BRYSON BURKE
Home
Mission
Board
History
Business Plan
Latest Information
Building Our Drill
Innovation
Photo Album
Satellite Weather
Free News - Sign Guestbook
INVESTING
Investment
Stock
Quotes
COMMUNICATION
Press Releases
Newsletter
Current Information
Contact
SITE GEOLOGY
Geology Reports
Site
Geologic History
Magnetic
Maps Index
Heavy
Minerals Index
Grenville Province Index
DIAMOND POLITICS
Blood Diamonds
Kimberley Process
DIAMOND GEOLOGY
Indicator
Minerals
Kimberlites
Decay
of Kimberlites
Kimberlites
& Magnetics
Placer Deposits
Magnetic Reversal
Crustal Thickness
How Diamonds are
Made
Glaciation Issues
Mineral Transport Index
Doing the Map Work
Gathering Samples
World Mining Index
Excavation
and Recovery
Mining Corporations
Mining News Magazines
Environmental Issues
Diamonds in Space
World's Only MineCam
Live
Volcano Geo-Cams
EXPLORATION
Site Exploration
History
Topography
Map Index
Location
Map
Claim Maps
Index
DIAMONDS
Diamonds and Graphite
Diamond Formation
Grading Diamonds
Price of Diamonds
Industrial
Diamonds
Drilling
Equipment
Medical Use of Diamonds
Gemstones
Birthstones
Hall of Fame
DIAMONDS
IN CULTURE
Good Books
on Diamonds
Cremains to Diamonds
Diamonds in Lawsuits
Irish Diamonds
Unusual
Diamond News
Diamonds in the
Media
Famous Jewelers
In Advertisements
Top
Twenty Cut Diamonds
Top
Diamonds
Diamond Lore
Theft/Hoaxes/and Fraud
Religion Index
Diamond/
Culture Index
Television
Movies
Games - Play Now
Music
Weddings
Royals
Our
Darlings
Diamond Animal
Index
INTERACTIVE
Reflection/Refraction Index
Crossword
Puzzle Index
Which Is A Diamond
I
Which is a Diamond II
Become a Gemologist
Some historians believe that the Orloff diamond (189.60 carats) was originally the Great Mogul which disappeared in 1739. Most authorities, however believe it was stolen from the eye of a statue of the Hindu god Sri-Ranga in a temple in Sirangam about 1750.
According to the Sri-Ranga story, a French soldier fighting in the Carnatic wars in southern India deserted and stole the diamond described as having been the size of an egg. He carefully planned his exploit, and succeeded in swimming a river while a storm raged. After he arrived safely in Madras, he sold the gem to an English sea captain, who in turn sold it to a Persian merchant named Khojeh. In 1775, an Amsterdam firm sold the diamond to Prince Gregory Orloff, for $450,000 (payable over seven years). Orloff, a former lover of Catherine the Great, gave the diamond to the Russian empress in order to try to regain her favor. Catherine was well known as a collector of both lovers and precious stones, and she
