“A Diamond Is Forever” – De Beers Own Slogan
Name
some of the famous diamonds.
There are more than three hundred, fifty named diamonds famous for their histories.
The following ten are among the national treasuries of seven different
countries. The largest cut diamond in the world. the Cullinan, is 531 .20 carats. The color
is white and it is in the
Tower
of
London. Cullinan II is 317.40 carats. The color
is white and it is also in the
Tower
of
London. The Dary-i-Nur is 186 carats, is pink and is in the Iranian
Treasury. The Dresden Green is 41 carats; it is green and is in the
Dresden
Museum. The Hope Diamond is 45.52
carats, is blue, and is in the Smithsonian Institute. The Hortensia
is 20 carats, is peach colored and is in the Louvre. The Kohinoor is 108.93 carats, is white and is in
the
Tower of
London. The Orloff
is 189.62 carats. It is reported to be white in color
and is in the Russian Diamond Fund,
Moscow.
The Spoonmake Diamond is 84 carats, reported to be
white and is in the
Topkapi
Museum.
What is the
largest diamond ever found?
The famous Cullinan Diamond, which weighed 3,106 metric carats in the
rough, and the largest stone cut from the Cullinan
Diamond weighed 531 .20 metric carats. This diamond was found in 1905. There
is an exciting story of its discovery. Mr. Frederick Wells, manager of the
Premier Mine in
South Africa,
was walking through the mine at the close of the day's work. Above him, and
eighteen feet below the surface of the earth, he saw a shining reflection
on the wall of the mine. He loosened the crystal, took it to his offices and
made sufficient tests to convince himself that it was a diamond. This was
the famous Cullinan of 3,106 metric carats - or
about one and one-third pounds, avoirdupois weight. What Mr. Wells did not
know at the time was that he had discovered an almost flawless diamond, limpid
in color and clear like water. Mr. Thomas Cullinan,
President of the Premier Diamond Mining Company, called the diamond the Cullinan. Later King George V asked that it be called the
Star of Africa. For his discovery, Mr. Wells received a gift of $10,000 from
the Company. The diamond stayed in England for a time, and then Premier Botha of the Transvaal proposed it be purchased by the country
as a gift to King Edward VII in appreciation of his having drafted a constitution
for that colony. This was done for a purchase price of approximately $1,000,000,
and the diamond was presented to the King on November 9, 1907. The gift did
not include the cost of cutting however, and his Majesty selected Asscher
Brothers of Amsterdam to perform this task. On February 10, 1908 at 2:45 P.M.,
Mr. J. Asscher was assigned the task to cleave the
stone into five parts. Mr. Asscher placed the big cleavage knive
in a previously prepared, V-shaped groove, one-fourth inch deep. He struck
the knife with a large steel rod and the crystal remained intact, the knife
had broken. The second attempt was even more tense
than the first. Failure might mean the complete destruction of (one million
dollars), but there was no failure. It is reported that after the second blow,
Mr. Asscher fainted. (Note:
This is now known to be a myth. Louis Asscher, who
was present at the cleaving, said "No Asscher
would faint on an operation over a diamond. He's much more likely to open
a bottle of champagne!") The second cleavage
in the same direction produced three principal sections. These sections were
divided into nine principal gems. Polishing of the gems began on March 3,
1908 and took a period of eight months with three men working from 7:00 A.M.
until 9:00 P.M., Sundays included. The cost of cutting the Cullinan stones was met by the sale of several of the minor
diamonds. The four largest gems of the Cullinan
are now part of the Crown jewels of
England.
[ The
huge Cullinan ].
Can you give
us a brief history of the Jonker Diamond?
The diamond was found by Jacobus Jonker
on his farm near
Pretoria
on January 17, 1934. He received $315,000 for the 726 carat stone. Mr. Harry
Winston acquired it from a Belgian diamond dealer. The stone was cleaved, cut
and polished, and divided into twelve gems by Lazare
Kaplan; eleven emerald cuts and one marquise cut. The Jonker
IV, an emerald cut, weighed 30.70 carats and sold at Southeby's
in
New York
in 1968 for $305,000.
What is
the
Dresden
Green Diamond?
