Search for the Lost Baranov Diamonds

Presented by Two Wall Gallery and Valise

Curators’ Note: The following history was compiled after years of painstaking research by noted treasure hunter Cecil Benthos. Several of the clues are being exhibited during the month of July at both Two Wall Gallery and Valise, and others will be revealed during the month at various locales, clues to which will appear as you follow the trail. One lucky treasure hunter will hopefully find the legendary Lost Baranov Diamonds at the end of that trail. If anyone does find it, that person should contact either Two Wall or Valise as soon as possible! The finder will get to keep the treasure, but only if you contact one of the galleries for debriefing.

The Baranov Diamonds: History and Clues

By Cecil Benthos, PhD
Treasure Hunter and International Entrepreneur
Offices in Vienna, Krakow, and Bean Blossom, Indiana

“Read these words carefully! Each word means something!!”

Years ago, while my father was surviving the Battle of Stalingrad in an overlooked vodka cellar, he wrote several letters home that mentioned in passing some hidden jewels that he had heard about around that time, perhaps even as he was in the cellar. His letters were not clear, but as a child, I was interested in this. It was only later that I realized the importance of his words, and begin to piece together the history of the Legendary Lost Baranov Diamonds.

From what I could learn through extensive research in the Pacific Northwest and from my business associates in Russia, who almost refused being paid for their help, the Baranov Diamonds (my name for them) are a collection of brightly colored and rare heart-cut stones that came from a diamond mine in the Urals. They were originally a gift that Napoleon acquired for Josephine (“Stolen!” my Russian friends say), but were lost in the retreat of the French in the winter of 1812-13. Apparently, they were last seen then by a Russian woman who was paid to wash Napoleon’s uniform, and she set them on his dressing table. They disappeared as if by magic that very day, leading some people to think they were indeed magic stones. Both magic and terrifying, is my conclusion, for mere mention of these stones has the power to turn some people into violent skeptics and has led to at least one traffic accident in southern Poland between a car and a manure spreader.

Not long after their disappearance, a similar collection of heart-cut stones was mentioned in a letter from Alexandr Baranov, the first governor of Russian Alaska and manager of the Russian-American Fur Company, to his sister Irena. His translated letter contains the statement “And dear sister, amazing stones are finally out [or displaced] painfully cut like little hearts my own like crystal [part unreadable] and colors remarked [or remarkable].” So it is clear to me and beyond all doubt that Baranov acquired the diamonds and took them to Alaska.

Russian relations with natives along the coast during that time were strained at best, but following the Battle of Sitka, the Russians found themselves ill at ease in a country filled with violent and skeptical natives. Money and other things of value were sometimes kept hidden in case of attack. It is my belief based upon the clues I have found that Baranov buried the diamonds on Vashon 1815 or 1816 while returning from a trip into northern California. His diary from that time mentions an encounter with a native party that was prepared for war near what is now called Portage. The natives assaulted the Russians with beach rocks and sunk a small boat. Oddly, Baranov wrote in his diary that he thought his men were being mistaken for someone else, based upon insults of a personal nature yelled by the natives, but this mystery (or magic!) was never explained.

There is a least one artifact from that encounter, which you will see displayed in town here. After the battle, Baranov was fearful of a second attack and so he buried the stones for safekeeping. Baranov never returned to recover them. He died in 1819.

Baranov’s diary talks about burying the stones. Although the word “diamonds” is not used, he mentions hiding something of great value to be gathered when things settled down. He writes that the item was wrapped in a cloth, hidden within a tin coffee pot, and sealed with wax and mica (as was common for the time). Mica was also scattered near the hiding place, perhaps because it would remind Baranov of the sparkling diamonds, or perhaps only because they were careless with the precious mica (or ising glass). It is no coincidence to me that the words “ising” and “island” both start with “is.”

The clues I have amassed include several rock carvings that you will see displayed, some other artifacts, and most importantly a map. This map I found in the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, which cost me a fortune in pre-inflationary rubles to borrow (when money really meant something!), and includes some of my notes, as well as other notes I presume are Baranov’s. The map in St. Petersburg had been cut into 12 pieces to insure that no one had all of it at once, but two pieces were missing. Years later, I found the last two pieces in an Orthodox Monastery in Alaska, near Baranov’s headquarters, stuffed inside a bible, one next to a passage in Exodus and the other in Revelations.

For reasons of security, I cannot finish the search I started years ago. So I ask for your help. My clues are arranged like knots on a string. Start at the end I give you and follow it to the finish. Each clue may be the one you need most….or perhaps some of the clues are pickled red herrings. All I ask is that you keep following the string…and if you find the treasure, you let the kind people at either Two Wall or Valise know about your discovery. You may keep the treasure if I can meet you to see it and hear how you found it. I just want vindication for my poor departed Father, who suffered so cruelly in that cold cellar in 1942, and was accused of such terrible things by the SS. Barely kept alive by the dregs in the vodka barrels, his memory lives on in this search. Help me show that his passion was not misplaced, and help me put his spirits to rest.

The Clues:

Look for these clues to begin with; others will be apparent as you search. Remember there are 12 pieces of the map to be discovered:

1) Beginning July 3, and for the rest of the month, the first clues will be visible at Two Wall Gallery, Valise, and Giraffe, with leads to other clues offered at that time. Be prepared to look for other places where clues might be visible. At Two Wall and Valise, two rock carvings and other clues will be on exhibit on July 3. At Giraffe, find Priscilla and tell her you want to “Pay for the Statue.”

2) Beginning Friday, July 10, another important clue will be revealed at Gusto Girls. Ask the bartender for a “Savoy Hotel Special No. 2 (nudge nudge, wink wink).”

Clues to the rest of the 12 pieces will become available as you go. We recommend you take some paper with you to trace or draw the map fragments so that you can play with them at home. They are all the same size, and they all fit together to comprise the original map. We’re pretty sure about that. Well, reasonably sure.

You may ask us if you need help. We may offer hints….or we may not, depending upon whether or not you are wearing brightly colored socks that day. One of us loves the color orange. We know nothing, but some of us can be bribed.

IF YOU FIND IT, LET US KNOW. Trust us, you’ll be famous, but only if you tell us how you found it.