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Spinel of the Great Imperial Crown
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Spinel of the Great Imperial Crown
The Spinel of the Great Imperial Crown (Russian: Шпинель Большой императорской короны) or Menshikov Ruby (Russian: Рубин Меншикова) is a historical gemstone, a red spinel which tops the Great Imperial Crown of Russia from the 18th century to the present day. It is the largest of the seven historic gems of the Diamond Fund of the Russian Federation.
The stone is not cut, but polished, and there is a through hole drilled in the lower part. A small pin, capped on both sides with small diamonds, is inserted into it. According to the 1898 inventory, the weight of the gemstone is 389 old carats; in 1922, the stone was weighed together with the pin and diamonds covering the hole, the weight was 414.3 metric carats. When Alexander Fersman compiled the Diamond Fund catalogue in 1924, he estimated the net weight of spinel, excluding the pin, as approximately equal to 402 metric carats; later sources also cite the figure of 398.72 metric carats.
The large red gemstone adorned several great imperial crowns of Russian emperors and empresses created in the 18th century. It is believed that it was one and the same stone that was used to decorate the next crown after the previous one was dismantled. The first information about it dates back to 1702, when the retired Nerchinsk captain of fifty Yan Istopnikov, being at the head of the state caravan in China, exchanged “a red lal stone, weighing 19 zolotniks and half a zolotnik” for 8,000 liang. Prince Alexander Menshikov, in his letter from Kiev dated May 12, 1705, gave instructions to buy the stone from Istopnikov, reimbursing him for the money spent and giving him a bonus of 1,000 rubles. On October 5, 1705, Istopnikov gave the stone to the Department of Siberian Affairs and received 9,000 rubles from the money of the Department of Siberian Affairs and the Ingermanland Chancellery, but the stone was “not in the record” in the income books for 1705 and 1706.
While already under investigation for embezzlement, Prince Matvei Gagarin testified that in 1705, Yan Istopnikov “revealed a lal stone” to the head of the Department of Siberian Affairs, Prince Fyodor Romodanovsky. Romodanovsky sent the stone with Gagarin to Peter I, and the prince showed it to the tsar in Poland, in Grodno. Peter I “deigned to accept that stone from me himself”. In 1721, the stone was already in the possession of Prince Alexander Menshikov. Gagarin did not know why there were no records of this in the income books, because the head of the Department of Siberian Affairs in 1705 was Prince Fyodor Romodanovsky.
In 1724, Catherine I was crowned. After the crown made for the coronation was brought to Moscow, the original top in the form of a golden monde studded with diamonds was replaced with a large red stone. Friedrich Wilhelm von Bergholz wrote in his diary that on March 30, 1724, the imperial crown was shown to him and several others by secret cabinet secretary Alexei Makarov, and at that time there was already “a very expensive and incredibly large ruby, almost a finger's length” on the top. This stone was received from Prince Menshikov; in 1727 Menshikov testified in a case about his financial misconduct, that for this Peter I had allowed him, by oral decree, not to return 10 thousand rubles taken from the College of War. The coronation ceremony of the Empress took place on May 7. In the “Description of the Coronation of Her Majesty Empress Catherine Alekseevna” the stone is described as follows:
In the whole of this crown only one colored stone was visible, that is, a straight oriental ruby or yakhont of very pure color, larger than a pigeon's egg, and therefore by far the most valuable of all rubies known to this day.
By June 9 the crown had already been dismantled, and its frame was transferred to the Workshop and Armory Chamber. The Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts (RSAAA) contains several drawings that, according to most experts, depict the crown of Catherine I, despite the fact that they are among the documents on the coronation of Peter II, since according to textual descriptions, the crown of Peter II looked different.
The red stone from the top of the crown returned to Prince Menshikov. Boris Kurakin later wrote about Menshikov: “And he had a particularly famous thing - a red yakhont, of great value, which, due to its size, weight and color, was considered unique in Europe”. After Menshikov was arrested on September 8, 1727, as a result of the work of the investigative commission of the Supreme Privy Council, the gemstone was confiscated. On September 11, Pyotr Moshkov announced the “large red lal stone” at a meeting of the Supreme Privy Council and handed it over to Vice-Chancellor Baron Andrei Osterman “for delivery to His Imperial Majesty”. Thus the stone ended up in the state treasury.
