event
The Knaves of Diamonds (Chervonnye valety)
Knaves of Diamonds
also: Червонные валеты, Chervonnye valety
A real Moscow gang of well-born swindlers and forgers whose sensational mass trial in 1877 made the nickname a byword for genteel fraud; invoked here as the subject of a mock philosophical disquisition.
Reading notes
- Advertisements and Notices §3 The Knaves of Diamonds
"Chervonnye valety," a real Moscow gang of aristocratic swindlers and forgers whose sensational 1877 mass trial made the phrase a byword for genteel fraud dressed up as respectability.