Hello Sue
Thank you for the interesting story.
I have a fair bit of resaerch on this subject. I can show you a photograph of the actual train that was alleged to of carried the treasure across Siberia. The white army had a special legion of Czech Legion tasked to guard it.
Is was estimated that the entire Russian imperial fortune was an amazing 2000 million. That seems like a mind boggling amount of gold. But if you resaerch into the history of Russia you will begin to understand that Russia was a very wealthy country. The problem was the country was badly run as ultimate monarchy with no democracy.
The Tsar had ultimate power and wealth beyond all imagination where the every day people lived in utmost poverty by inept mismanagement and total lack of emotion or understanding of the needs of his country. The Russian Royal family were so super rich they were totally ignorant of plight of their own people. And it was because of this it led to their undoing and start of the civil war.
As the civil war between the Reds communists and the white loyalist armies got more intense European countries sent volunteers in support of the white army. But as the white armies cause began to fall apart.European began to court the Bolshevick government.
The white Army in seeing their cause was lost especially after the execution of the captured Tsar Nicholas II and his family by the Bolshevick red army in Ekaterinburg. The White army Split up the national treasure in what would be called one of the greatest acts of looting since the fall of the Inca empire in 1534.
Much treasure fell into private hands and into the hands of the Red Army. But much even fled outside the country. It was about 500 million of treasure ended up with Kolchack in which most was either buried along the trans Siberian rail line, thrown into lake Baikal or went with the remaining fleeing white army east to Valdivostock.
The White Army to the south under General Denikin fled with 100 million dollars worth of treasure. Allegedly buried in Bulgaria somewhere.
Many other treasures filtered out of country ending up in other countries. Much of the imperial crown jewels had vanished. However Some items have eventually have turned up. Others have have never been seen since the 1919 revolution.
Once such Item was a large diamond that was stolen from a sacred temple statute in India by a Frenchman who sold it to a Sea captain who sold it to a Jewish gem Dealer who sold to Russian crown Prince Olaf only to have it looted in the Russian revolution and eventually sold to the Shah of Iran.
It was the Shah who had the Arabia words inscribed on this wonderful gem " God is great" But apparently even this complement help the shah as he was ousted from power around 1978 and fled to the united States where the shah dying with most of his fortune gone sold the fabulous gem to the largest diamond dealers in the world the De Beers group.
Like the Hope diamond, Maximilien's Jewels these stones seem to be desired by the ultra wealthy only to be cursed by them.
Some thing to remember the next time I am plucking a jewel from some temple idol.
Hardluck
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