Orlov Diamond

The Orlov is a 189.62 carat diamond of Indian origin, white with a faint bluish-green tinge, cut in a Mughal-style rose form often described as having the shape and proportions of half an egg, with a faceted domed surface and a nearly flat underside. It measures roughly 32 by 35 by 21 millimeters. The stone is mounted at the top of the Russian Imperial Sceptre and is held in the Diamond Fund collection at the Moscow Kremlin.

The diamond is attributed to the Kollur Mine in the Golconda region of India. Its authenticated history begins in the mid-18th century, when it may have belonged to Nader Shah of Persia. A widely repeated legend, which Britannica and other sources present as unverified, claims the stone once served as the eye of a deity in a Hindu temple in southern India and was stolen by a French deserter. Some modern scholars have proposed that the Orlov is identical to the lost Great Mogul diamond described by Tavernier, but this identification remains disputed.

After passing through the hands of an Armenian merchant named Shaffrass, the diamond was purchased in 1774 by Count Grigory Grigoryevich Orlov, who presented it to Empress Catherine II the Great in an unsuccessful attempt to regain her favor. Catherine named the stone after him and had it mounted in the Imperial Sceptre, where it remains.