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Diamond Fund
The Diamond Fund (russian: Алмазный фонд) is a unique collection of gems, jewelry and natural nuggets, which are stored and exhibited in the Kremlin Armoury in Russia. The Fund was opened in 1967 and its collection dates back to the Russian Crown treasury instituted by Emperor Peter I of Russia in 1719. History Imperial treasury The gem collection of Peter I, established in 1719, was later stored in the Diamond Chamber (Бриллиантовая комната) in the Winter Palace. All succeeding monarchs added their contributions to the Chamber. A 1922 study by Alexander Fersman identified 85% of all exhibits to be from 1719 to 1855, to emperors Peter I through Nicholas I, and only 15% attributed from the last three emperors. Catherine the Great exhibited a particular interest for expensive rocks, even naming her stallion "Diamond." The Diamond Fund received more contributions from her than any other monarch. Soviet Union Preservation, sales and lootin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gold Nugget
:''"Gold nugget" may also refer to the catfish Baryancistrus xanthellus or the mango cultivar Gold Nugget.'' A gold nugget is a naturally occurring piece of native gold. Watercourses often concentrate nuggets and finer gold in placers. Nuggets are recovered by placer mining, but they are also found in residual deposits where the gold-bearing veins or lodes are weathered. Nuggets are also found in the tailings piles of previous mining operations, especially those left by gold mining dredges. Formation Nuggets are gold fragments weathered out of an original lode. They often show signs of abrasive polishing by stream action, and sometimes still contain inclusions of quartz or other lode matrix material. A 2007 study on Australian nuggets ruled out speculative theories of supergene formation via in-situ precipitation, cold welding of smaller particles, or bacterial concentration, since crystal structures of all of the nuggets examined proved they were originally formed at hi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
State Monopoly
In economics, a government monopoly or public monopoly is a form of coercive monopoly in which a government agency or government corporation is the sole provider of a particular good or service and competition is prohibited by law. It is a monopoly created, owned, and operated by the government. It is usually distinguished from a government-granted monopoly, where the government grants a monopoly to a private individual or company. A government monopoly may be run by any level of government — national, regional, local; for levels below the national, it is a local monopoly. The term state monopoly usually means a government monopoly run by the national government. Characteristics of state monopolies A state monopoly can be characterized by its commercial behavior not being effectively limited by the competitive pressures of private organisations. This occurs when its business activities exert an extensive influence within the market, can act autonomously of any competitors, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spinel
Spinel () is the magnesium/aluminium member of the larger spinel group of minerals. It has the formula in the cubic crystal system. Its name comes from the Latin word , which means ''spine'' in reference to its pointed crystals. Properties Spinel crystallizes in the isometric system; common crystal forms are octahedra, usually twinned. It has no true cleavage, but shows an octahedral parting and a conchoidal fracture. Its hardness is 8, its specific gravity is 3.5–4.1, and it is transparent to opaque with a vitreous to dull luster. It may be colorless, but is usually various shades of red, lavender, blue, green, brown, black, or yellow. Some spinels are among the most famous gemstones; among them are the Black Prince's Ruby and the " Timur ruby" in the British Crown Jewels, and the "Côte de Bretagne", formerly from the French Crown jewels. The Samarian Spinel is the largest known spinel in the world, weighing . The transparent red spinels were called spinel-rubies ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Persia
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmenistan to the north, by Afghanistan and Pakistan to the east, and by the Gulf of Oman and the Persian Gulf to the south. It covers an area of , making it the 17th-largest country. Iran has a population of 86 million, making it the 17th-most populous country in the world, and the second-largest in the Middle East. Its largest cities, in descending order, are the capital Tehran, Mashhad, Isfahan, Karaj, Shiraz, and Tabriz. The country is home to one of the world's oldest civilizations, beginning with the formation of the Elamite kingdoms in the fourth millennium BC. It was first unified by the Medes, an ancient Iranian people, in the seventh century BC, and reached its territorial height in the sixth century BC, when Cyrus the Gre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Orlov (diamond)
The Orlov (sometimes spelled Orloff), also known as The Great Mughal Diamond, is a large diamond of Indian origin, currently displayed as a part of the Diamond Fund collection of Moscow's Kremlin Armoury. It is described as having the shape and proportions of half a chicken's egg. In 1774, it was encrusted into the Imperial Sceptre of Russian Empress Catherine the Great. History The diamond was found in the 17th century in Golconda, India. According to one legend, a French soldier who had deserted during the Carnatic wars in Srirangam disguised himself as a Hindu convert in order to steal it in 1747, when it served as the eye of a temple deity Sriranganathar. The as yet unnamed stone passed from merchant to merchant, eventually appearing for sale in Amsterdam. Most modern scholars are now convinced that this stone was actually the Great Mogul Diamond. Shaffrass, an Iranian millionaire who then owned the diamond,Dale Hoiberg, Indu Ramchandani (2008)''Students' Britannica ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Soviet Union 1971 CPA 4069 Stamp (Shah Diamond, 16th Century)
