History
The Ashberg diamond was formerly a part of the Russian
Crown Jewels, a magnificent collection of jewels and jewelry, started during
the time of Emperor Peter the Great of Russia in 1719. The collection was
subsequently enriched by successive Czars and Czarinas who ruled Russia
until the Bolshevik revolution of 1917.
The Stone seems to be of South African origin, as it
bears all the characteristics of diamonds originating in South Africa. It is
no doubt a stone of the Cape series of diamonds. Thus the Ashberg diamond
must have been a late addition to the Russian Crown Jewels, as diamonds were
first discovered in South Africa only in the mid 1860s
In the year 1926 after the October Bolshevik revolution,
the Russian Crown Jewels were catalogued and illustrated, as the new Soviet
Socialist Government proposed to dispose of all the jewels in their
entirety. Some of the jewels were pilfered and found their way to the London
auction rooms. But, later the plan as a whole was abandoned and the
treasures were transferred to the Kremlin Diamond Fund, established in 1922.
In the year 1934, a Russian trade delegation to Sweden,
sold the diamond to Mr. Ashberg, a leading Stockholm banker. The Stockholm
firm of Bolin, former Crown Jewelers to the court of St. Petersburg, mounted
the diamond as a pendant to a diamond necklace. In 1949, the Ashberg diamond
was displayed mounted on a pendant to a necklace containing diamonds and
other gemstones, at the Amsterdam Exhbition.
Ten years later in 1959, an auction house in Stockholm,
Sweden, the Bukowski auction house, put up the Ashberg diamond for sale, but
had to withdraw it later, as it failed to reach it's reserve. However, the
owner of the diamond succeeded in negotiating a profitable deal, with a
private buyer, but the name of the buyer was not disclosed. Finally in May
1981,the Ashberg diamond came up for sale, at a Christie's auction in
Geneva, where once again it failed to reach it's reserve, and was withdrawn.
The Kremlin Diamond Fund
The Kremlin Diamond Fund is a magnificent and unique
collection of gems, jewelry, natural nuggets and other treasures belonging
to the Romanov rulers of Russia. The fund was officially established in
1922, after the Bolshevik Revolution, probably with the blessings of
Vladimir Lenin, the founder of the Russian Communist Party, inspirer and
leader of the Bolshevik Revolution, and the first Head-of-State of the
Soviet Union, who died in 1924. However, the forerunner of the Kremlin
Diamond Fund, the Russian Crown Treasury, was established as far back as 1719, by Emperor Peter I of
Russia who was also known as Peter the Great. The primary intention of
inaugurating the collection, according to Peter the Great, was to house a
collection of jewels which belonged not to the Romanov family, but to the
Russian State. Peter placed all state regalia in this fund, and declared
that the state holdings were inviolate and could not be altered, sold or
given away, and he also declared that each subsequent Emperor or Empress
should leave a certain number of pieces acquired during their reign to the
state for the permanent glory of the Russian Empire.
The treasure was first exhibited to the public in
November 1967, as a short- term show, but in 1968 it became a permanent
exhibition. Among the notable treasures in the collection are the Crown of
Monomakh and other crowns used by early Russian Czars, the Great Imperial
Crown used by Catherine the Great and others Czars who followed her, and the
Royal Scepter of Catherine the Great, with the Orlov diamond set at the top,
with it's dome shaped crown facing forwards. There are seven celebrated and
historical gems in the Kremlin Diamond Fund. They are :-
1) The Orlov diamond - 189.62-carat, rose-cut, colorless
diamond presented to Empress Catherine the Great by her former lover Count
Grigory Grigoryevich Orlov.
2) The Shah diamond - 88.7-carat, table-cut, yellow
colored diamond inscribed with the name of three former rulers of India and
Persia, and presented to Czar Nicholas I, in 1829 by Fath Ali Shah, the
Qajar ruler of Iran.
3) Flat Portrait diamond - 25 carats.
4) Red spinel - 398.72 carats, attached to the Great
Imperial Crown of Catherine the Great.
5) Sapphire - 260.37 carats.
6) Columbian emerald - 136.25 carats.
7) Olive green chrysolite -192.6 carats.
Among the jewelry in the Kremlin Diamond Fund, the most
outstanding items are the Daffodil Bouquet and the Blue Fountain.
Out of the nuggets in the collection the most famous are
:-
1) The Great Triangle - gold, 36.2 Kg.
2) The Camel - gold, 9.28 Kg.
3) Mephisto - gold, 20.25 grams.
Among the recent additions to the Kremlin Diamond Fund
are the following :-
1) The Creator diamond - 298.48-carat rough diamond, the
third largest rough diamond in the fund, mined in 2004 in Yakutia.
2) Golden Nugget - 33 kg.
3) Alexander Pushkin - 320.65-carat rough diamond, second
largest in the fund.
4) XXVI Congress of CPSU - 342.50-carat rough diamond,
the largest rough diamond in the collection.
Russia is today one of the world's largest producers of
diamonds, but mining is a state monopoly. According to the 1999 presidential
decree, regulating the diamond fund operations, the following categories of
items automatically becomes the property of the state.
1) All raw diamond exceeding 50 carats.
2) All cut diamonds exceeding 20 carats, and cut diamonds
of exceptional quality exceeding 6 carats.
3) All raw emeralds, rubies, and sapphires, exceeding 30
carats raw or 20 carats cut.
4) Unique nuggets, amber, pearl, and jewelry.
The public exhibits in the Kremlin at Moscow, are only a
fraction of the diamond treasures, handpicked by the Ministry of Finance.
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