The History Of The Orloff Diamond
The power of beauty … the fascination with the unknown … two commanding elements of attraction shared by lustrous gems and lovely women since time immemorial. This mutual and separate attraction has never been more evident than in the strange saga of the fabulous Orloff diamond and its most illustrious owner, Catherine the Great of Russia.
Prince Gregory Grigorievitch Orloff, the scion of a powerful Russian family, was one of the officers who engineered the coup through which Catherine grasped the throne from her tyrant husband, Peter III, in 1762. Soon after his exile, Peter was killed, and Catherine became Empress of all Russia.
Catherine loved Prince Orloff and eventually bore his child, but she would not marry him, for Catherine ruled alone, and intended that it should remain so. The distance between Catherine’s pride and Prince Orloff’s determination to win her favor continued to widen until a complete rift occurred and Orloff was dispatched to Amsterdam. It was here that he first saw the incredible stone which would one day bear his name.
The 199.6-carat diamond, resembling one-half a faceted egg, had been one of a pair that formed the eyes of Sri Ranga, a Hindu temple god. A French soldier, stationed in India, had heard of the fabled stones and had become so overcome with the desire to possess them that he deserted and risked his life to brave the temple compound and gouge the prize from the well-guarded idol. Succeeding in his theft, he sold the diamond to a British sea captain who later disposed of it in London at a huge profit. Eventually, it came into the hands of Khojeh, a Persian jeweler in Amsterdam, and a friend of Prince Gregory Orloff.