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Spinel of the Great Imperial Crown
The Spinel of the Great Imperial Crown (Russian: Шпинель Большой императорской короны) or Menshikov Ruby (Russian: Рубин Меншикова) is a historical gemstone, a red spinel which tops the Great Imperial Crown of Russia from the 18th century to the present day. It is the largest of the seven historic gems of the Diamond Fund of the Russian Federation.
The stone is not cut, but polished, and there is a through hole drilled in the lower part. A small pin, capped on both sides with small diamonds, is inserted into it. According to the 1898 inventory, the weight of the gemstone is 389 old carats; in 1922, the stone was weighed together with the pin and diamonds covering the hole, the weight was 414.3 metric carats. When Alexander Fersman compiled the Diamond Fund catalogue in 1924, he estimated the net weight of spinel, excluding the pin, as approximately equal to 402 metric carats; later sources also cite the figure of 398.72 metric carats.
The large red gemstone adorned several great imperial crowns of Russian emperors and empresses created in the 18th century. It is believed that it was one and the same stone that was used to decorate the next crown after the previous one was dismantled. The first information about it dates back to 1702, when the retired Nerchinsk captain of fifty Yan Istopnikov, being at the head of the state caravan in China, exchanged “a red lal stone, weighing 19 zolotniks and half a zolotnik” for 8,000 liang. Prince Alexander Menshikov, in his letter from Kiev dated May 12, 1705, gave instructions to buy the stone from Istopnikov, reimbursing him for the money spent and giving him a bonus of 1,000 rubles. On October 5, 1705, Istopnikov gave the stone to the Department of Siberian Affairs and received 9,000 rubles from the money of the Department of Siberian Affairs and the Ingermanland Chancellery, but the stone was “not in the record” in the income books for 1705 and 1706.
While already under investigation for embezzlement, Prince Matvei Gagarin testified that in 1705, Yan Istopnikov “revealed a lal stone” to the head of the Department of Siberian Affairs, Prince Fyodor Romodanovsky. Romodanovsky sent the stone with Gagarin to Peter I, and the prince showed it to the tsar in Poland, in Grodno. Peter I “deigned to accept that stone from me himself”. In 1721, the stone was already in the possession of Prince Alexander Menshikov. Gagarin did not know why there were no records of this in the income books, because the head of the Department of Siberian Affairs in 1705 was Prince Fyodor Romodanovsky.
In 1724, Catherine I was crowned. After the crown made for the coronation was brought to Moscow, the original top in the form of a golden monde studded with diamonds was replaced with a large red stone. Friedrich Wilhelm von Bergholz wrote in his diary that on March 30, 1724, the imperial crown was shown to him and several others by secret cabinet secretary Alexei Makarov, and at that time there was already “a very expensive and incredibly large ruby, almost a finger's length” on the top. This stone was received from Prince Menshikov; in 1727 Menshikov testified in a case about his financial misconduct, that for this Peter I had allowed him, by oral decree, not to return 10 thousand rubles taken from the College of War. The coronation ceremony of the Empress took place on May 7. In the “Description of the Coronation of Her Majesty Empress Catherine Alekseevna” the stone is described as follows:
In the whole of this crown only one colored stone was visible, that is, a straight oriental ruby or yakhont of very pure color, larger than a pigeon's egg, and therefore by far the most valuable of all rubies known to this day.
By June 9 the crown had already been dismantled, and its frame was transferred to the Workshop and Armory Chamber. The Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts (RSAAA) contains several drawings that, according to most experts, depict the crown of Catherine I, despite the fact that they are among the documents on the coronation of Peter II, since according to textual descriptions, the crown of Peter II looked different.
The red stone from the top of the crown returned to Prince Menshikov. Boris Kurakin later wrote about Menshikov: “And he had a particularly famous thing - a red yakhont, of great value, which, due to its size, weight and color, was considered unique in Europe”. After Menshikov was arrested on September 8, 1727, as a result of the work of the investigative commission of the Supreme Privy Council, the gemstone was confiscated. On September 11, Pyotr Moshkov announced the “large red lal stone” at a meeting of the Supreme Privy Council and handed it over to Vice-Chancellor Baron Andrei Osterman “for delivery to His Imperial Majesty”. Thus the stone ended up in the state treasury.
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