There are many beautiful gemstones in the world today, but none of them compare to the huge stone mined in 1905. The world's largest diamond was found in a South African mine near the city of Pretoria.
African mine history
Thomas Cullinan started out as a bricklayer. After saving up a small amount of money, he decided to look for diamonds. A few kilometers from Pretoria, he purchased the Elandsfontein farm in 1904 and worked effectively on it. He chose very carefully and fixed his gaze on a plot with a hill. The hill, as it turned out later, was formed over a kimberlite pipe, on which the Premier mine was located. The place got its name in honor of the head of government, who was present at the opening of the mine.
A unique find
During the afternoon, Mines Superintendent Frederick Wells did his daily inspection. His attention was drawn to an unusually bright reflection of some object. Inside a hole 5.5 meters deep, he saw a fragment. The object strongly reflected the rays of the sun and was notlooks like glass. Going down into the pit, he carefully dug the world's largest diamond out of the wall with a knife. After checking its hardness, he was happy to see that it was a gem of high quality. For his unusual find, Wells received a reward of 10 thousand dollars, and she herself was named after the head of the diamond mining company, Sir Thomas Cullinan, who came to the mines that day.
African giant
It was clear to the masters of mining that the found stone was part of a larger giant, the dimensions of which could be 2-3 times larger. The world's largest diamond was the size of a grown man's big fist and was vastly larger than any crystal ever found anywhere in the world. Its initial weight was 3106 metric carats. The stone surprised not only with its impressive parameters, but also with its excellent quality. It was completely transparent and colorless. A small crack formed on its surface. It was because of this small defect that it was decided to split the giant into several separate stones.
A huge nugget was sold to the Transvaal government for 150 thousand English pounds.
Journey of the Magnificent Crystal
According to the official version, in November 1907, the stone was presented as a birthday present to the great monarch Edward VII as a sign of loy alty to the annexed colony after the Boer Wars. In fact, the “gift” cost the British treasury very dearly (almost a million dollars), and the diamond was sold.
At the end of JanuaryIn 1908, the diamond was handed over to the Amsterdam company for cutting, and on February 10, master Abraham Asscher began work. The most interesting thing is that from Africa, the insured world's largest diamond traveled on a warship, and calmly moved across the English Channel in a jeweler's pocket on a simple ferry for passengers.
Royal diamonds
In order to study the structure of the giant and correctly determine the place of impact for its split into several parts, it took some time. An incision was made in the stone, a special knife was placed in it, and with one strong stroke they broke it. Not every master has to break a giant diamond, which has been quietly dozing in the bowels of the earth for a long time, into several smaller stones. The master was very nervous. The crystal was so strong that only on the second attempt it was possible to split it into two large stones, 2029.94 and 1068.09 carats in size, and three small pieces. The first Cullinan (the photo shows it in the form of a drop with 74 facets and a weight of 530, 2 carats) was called by King George V the “Big Star of Africa”. It became the largest diamond in the world. He was placed in the upper part of the sovereign scepter, which is located in the Tower of London. From the second large stone, the jewelers made the Cullinan 2 diamond at 317, 4 carats, which has 66 facets - the second largest crystal in the world. For this giant (base parameters - 4, 3x4, 1 cm), the place was determined in the imperial crown, which is located in the Tower. From the remaining pieces of diamond material, two more large diamonds were made - pandelok, the weight of which was 94.4carat (Cullinan 3) and a square-shaped crystal weighing 63.65 carats (Cullinam 4). Since 1911 they have been in the crown of the English queen. Later, in 1959, they were assigned a place in a brooch.
Cullinan 5 weighing 18.8 carats was cut in the shape of a heart and inserted into a brooch. It was intended for Queen Mary. Later, it was removed from there and inserted into the crown of the female crown. Cullinan 6 weighing 8.8 carats with a marquise cut was very fond of Elizabeth II. She gave the order to strengthen the crystal in a diamond-emerald necklace, which she wore very often in her youth. The Cullinan 7 diamond has a weight of 11.5 carats and a marquise cut, the Cullinan 8 has an emerald cut and a weight of 6.8 carats, the Cullinan 9 has a weight of 4.4 carats, a pear-shaped cut.
In addition to large-sized diamonds, smaller ones were made from the largest diamond: 5 weighing up to 4.4 carats and 96 miniature gems weighing 7.55 carats. The total weight of all gems together is 1063.65 carats. During jewelry processing, 65, 75% of the losses of the entire mass of the found giant occurred.
Artistic cutting of all stones after the split took four years. As a result, 105 diamonds were made. The largest diamonds in the world are nine large gems that are the pride of the English crown.
World War and present
In wartime, small diamonds, along with other expensive relics, were carefully hidden in tins and buried in a field near Windsor Palace. Largethe crystals were placed in hat boxes and hidden in one of the secret passages of the castle.
Currently, the Cullinan 1 (54x44x29 mm) is the largest diamond in the world (after the Golden Jubilee). Beautifully cut in the shape of a pear, he adorns the scepter of the great monarchs of England and, along with his other famous brethren, is in the Tower.
The entire magnificent collection of eminent diamonds can be seen in the Jewel House at the exhibition. Unique and exquisite diamonds are worn by the Queen herself at various gala receptions and festive ceremonies.