It is a 41-carat, apple-green, pear-shaped diamond. It was first purchased in
1743 by Frederick Augustus, II, of
Saxony. It
is the largest historic diamond of its color in
existence. It presently is kept in the
Dresden
Historical
Museum.
What and where
is the famous necklace supposedly given to Empress Maria Louise by Napoleon?
This is presently in the Smithsonian Institute and consists of a circle of
twenty-eight large, round diamonds, total weight of 275 carats.
Is there a
stone named after the Oppenheimer family?
Yes. It was found in
South
Africa in 1964, weighed 253.70 carats, and
was presented to the Smithsonian Institution.
What and
where is the Kohinoor Diamond?
It is set in the crown of the Queen of England. Its name means 'mountain of
light' and it came from
India.
[ Recutting the Koh-i-Noor
].
What is the
Lesotho
Diamond?
This is a brown diamond discovered by Mrs. Ramoboa
and its original weight was 601 .25 carats.
What about the Hope Diamond?
This is a beautiful blue diamond which
has a rich depth of color combined with great brilliance.
It is believed to have been brought from
India by Tavernier
around the year 1642, and about 1668 it was sold along with many other diamonds
to Louis XIV. It was cut and cleaved, and probably stolen from the Royal Treasury
during the French Revolution. Around 1830 a 44.5 carat.
blue gem came on the market and was purchased by
Henry Thomas Hope for the sum of $90,000. This is an insignificant sum for
a stone which cannot be duplicated in color or size.
As a matter of fact, few other diamonds of notable size are known. The Hope
family sold the diamond around 1867; the last sale of this famous gem was
in 1911 to Edward B. McLean of
Washington.
Have there
been any famous diamonds from
Brazil?
Yes, the Star of the South Diamond.
Where was the
Jubilee Diamond found?
The Jubilee was found in
South
Africa
. It weighed 650.8 carats and was
first known as the Reitz Diamond.
About The Jubilee
Diamond
This colourless, oval cushion-cut diamond weighing 245.35 carats, was cut from an original rough stone, weighing
650.80 carats. It was found in the Jagersfontein mine
towards the winter of 1895. A group of
London
diamond merchants comprising the firms Wernher, Beit & Co., Barnato Bros and
Mosenthal Sons & Co., bought the Jubilee together
with the Excelsior.
At first the stone was named the Reitz in honour of Francis William Reitz, then
President of the
Orange Free State
in which Jagersfontein is situated. In 1896 the group
sent the diamond to
Amsterdam
where it was polished by M. B. Barends, under the
supervision of Messrs Metz. First, a piece weighing 40 carats or so was
cleaved. This yielded a fine, clean pear shape of 13.34 carats which was bought
by Dom Carlos I of
Portugal
as a present for his wife.
The present whereabouts of this gem is unknown. The remaining large piece was
then polished into the Jubilee. During the cutting process, it became obvious
that an extremely high quality diamond was going to be produced, so it was
planned to be a present to Queen
Victoria.
In the end this did not happen and the diamond remained with its owners. The
following year marked the Diamond jubilee of Queen
Victoria so the gem was renamed the Jubilee
to commemorate the occasion. In 1900 the group displayed the Jubilee
at the Paris Exhibition where it was one of the centres of attraction. It was
then valued at 7,000,000 francs.
Sometime afterwards Sir Dorabji Jamshedji
Tata bought the diamond. He was the Indian
industrialist and
philanthropist who laid the foundation of his country's iron and steel
industry; these and the cotton mills founded by his father really gave
India a boost
toward economic development. Sir Dorabji Jamsetji Tata died in 1932. Three
years later his heirs sent the Jubilee for sale at Cartier's, who in December
of that year mounted it in a display of historic diamonds.
In 1937 Cartier sold the Jubilee to M. Paul-Louis Weiller, the
Paris
industrialist and patron of the arts. The diamond's former setting was changed
into a baguette diamond brooch, suggestive of either a six-pointed star or a
stylized turtle. M. Weiller was always happy to lend
the Jubilee to exhibitions which included one staged at the Smithsonian
Institution in Washington in 1960 and another held in
Geneva in December of the same year.
In 1966 the Jubilee returned to South
Africa where it was featured in the De Beers Diamond
Pavilion in
Johannesburg.
