El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1917-02-24
Shah's Throne of Gold and Diamonds
Large as Birds Eggs May Be War Loot Rene Baoh'
Mosto Va FROM

, could lay hands on. and fled one of
] chem was the stone called the shah"
I The murderer to whose portion IL fell
sought refuge in Afghanistan. and was
I never heard OF again But. a few years
later. II was offered for sale in Bagbad,
and eventually il was purchased. for
s65o.000, by the empress Catherine Il
The .-OrIOff' Diamond.
A more famous diamouc, the "Or-
loft" Of 1874 1-2 carats, now the princi-
pal ornament Of the Russian scepteT,
was once the eye of an idol, in q tenn
pie on an island in a river. near,
Trichinopoly. Nadir Shah cOnfiscated
It and gave it to one OF his generals
who. being sent 10 govern a province
in AfEhaniStan, wore il in his turban-
He was assasSinated. and the murder
er offered the stone TO native prince.
They could not agree on the price. and
so the prince, to settle the dispute, had
the man strangled-
The prince had the diamond set in
his sword-handle. But, not long af-
forwards. his dominiOnS were invaded
BY the British. and the sword fell into
the hands Of a soldier. who sold 1t to
Lord Effinghan, then governor Cen
eral of India The latter parted with
it 10 d jeweler in Paris, from whom il
was purchased by the Russian Prince
Orloff
Orloff had been for years the ac-
cepted lover Of that most remarkable
of women, the empress Catherine L.
royal mistress. and. to make II up
with her. he decided to give her the
great diamond for which he paid with
$4,000 cash an annuity Of 100000. and
a title Of nobility The stone is the
size of a pigeons egg. but is of Orieu-
tai cut. and, II recut as a brilliant,
would lose one-fourth of its weight.
Within the last few years -wo dia-
monds have been found in South Africa
big enough TO be describe as chunks
= d.
'tJagersfontein." weighing over seven
ounces. while the other, called the
-'Cullinan." tipped the scales at 70
ounces The latter. in the rough. had
the appearance OF a piece Of brilliant,
clear ice. Both were of pure water"
cOlorless: but the "Jsgersfontein'' had
a block spot in the middle. and the
''Cullinan" was marred by two flaws
chopped into Two pieces, from the
larger of which vas cut the Jubilee"
the most magnificent gem ever known
The "Cullinan" Was separated into three
weighed 500 carats- All five of these
monster diamonds are now she Drop
erty Of the British Crown
Great MOEul As Peace Offering.
Previously, however. the largest dia-
mond ever known was che Great
MoEul," Of 7SS carats. which was found
At the mines OF the Nizam Of HYDRA bad
(the famous Golconda diEEinSsl in 1850
\ dealer IN Jewels named Jenla bought
4 and gave il as a propitlatory offer
ing 70 the then Nogul emperor. Shah
Jehan- Il was about the shape and
size Of half a hens egg.
The task Of cutting il was assigned
to q Venetian lapidary at that time
residing in Delhi. and he did the work
so badly, reducing the stone TO the size
of half a b5ntam's egg. with loss of
nearly two-thirds's Of its weight. that
Shah Jehan. instead of paying for the
service. fined him the whole of his pos
sessions and threatened 20 deprive him
Of his head
Shah Jehan was succeeded as en-
peror Of Hindustan. or Great Mogul. by
his son Aurungzebe, who usurped his
throne The stone was In Aurung-
zebe's possession when. in 1863. it was
seen by Jean Baptiste Tavernier. the
traveller, TO whose remarka BILE account
Of his journeys in the Orient (still ex-
tant) modern knowledge Of the history
Of many celebrated gems is largely in
debted-
The diamond called the Great
MoSuT may be said TO have witnessed
many dreaful tragedies. including the
murder by poison OF otherwise Of a
majority Of the princes Of the court