The famous jeweler Forsanger was shaking hands. This never happened, because he is the best diamond cutter. Not without reason the firm of the auction house "Christie"s" invited him to work with the ancient stone "Idol's Eye", which needs to be redesigned - then at the upcoming auction it will be possible to sell the jewel twice as expensive. Death of the jeweler Forsanger sighs: What's he afraid of? The stone, of course, is absolutely pure water, but it is not very big - just over 70 carats. And it is not cut according to the rules - in the form of some flattened triangle. The jeweler resolutely fixed the diamond in the hole of a metal tube and brought it to the cutting disc. He flashed the beam as if a lightning bolt had broken out of the stone... On the next day, newspapers came out with shouting headlines: "The mysterious death of a jeweler, " "The Killer Stone, " "The Diamond That Didn"t Let You Touch Himself!
Legends. William Christie has lost sleep. Now that Forsanger has died, it is almost impossible to sell the stone. No one will ever remember that the "Idol's Eye" had a completely different story. At the end of the 16th century, he was found in the famous diamond mines of Golconda by a young prospector, and for this, he was allowed to marry his beloved girlfriend. Since then, it has been said that the diamond is a stone of lovers. However, another version said that it came to Europe from an ancient Indian temple, where it was inserted into the eye of a local idol - hence the strange name. But according to this legend, since the diamond was only one eye, it will always seek to find its pair, and therefore sated half and for the owner. In short, both stories were good for the upcoming auction. One bad thing: the stone is not cut properly. After the mysterious death of Forsanger William Christie appealed to many jewelers, but none of them took up the job - if the stone did not succumb to the hand of an experienced master, it means he did not want it. It was as if the diamond knew that after it had been cut it would lose its power, and the one who would go against its will would lose his skill. In short, the specialists turned out to be superstitious. .. Well, I had to agree with them - it"s better to lose money than reputation. William simply ordered the diamond to be attached to a diamond-cut gold chain and on July 14, 1865, put up the "Idol's Eye" for sale.
The ghost from the mirror. Who'd have thought that this flattened diamond would cause a sensation? Queen Victoria herself wanted to see it. She brought the stone to her chest, approached the mirror, looked at it, and suddenly threw it away. All she did was squeeze it out: "Ah! " - and left the showroom. Already the next day from the right sources Christie learned that the Queen had seen her late husband, Prince Consort Albert, in the mirror. And although Victoria did not have a soul in him, but the ghost was frightened to death. And his appearance attributed to a strange diamond and "Eye of the idol" did not buy. It went to the heir of the Turkish sultan, the future ruler Abdul-Hamid II, who bought it with secret hope. The fact is that two years earlier his young wife had died. Now there is one hope for the magic stone: they say that he finds a lover for his master. Abdul Hamid did not need any other girl except his lost wife. He approached the mirror, turned the diamond and so on. Nothing special. Maybe we should do this magic when it"s dark. The prince spent three nights in front of a mirror with a diamond in his hands - again without results. But when I fell asleep, I saw my beloved one and she called my husband. In the morning the servants found the lord on the threshold of the family crypt. Nobody understood how the prince got there, but he woke up and was terrified. In fear, the prince ordered the ominous diamond to be hidden away in a jewelry vault. But it was time for Abdul Hamid to be overthrown. Then it took money and had to sell the antique jewels and with them the "Idol's Eye" .
Alchemist's phenomenon. Until the middle of the twentieth century, the diamond wandered the world, and in 1946 moved to America to the millionaire May Bonfils Stanton. She paid for the "Idol's Eye" incredible for those times price - 675 thousand dollars and took away to a luxurious estate Belmor near Lakewood. There at May Stanton was a huge palace, which she ordered to build on the model of Trianon, the favorite palace of Queen Marie Antoinette. However, the place where the castle was erected, the whole district was bypassed.
to be continued in the next part...