it
for about $2,500,000 by special premiums against loss each time it was
taken out to show prospective purchasers. It was named the Cullinan,
after T. M. Cul-linan, the chairman of the Premier Company.
For
a long time the great diamond lay there, as completely hidden from the
light as it had been for ages in its volcanic birthplace in Africa, its
enormous value and the size which rendered it unfit for most gem
purposes, making a sale impossible. There was much talk of starting a
popular subscription in England to buy it for King Edward as a present
from the people of the whole British Empire, but nothing was done,
probably because the advocates of that course put such a high valuation
on the stone (ten million pounds sterling was the general figure),
possibly because many saw in the suggestion a good business stroke for
the owners at the expense of the public. Finally, at the instance of
President Botha, the Transvaal Assembly voted to buy it and present it
to King Edward as a recognition of His Majesty's grant of a
constitution to the colony. There was considerable opposition to the
scheme on account of the finances of the colony, but the motion was
carried by a vote of 149 to 119 and the price fixed upon was about
$1,000,000. The actual outlay was but forty per cent, of the amount, as
the Transvaal government exacts as a tax, sixty per cent, upon all
diamonds mined within its jurisdiction.
On
November 9, 1907, nearly three years after the diamond was picked out
of the " blue " of the Premier mine in Africa, Sir Richard Solomon,
formerly lieutenant governor of the Transvaal, on behalf of the people
of the colony, accompanied by Sir Francis Hopwood,
