Сокровища Алмазного фонда СССР - [5]

Today large numbers of big and unique diamonds found in the Soviet Union are flowing steadily into the USSR Diamond Fund. Some of the diamonds on display at the Exhibition have been given names that tell the history of their discovery.

The diamonds Voskhod (Sunrise) and Valentina Tereshkova were found during the days when Soviet cosmonauts were accomplishing breath-taking flights in outer space. Two other diamonds, called Oktyabrsky and Komsomolsky were found by Komsomol members. The diamond Zlata Praha was found on the anniversary of Prague's liberation from the nazi invaders. Pokorenny (Harnessed) Vilyui was named after a Russian river and those who tamed its cold waters. Sulus in Yakutian means a star, while Luchezarny (Radiant) mirrors the bright Siberia sun.

Soviet scientists are in the forefront in evolving the science treating of diamonds. The Soviet theory of the origin of diamonds has been confirmed by geological work in the field. The Siberian deposits were the first to be discovered not accidentally but on the basis of a scientific forecast with the utilization of new geological methods. Moreover, Soviet scientists have resolved the problem of producing superior synthetic diamonds, which are being used in industry on a growing scale.

A scientific system of grading has been developed to make it possible correctly to assess diamonds and determine the sphere where they can be used with the greatest effect, and an industry of preliminary processing of diamonds has been built to improve the quality of low-grade diamonds and utilize them more effectively.

An up-to-date diamond industry resting on extensive resources has been built in the Soviet Union within an exceedingly short span of time. Soviet jewellers are able to give diamonds the most diverse shapes and types of facets. Soviet brilliants satisfy the highest modern requirements and are in great demand in the Soviet Union and abroad. Soviet-made jewelry is represented in this album by reproductions of objects of precious metals inlaid with gems.

Besides, the album contains reproductions of exhibits from the world's rarest collection of gold and platinum nuggets.

This collection is of exceptional scientific interest because it consists of nuggets found in the Soviet Union over a period of many decades. With the exception of a small number, they were found after the Revolution. They include the famous Big Triangle (36 kilos - the largest in the world), the Big Tyelginsky (14 kilos) and the curiously-shaped Camel, Rabbit's Ears and Mephistopheles, in which nature vies in expression with works of art.

It will be no exaggeration to say that no national collection of gold nuggets has such a rich diversity of structural and crystalline formations as the Soviet State Collection.

Large platinum nuggets, which occur very rarely, are shown in the album. During the early years after the Revolution, the Western press, whiteguard newspapers in particular, began spreading the rumour that the Bolsheviks were plundering Russian crown jewels. The purpose of this rumour was to make people throughout the world believe that the Bolsheviks were barbarians and that the Revolution was wreaking havoc in the country. But led by the Bolshevik Party, the people, who overthrew the capitalists and landlords and took power into their own hands, not only safeguarded historic treasures but also created other, more valuable treasures despite the economic dislocation caused by the Civil War and the foreign intervention.

In reply to anti-Soviet propaganda, the crown jewels of the former Russian tsars were, on instruction from Lenin personally, put on public display in the Hall of Columns at the House of Trade Unions in Moscow in 1924. In the fifties when the discovery of diamonds in Siberia was reported, the foreign press wrote that Russian diamonds would appear in the world market not earlier than in the 21st century, because these diamond deposits were situated in remote uninhabited places thousands of kilometres distant from industrial centres and railways.

But what had seemed to be unrealistic was translated into reality: Led by the Communist Party and the Soviet Government the Soviet people scored yet another victory, creating a modern diamond-mining industry on the Pole of Cold. The development of these deposits is a major scientific victory and a great achievement, which put an end to the diamond monopoly of the capitalist countries. The Soviet Union began mining diamonds and selling them in the world market not in the 21st century but only a few years after the bucket of an excavator scooped up its first load of virgin land in Siberia. The land gave its wealth to the people, to its real master. The infinite number of sparkling crystals in the USSR Diamond Fund, like the other achievements of the Soviet Union, reflect the dedicated labour of Soviet people and their constant striving to do everything in their power to promote the happiness and prosperity of their country.

LE FONDS DIAMANTAIRE DE L'URSS