk The treasure was discovered hidden below the plaster ir. the wall, and Shuja was wearing 1t when Elphinstone came up as a British envoy to Peshawur. Then Shuja was blinded by another brother. Shah Mah-Mud, who fled with the fatal relic to Runjit Singh. the Lion of the Punjab." This latter celebrity eventually secured the gem, and wore it on a bracelet until his death in 1889. at that never-to-be-forgotten period when the Boers were trekking into the north ern Transvaal while the British were more firmly establishing themselves along the seacoast of Natal The diamond lay then in the treasury of Lahore until the annexation of the Punjab, when it was presented to Queen Victoria by the East India company.