Diamond stories do not cease to excite people's minds. Large - even more so. Ratings of the largest diamonds are regularly published on jewelry sites. The more surprising is the story of one of the largest stones, which was found by chance.
History
The largest known diamond in the world is called Cullinan. The find helped to make the case. It happened at a mine called Premier in South Africa in early 1905. Most likely, the “Cullinan” appeared, breaking away from a diamond, which had twice the size. Its weight was 3106.75 carats, which equals 621.35 g. Its parameters were 10.5 and 6.5 cm.
Of course, the history of his find today is surrounded by different stories and fiction, so it’s hard to say what actually happened and what didn’t. There are several versions of this story. According to the first of them, the brilliance of the diamond attracted mine manager Frederick Wells, who made a daily evening tour. This brilliance came from the wall of the quarry. A large diamond was extracted from the same place, which made it clear that it was a fragment of a much larger mineral. But nothing else was found.
The find was immediately sent for examination. It turned out that this is the largest natural diamond that was found at that time.
Prior to this, Excelsior was 995.2 carats. He was found at a South African mine. Since 1905, Excelsior had to take 2nd place in the ranking of the largest diamonds.
The examination confirmed the conjecture that the found specimen is one of the parts of a much larger diamond, split in a natural way. However, no other parts were found. Of course, this find made a splash.Firstly, the public simply went crazy with the size of the stone and the history of its discovery, and secondly, the diamond mining industry received an additional impetus to develop.
The main reason for all the actions of diamond prospectors was that most of the “Cullinan” has not yet been found.
Mine Wells was paid £ 3,500 for the find. The stone got its name by the name of the person who owned the site where he was found: Thomas Cullinan. There were no spots, cracks, or air bubbles on the diamond. He was very clean. A black spot was located in the center of the diamond, and this was its only drawback.
The crystal created amazing color reflections, depending on the angle at which the light was incident. This meant that there was tension inside the stone, which is quite common in large diamonds. But this created a risk of cracking, therefore, the diamond could not be cut. The size of the diamond implied its fantastic value, so there were no buyers.
The owner of the Transvaal government paid 150 thousand pounds to the owner Thomas Cullinan for the sale of stone in 1907.
Diamond was presented as a present for the celebration of the birthday of King Edward VII of England. This was due to a proposal by General Louis Botha to thank the king for the fact that the Transvaal constitution was recognized by the British Empire. This decision was not sole, it was adopted by voting. The Boers were in favor, and the British, who inhabited the Transvaal, were against.
At first, Edward did not appreciate the diamond. However, thanks to Winston Churchill, at that time not yet the Prime Minister, but already a very influential person, the gift was accepted. Edward ordered to split it into several parts and cut it. This was done by Dutch jewelers, the famous Asher brothers.
Work took a lot of time. It took six months to study the structure of the crystal, the choice of place in order to produce a blow so that the split occurred correctly. The length of the incision made in the stone was approximately 0.5 inches (or 1.3 cm). The knife for the cut was made separately.
With one blow of great strength, the diamond was split into places of the defect. After 4 years, about 110 diamonds were made from the resulting parts. Of these, 2 - "Cullinan I" and "Cullinan II" are classified as large, 7 - to medium (although some of them are more correctly attributed to large as well), and the rest - to small ones, but with amazing purity.
Description of "Stars of Africa"
“Cullinan I,” or “The Big Star of Africa,” weighs 530.2 carats. This is a diamond with 76 facets. The "great star of Africa" adorns the top of the wand, owned by Edward VII. This is the largest faceted diamond. There is an opportunity to pull out a diamond and put on in the form of a brooch. It is stored in the Tower (London).
The diamond is also called the "Great Star of Africa." Its shape is pear-shaped. Until 1990, when it became famous for finding the Golden Jubilee diamond, the Big Star of Africa occupied the 1st place in terms of diamonds in the world.
Now it is in honorable 2nd place, but it is considered the largest stone, faceted by a "pear", and the largest colorless diamond.
How did a diamond turn into diamonds?
Even today, when the work of jewelers is facilitated by the latest technology, cutting diamonds is very difficult. It was very difficult to cut a diamond and make it a quality diamond, which would become a work of art at the beginning of the last century, because there were not many tools at the disposal of jewelers. Cutting "Cullinan" engaged in hereditary jewelers Asher.
