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REMARKABLE DIAMONDS AND GEMS (Continued)
covery
of this stone, while the source of the greatest elation, is said to
have been accompanied by some fear on the part of the mine owners that
a purchaser could never be found for so large a jewel. The stone
weighed 3024 carats or about one and a half pounds, the size of a man's
fist. It showed five cleavage planes, indicating that it was only a
portion of a large crystal. The stone in the rough resembled a lady's
fist in size and shape and its transparency made it appear like a
piece of ice. It was named the CuUinan diamond for Mr. T. M. Cullinan,
President of the Premier Diamond Mining Company. As before stated the
diamond's planes and markings indicated that it was only a part of a
crystal. The whole was probably a huge octahedron, from which the
Cullinan diamond had been separated by natural cleavage. The color is
reputed to be the purest of any of the largest stones. This diamond is
four times as large as the largest of those of ancient India, and more
than three times the size of Excelsior, one of the wonders of the
modern world.
The
question of the disposal of the stone was finally solved on November 9,
1907, nearly three years after the diamond was found by its purchase,
at the suggestion of Premier Botha of the Transvaal Colony, by the
Assembly of that Province for the sum of a million dollars as a
birthday present to King Edward VII of Great Britain in recognition
of his grant of a constitution to the Colony.
King
Edward sent it to Amsterdam. There in 1908 it was ceremoniously cleft
by Joseph Asseher of the firm of I. J. Asseher, with doctors and nurses
attending him lest a
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