e property of a Frenchman named Sanci,
whose descendant being sent as an ambassador, was required by the King
to give the diamond as a pledge. The servant carrying it to the King
was attacked by robbers on the way and murdered, not, however, until
he had swallowed the diamond. His master, feeling sure of his
faithfulness, caused the body to be opened and found the gem in his
stomach. This gem came into the possession of the Crown of England,
and James II carried it with him to France in 1688.

From James it passed to his friend and patron, Louis XIV, and to his
descendants, until the Duchess of Berry at the Restoration sold it to
the Demidoffs for six hundred and twenty-five thousand francs.

It was worth a million and a half of francs when Prince Paul
Demidoff wore it in his hat at a great fancy ball given in honour
of Count Walewski, the Minister of Napoleon III--and lost it
during the ball! Everybody was wild with excitement when the loss
was announced--everybody but Prince Paul Demidoff. After an hour's
search the Sanci was found under a chair.

After more than two centuries, "the Regent is," as Saint-Simon
described it in 1717, "a brilliant, inestimable and unique." Its
density is rather higher than that of the usual diamond, and it
weighs upwards of one hundred and thirty carats. This stone was found
in India by a slave, who, to conceal it, made a wound in his leg and
wrapped the gem in the bandages. Reaching the coast, he intrusted
himself and his secret to an English captain, who took the gem, threw
the slave overboard, and sold his ill-gotten gains to a native
merchant for five thousand dollars.

It afterwards passed into the hands of Pitt, Governor of St. George,
who sold it in 1717 to the Duke of Orleans, then Regent of France, for
$675,000. Before the end of the eighteenth century the stone had more
than trebled in worth, and we can only wonder what it ought to bring
now with its "perfect whiteness, its regular form, and its absolute
freedom from stain or flaw!"

The collection belonging to the Sultan of Turkey, which is probably
the finest in the world, dates prior to the discovery of America, and
undoubtedly came from Asia. One Turkish pasha alone left to the Empire
at his death, seven table-cloths embroidered with diamonds, and
bushels of fine pearls.

In the war with Russia, in 1778, Turkey borrowed $30,000,000 from the
Ottoman Bank on the security of the crown jewels. The cashier of the
bank was