Introduction

144
Sabina Fazli
Collecting means ownership for the sake of owning without any considerations of
usefulness. The aim of a collection therefore is not gain but completeness. The
prime motive among the collectors of diamonds in the texts is possession rather
than realising wealth from the stone. This practice bears negative connotations as
it aligns the English protagonists with Indians or exposes them as greedy and
Orientalised.
John Herncastle owns the Moonstone just for the sake of owning: “He never
gave it away; he never even showed it to any living soul” (Collins, Moonstone 40)
for fear of his persecutors. The Moonstone is an object known among collectors
and a valuable item. For John Herncastle, the possession of the diamond goes
along with “smoking opium and collecting old books, […] trying strange things in
chemistry” (40-41). The Orientalising aspect is alluded to in paralleling John Vandeleur
and the Rajah of Kashgar as collectors (Stevenson, “Rajah’s” 97; 130). In
“The Rajah’s Diamond”, Prince Florizel describes John Vandeleur’s motif for
stealing his brother’s diamonds: “Not to be richer, nor to have more comforts or
more respect, but simply to call this diamond yours for a year or two until you die,
and now and again to open a safe and look at it as one looks at a picture” (97).
The Rajah of Kashgar, as well, owns not only the diamond but a whole “collection”
(130). John Vandeleur is a collector of diamonds which he brings “from all
parts of the world” (110) and hoards in his house. This passion is complemented
by his hunting: “I have hunted most things, from men and women down to mosquitos;
I have dived for coral; I have followed both whales and tigers”, (97) he
professes. The hunting of “men and women” highlights John Vandeleur’s personality.
Francis Scrymgeour catches John Vandeleur in the act of robbing Reverend
Rolles surrounded by these collections, which form part of the crime scene: “In a
small apartment, carpeted with matting and surrounded by glazed cabinets full of
rare and costly curios, Mr. Vandeleur was stooping over the body of Mr. Rolles”
(117).
The connection between collector and crime which the setting highlights can
also be found in The Sign of Four. John Sholto is too greedy to share the treasure
with its other ‘rightful owners’, and he withholds it from Miss Morstan. On his
deathbed he confesses to his sons:
The cursed greed which has been my besetting sin through life has withheld
from her [Miss Morstan] the treasure, half at least of which should have
been hers. And yet I have made no use of it myself, so blind and foolish a
thing is avarice. The mere feeling of possession has been so dear to me that
I could not bear to share it with another. (Doyle, Sign 145)
In this handling of the treasure, John Sholto directly parallels its original owner,
the Indian rajah, “who is of a low nature and hoards his gold rather than spend it”
(Doyle, Sign 220). Even Lizzie owns the Eustace Diamonds just for the pleasure