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the most frequently used word in the English language; studies and analyses of texts have found it to account for seven percent of all printed English-language words. It is derived from gendered articles in Old English which combined in Middle English and now has a single form used with nouns of any gender. The word can be used with both singular and plural nouns, and with a noun that starts with any letter. This is different from many other languages, which have different forms of the definite article for different genders or numbers. Pronunciation In most dialects, "the" is pronounced as (with the voiced dental fricative followed by a schwa) when followed by a consonant sound, and as (homophone of the archaic pr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
26th Congress Of The Communist Party Of The Soviet Union (diamond)
The 26th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (''26th Congress of the CPSU'', russian: XXVI съезд КПСС) is a 342.57 carat fancy lemon yellow raw diamond, the largest gem diamond ever found in Russia or the territory of the former Soviet Union, and one of the largest in the world as of 2016. It was mined at the Mir kimberlitic pipe (Yakutia, Far Eastern Federal District) on December 23, 1980, and named after the 26th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, opening February 23, 1981. It is kept in the Russian Diamond Fund (Moscow Kremlin). See also * List of diamonds *List of largest rough diamonds This is a partial list of the largest non-synthetic diamonds with a rough stone (uncut) weight of over 200 carats (40 grams). The list is not intended to be complete – e.g., the Cullinan (formerly Premier Premier is a title for the head ... References {{geology-stub Diamonds originating in Russia Diamonds originating in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alexander Pushkin (diamond)
The Alexander Pushkin (russian: Алекса́ндр Пу́шкин) is a 320.65 carat colorless raw diamond, the second largest gem diamond ever found in Russia or the territory of the former Soviet Union (after the 26th Congress of the CPSU), and one of the largest in the world as of 2016. It was mined at the Udachnaya kimberlitic pipe (Yakutia, Far Eastern Federal District) in December 1989 and named after the world-famous Russian writer Alexander Pushkin. It is kept in the Russian Diamond Fund (Moscow Kremlin). See also * List of diamonds *List of largest rough diamonds This is a partial list of the largest non-synthetic diamonds with a rough stone (uncut) weight of over 200 carats (40 grams). The list is not intended to be complete – e.g., the Cullinan (formerly Premier Premier is a title for the head ... References {{geology-stub Cultural depictions of Alexander Pushkin Diamonds originating in Russia Diamonds originating in the Soviet Union Ind ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sakha Republic
Sakha, officially the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia),, is the Federal subjects of Russia#List, largest republics of Russia, republic of Russia, located in the Russian Far East, along the Arctic Ocean, with a population of roughly 1 million. Sakha comprises half of the area of its governing Far Eastern Federal District, and is the world's List of country subdivisions by area, largest country subdivision, covering over 3,083,523 square kilometers (1,190,555 sq mi). ''Sakha'' following regular sound changes in the course of development of the Yakut language) as the Evenk and Yukaghir exonyms for the Yakuts. It is pronounced as ''Haka'' by the Dolgans, Dolgan language, whose language is either a dialect or a close relative of the Yakut language.Victor P. Krivonogov, "The Dolgans’Ethnic Identity and Language Processes." ''Journal of Siberian Federal University'', Humanities & Social Sciences 6 (2013 6) 870–888. Geography * ''Borders'': ** ''internal'': Chukotka Autonomous Okrug ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Creator (diamond)
The Creator (russian: Творец) is a 298.48 carat colored raw diamond, the third largest gem diamond ever found in Russia or the territory of the former Soviet Union (after the 26th Congress of the CPSU and the Alexander Pushkin), and one of the largest in the world as of 2016. It was found at a placer mining factory in the area of the Lower Lena River (Yakutia, Far Eastern Federal District) in 2004 and is owned by the Government of the Sakha Republic, but kept in the Russian Diamond Fund (Moscow Kremlin). See also * List of diamonds *List of largest rough diamonds This is a partial list of the largest non-synthetic diamonds with a rough stone (uncut) weight of over 200 carats (40 grams). The list is not intended to be complete – e.g., the Cullinan (formerly Premier Premier is a title for the head ... References External links ОАО "Нижне-Ленское"(''OAO "Lower Lena"''), the company owned by the Government of the Sakha Republic where The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pearl
A pearl is a hard, glistening object produced within the soft tissue (specifically the mantle) of a living shelled mollusk or another animal, such as fossil conulariids. Just like the shell of a mollusk, a pearl is composed of calcium carbonate (mainly aragonite or a mixture of aragonite and calcite) in minute crystalline form, which has deposited in concentric layers. The ideal pearl is perfectly round and smooth, but many other shapes, known as baroque pearls, can occur. The finest quality of natural pearls have been highly valued as gemstones and objects of beauty for many centuries. Because of this, ''pearl'' has become a metaphor for something rare, fine, admirable and valuable. The most valuable pearls occur spontaneously in the wild, but are extremely rare. These wild pearls are referred to as ''natural'' pearls. ''Cultured'' or ''farmed'' pearls from pearl oysters and freshwater mussels make up the majority of those currently sold. Imitation pearls are also ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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