By the way, it was they who patented the Asher cut method, which is now classic.
Prior to that, it was Asher who was engaged in cutting Excelsior.
Initially, the whole diamond was planned to be cut.However, in a detailed study (which took several months), jewelers found that inside the diamond there are a number of minor injuries, cracks, as well as stress, expressed by the presence of a dark spot in the very middle of the stone. It became clear that the diamond needed to be split.
Speaking of the beginning of the cut, the date should be mentioned on February 10, 1908. Engaged in this "chief of the Ushers" - Joseph. There is a legend that when the knife split a diamond, Joseph Asher collapsed because the knife broke. However, one should not trust this legend, because after all, a hereditary jeweler and the head of a firm with a reputable reputation was hardly exposed to such violent reactions that he would faint from a simple breakdown of a working tool. Moreover, there is a refutation of Lord Jan Balfour, who in the book “Famous Diamonds” claims that Asher, on the contrary, celebrated this event by opening a bottle of champagne.
Each of the parts was subsequently split more than once. As a result of the cut, 9 pure large diamonds and about 96 small ones appeared. Large ones were numbered from I to IX (in accordance with decreasing size). All of them are still in the British royal family and are included in the jewelry list, which is worn by Queen Elizabeth II.
Interesting Facts
The diamond number 2, or "The Small Star of Africa," is the fifth largest in the world. Its cut is not a “pear”, but a “cushion”. Its weight is 317.4 carats. It is located in the rim of the crown of the British Empire. Together with him, the crown is decorated with stunning beauty gems, each of which is a work of art.
As for the “Cullinan III”, it is also faceted by a “pear”, its mass is 94.4 carats. It was installed on top of the crown belonging to Queen Mary, the grandmother of the reign of Elizabeth II.
The crown was made by the Garrard & Co jewelers (it was this company that dealt with all the jewelry of the royal family) for the coronation of Mary's husband, King George V. The event took place on June 22, 1911.
In addition to Cullinan III, Cullinan IV was also installed on the crown. The main accent of the crown was the famous Coh-i-Noor diamond. At the end of the ceremony, all stones were replaced with copies of quartz, and diamonds went for use in other jewelry. The third and fourth “Cullinans” were combined, of which they turned into a brooch pendant. Queen Mary loved her very much.
After Maria died in 1953, her jewelry was inherited by the granddaughter of Elizabeth II. She still wears this pendant brooch at various events, calling her Granny's chips. Who will inherit the jewelry of the now-living Queen is still unknown. Perhaps it will be the Duchess of Cambridge Catherine, wife of the grandson of Queen William, Duke of Cambridge.
As for Cullinan V, its cut is a pear, or heart-shaped. It is located in the center of the platinum brooch, where it is framed by smaller diamonds. The brooch is made so that it can be worn independently. And also the brooch can be installed on the crown instead of Coh-i-Noor. Prior to this, the brooch was part of Queen Mary’s mantle, along with other diamonds and emeralds.
The weight of Cullinan VI is 11.5 carats; its cut is called the Marquise. It was presented by King Edward VII to his wife, Queen Alexandra. This diamond was decorated with her diadem. Since 1925, he was inherited by Queen Mary. A pendant was made of diamond, which made up a set with a platinum brooch with diamonds, the center of which was the eighth Cullinan. Now the jewel is called “Cullinan VI and VIII Brooch”.
However, the eighth stone can be pulled out and installed on the corsage of the scouring or, if desired, attached to the brooch with the fifth Cullinan.
The seventh of the Cullinans has a Marquise cut, weighing 8.80 carats. Its place on the pendant is in a platinum necklace, which is also decorated with other diamonds and emeralds. The necklace is an integral part of Queen Mary's purse. There are 6 such parts.The same court jewelery company was engaged in the manufacture of paryura.
It was a necklace made of paryur that was especially loved by Queen Mary, as well as her granddaughter, who still wears it during official events.
The ninth stone, although the smallest, is very clean. Its cut is round, and its shape is pear-shaped. In 1911, it was inserted into a ring of platinum and was not used anywhere else. Unfortunately, the ring was worn a few times, and does not belong to the number of favorite decorations of the crowned persons to whom it belonged.
Interesting information about the Cullinan Diamond can be found in the next video.
