REMARKABLE DIAMONDS AND GEMS (Continued)
slip
of his hand should bring on heart failure. From it came nine large
diamonds and 96 others of miscellaneous sizes. Cullinan I which weighs
530 carats is the world's largest polished diamond. It reposes in the
Royal scepter of King George VI. In the Imperial State Crown rests
Cullinan II. It is the second largest diamond weighing 309 carats. The
others are scattered among Britain's crown jewels.
JONKER
The
Jonker Diamond was found only a few years ago by Johannes Mokane on the
land of Jacobus Jonker only three miles from where the Cullinan diamond
was found in 1905. Consider the case of Jacobus Jonker, sixty odd years
of age, who had been working in the river-beds all his life for small
returns. In January of 1934, not far from Premier Mine there was
uncovered on his property a 726 carat flawless, blue-white diamond as
large as a small egg, the largest in recent years which brought him
over 300,000 dollars. A "bright pebble" indeed to bring sunshine into
his later years. The Jonker diamond became at once one of the world's
largest diamonds.
The
discoverer of this famous diamond was given but fifty dollars for
finding it. In 1934 the Jonker diamond was bought by Sir Ernest
Oppenheimer for 312,000 dollars and in 1936 it was sold to Mr. Harry
Winston, a diamond merchant of New York, for the sum of 725,000
dollars.