Robert Mouawad has since bought the Jubilee, which is
now the largest item in his great collection, probably the greatest collection
of privately-owned diamonds in the world. Mouawad
once
said, "If we refer to the human contribution brought to a diamond, my favourite
would be the Jubilee for its outstanding cut for the period." The
Jubilee's facets are so exact that it can be balanced on it's
cutlet point,
which is less than 2mm across.
What is the
largest diamond ever discovered by a woman?
This was found in 1967 at Letseng,
Africa
by Mrs. Ernestine Ramoboa. It was a brownish color and weighed 601.25 carats. This is the famous diamond
bought by Mr. Harry Winston, and this was the diamond cleaved in front of
television cameras. When the cutting and polishing was completed in 1969, it
produced eighteen gems with a total weight of 242.2 carats. These gems have
since been sold to private owners.
What is the
largest, modern-cut diamond in the world?
The Stern Star, an 86-carat, brilliant-cut diamond. It is flawless, bright
yellow and over an inch in diameter. The original 223.6 carat stone was also
cut into the Star. a 21-carat, emerald-cut stone, and
a smaller mar-quise-cut gem.
What is the
largest diamond ever found at the
Kimberley
Mines?
This is a yellow diamond, octahedron of good shape, weighing 616.00 carats, but
not of the best quality. It is now considered to be the ninth largest diamond
in the world. It was found at the Dutoitspan Mine on
April 17, 1974.
What about the
Burton Diamond?
This pear-shaped 69.42-carat D-Flawless diamond was cut by
Harry Winston,
New York, from a 240.80 carat
rough found in 1966 at the Premier Mine,
South Africa
. Mr. Winston sold the
stone in 1967 for an undisclosed sum to Mrs. Walter Ames, sister of Walter
Annenberg, a well-known publisher. In 1969, Cartier of New York bought the
stone for $1,050,000 (one million fifty thousand dollars) at the Parke-Bernet Galleries auction in
New York. It was christened the Cartier
Diamond and then resold the following day to Richard
Burton for his wife, Elizabeth Taylor. The diamond has subsequently been
renamed the Taylor-Burton Diamond. She decided to sell the stone in 1978. After
some on-again, off-again dealing, Liz made the sale to Robert Mouawad for $2.8 million, and the money went to build a hospital
in
Africa.
Source: DIAMONDS - Famous, Notable and Unique (GIA)
What is meant by Aladdin's
Cave of
Diamonds?
On January 14, 1927 on the shores of
Alexander
Bay and
Namaqualand, South African geologist, Doctor
Hans Merensky, discovered some rich alluvial diamond
deposits. This area is now known as the Alluvial State Diggings Production
began in May, 1928. Surprisingly. the ratio of
gemstones to industrial stones is 90 percent gemstones to 10 percent
industrials, which is quite the reverse of the normal mine findings. The
average size of the
Alexander
Bay diamonds is 75
points, three grainers or .75 carats.
What is the
largest diamond ever found in the
United States?
The Uncle Sam Diamond, which weighed 40.23 carats, and was cut to a 1 2.42
carat, emerald-cut stone.
Where was the
Star of
Texas
Diamond found?
This stone is of African origin and was cut in
Belgium
.
When were the
diamond mines of
Arkansas
discovered?
In 1906.
Approximately
how many diamonds were found in the Crater of Diamonds,
Murfreesboro,
Arkansas,
in 1975?
Approximately seventy three diamonds were found.
Have there
been any strange finds in
Arkansas?
One of the strangest is that of Mary Elizabeth Rogers, who on June 19, 1963, at
14 months old was in the park with her parents, when they noticed that Mary
Elizabeth had something in her mouth. What she spit out was an 11.92 carat
diamond.
What is the
total number of diamonds found in the
Murfreesboro
area?
John Wesley Huddleston discovered two diamonds while plowing
his farm on August 8, 1906. More than 60,000 diamonds have been found on the
78-acre, diamond-bearing volcanic pipe since that time.
How deep is
the diamond crater in
Murfreesboro,
Arkansas?
Approximately 200 feet deep. A mean depth reached in
the South African Kimberley Mine is about 1,300 feet.
What other
large stones have been found in
Murfreesboro?
