NEWS FROM TRANSYLVANIAN TRILOGY
“THE CURSE OF DIAMONDS”
Ben stared at the jewel and his blue eyes lit up. “Amazing.” He put the diamond under his microscope and counted in Hungarian, “Egy, ketto, három, nègy, öt. Unbelievable! I can’t believe it! This diamond seems to have sixty-two facets. Most diamonds have fifty-eight.
“There was a French explorer-jeweler, Jean-Baptiste Tavernier, in the seventeenth century, who hand-cut his diamonds into sixty-two facets so maximum light would enter in and out. Your blue has the same number of facets and cuttings as Tavernier’s Grand Blue.”
Mica remembered her father had spoken of Tavernier who didn’t listen to warnings not to cut his original, 112-carat blue diamond into smaller ones. Tavernier was told that man should not interfere with nature. If he did, he’d be punished- all the smaller diamonds he’d cut from the large one, would be cursed.
Ben held Mica’s diamond up to the light. The basement took a bluish hue. He stared at the diamond in amazement. “Tavernier took the diamonds he discovered in the mines and caves of India and traveled throughout Europe and Asia to sell them. A few of them found their way to Russia. There was the huge, blue-green Orlov diamond, 189 carats, given by Prince Orlov to his mistress, Catherine the Great. It’s now in the Kremlin Diamond Fund Museum.”
“Is it cursed?” Mica asked.
“It may be. It was associated with many tragedies. Like Tavernier’s pale-blue-white Regent diamond of 141 carats. It’s in the Louvre, now, also out of trouble.”
Mica remembered her father saying that the Regent diamond had belonged to Marie Antoinette and then to Napoleon. Tragedies for both.
“I dare say,” Ben concluded, “your blue diamond reminds me of these famous treasures, and there were four other blue diamonds, all cut from the original 112-carat Grand Tavernier Blue. Two of them are in museums- the Hope diamond, which is heart-shaped, and the Bonaparte diamond, square. But the other two, the Grisha and the St. Petersburg disappeared during the war. Not found since.”
To Be Continued...
Ben stared at the jewel and his blue eyes lit up. “Amazing.” He put the diamond under his microscope and counted in Hungarian, “Egy, ketto, három, nègy, öt. Unbelievable! I can’t believe it! This diamond seems to have sixty-two facets. Most diamonds have fifty-eight.
“There was a French explorer-jeweler, Jean-Baptiste Tavernier, in the seventeenth century, who hand-cut his diamonds into sixty-two facets so maximum light would enter in and out. Your blue has the same number of facets and cuttings as Tavernier’s Grand Blue.”
Mica remembered her father had spoken of Tavernier who didn’t listen to warnings not to cut his original, 112-carat blue diamond into smaller ones. Tavernier was told that man should not interfere with nature. If he did, he’d be punished- all the smaller diamonds he’d cut from the large one, would be cursed.
Ben held Mica’s diamond up to the light. The basement took a bluish hue. He stared at the diamond in amazement. “Tavernier took the diamonds he discovered in the mines and caves of India and traveled throughout Europe and Asia to sell them. A few of them found their way to Russia. There was the huge, blue-green Orlov diamond, 189 carats, given by Prince Orlov to his mistress, Catherine the Great. It’s now in the Kremlin Diamond Fund Museum.”
“Is it cursed?” Mica asked.
“It may be. It was associated with many tragedies. Like Tavernier’s pale-blue-white Regent diamond of 141 carats. It’s in the Louvre, now, also out of trouble.”
Mica remembered her father saying that the Regent diamond had belonged to Marie Antoinette and then to Napoleon. Tragedies for both.
“I dare say,” Ben concluded, “your blue diamond reminds me of these famous treasures, and there were four other blue diamonds, all cut from the original 112-carat Grand Tavernier Blue. Two of them are in museums- the Hope diamond, which is heart-shaped, and the Bonaparte diamond, square. But the other two, the Grisha and the St. Petersburg disappeared during the war. Not found since.”
To Be Continued...
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