Punch Jones, 34.64 carats; Arkansas Searcy, 27.23 carats; Anon, 20.25 carats:
Arkansas Crystal, 17.85 carats: Star of Arkansas, 15.31 carats; Chief of
Carlisle, 13.50 carats; Colton Bell Star, 11.93 carats; Gary Moore, 6.43
carats: and in 1964, the Star of Murfreesboro, weighing 3425 carats.
Dear Sirs,
You have incorrectly listed the Punch Jones diamond as being a Murfreesboro,
Arkansas find. Please find the correct historical info on the stone below.
" I first heard of the diamond not from growing up in Lewisburg or during
my childhood summers at Moncove Lake but when I went to the Gemological
Institute of America in Los Angeles. You can imagine my surprise to discover
that Peterstown had a place in jewelry history. Apparently it is still
the largest alluvial (displaced) diamond to have ever been found in North
America. all the large diamonds of our continent have been found in situ
at diamond pipes (a bit much geology there I suppose).(Gregg Wingo)"
Here is a bit of history of Monroe County you may not be aware of. It
certainly adds weight to the concept of Monroe County being the gem of
WV:
"But there are other places right here in the United States where
you can find diamonds. In 1928, in the town of Peterstown, West Virginia,
a father and son set up a game of horseshoes in a vacant lot. It was
a game of horseshoes which they will never forget-for during the course
of that game they accidentally discovered the "Punch Jones," a
thirty-four-carat (34.46-carat) diamond.
The West Virginia diamond is a little different from the Arkansas diamond.
For this is a glacier diamond, swept downwards thousands of years ago
by the onslaught of the glaciers, the big ice that swept everything before
it-including diamonds.
In April 1928, 12-year-old
William P. "Punch" Jones of Peterstown,
West Virginia, was playing horseshoes with his dad, Grover, in the yard.
Punch's toss hit the stake and kicked a glassy fragment from the dirt. "See,
I found a diamond!" he joked. Later, Punch became briefly famous,
but not for this. His mother, Grace, set the world's record for consecutive
male births-Punch was eldest of 17 kids--and U.S. President Franklin
Roosevelt hosted Grover Jones Family Day at the 1939 New York World's
Fair. Punch kept the fragment in a cigar box until June 1943, when
he mailed it to a Virginia geology professor."
"Dr. Holden gave me a large sheet of heavy manila paper on which
I was to construct a cross-section from about Bald Knob to Christiansburg,
and another sheet for a chart of the common minerals. About March 1943,
Dr. Holden held out his clenched hand to me, in Holden Hall and he said, "Andrews,
what do you think this is?" I replied, foolishly, "Well, sir,
it look like a diamond to me." He said, "that's just what it
is." Thus enters the Punch Jones diamond, which, I remember as
34.46 carats. In any event, I have just unpacked a chest of that era,
and picked
out an opaque pinkish-white hard cast of some synthetic of the somewhat
gingerale-bottle-green original Punch Jones, which I saw later in Washington.
(Laurence E. Andrews, Jr. VT 49)"
At 34.46 carats, it was the second largest known North American diamond;
the Smithsonian Institution displayed it. Shortly after, Punch joined
the U.S. Army and was promptly killed in combat in Germany.
Afterward his mother grew sick of hearing about the famous "Punch
Jones Diamond." "I wish they'd a threw it in the New River
sometimes," she said. In the 1960s the family asked the Smithsonian
to return the stone, then stored it in a safe-deposit box at First Valley
National Bank. In 1984, Sotheby's of New York sold it for them to an
anonymous investor in Asia.
Take care and thank you for making the correction.
Sincerely,
Gregory A. Wingo
GIA '85
14th February 2005
Dear Gregory A. Wingo
Thank you for your nice
information about the famous "Punch
Jones Diamond”. I add your info on this page for all the diamond-interesting-people
to make note of.
Hans Olof Savasen / Mirol Diamond Invest |
|
Who owns the
Arkansas mine?
The state of
Arkansas
bought it in March, 1972 for $1.750, 000.
===============================================================================
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from you
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DIAMOND INVEST
Best regards
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Chairman and Principal,
Member of:
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BELGISCHE DIAMANTBEURZEN V.Z.W. F.D.B.D. |
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