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30 A Book of Precious Stones
Dr.
Kirsh, of Colesberg, hearing the discussion and examining the stone,
bet Commissioner Boyes a hat that the stone was only a topaz. The stone
was then sent for determination to the leading mineralogist of the Cape
Colony, Dr. W. Guybon Atherstone, at Grahamstown, and it was so lightly
valued that, to save a higher postage rate, it was mailed to Grahams
-town in an unsealed envelope. The expert reported to Mr. Boyes: " I
congratulate you on the stone you have sent me. It is a veritable
diamond, weighs twenty-one and a quarter carats, and is worth five
hundred pounds. It has spoiled all the jewellers' files in Grahamstown,
and where that came from there must be lots more. Can I send it to Mr.
Southey, Colonial Secretary?"
Upon
Dr. Atherstone's report Sir Philip Wodehouse, the Governor at the Cape,
bought the rough diamond at Dr. Atherstone's valuation, and the
diamond was sent to the Paris Exposition, where it created interest,
but no great sensation. Thus a child's find was destined to
revolutionise the world's diamond trade, alter the map and the history
of South Africa, and place the regulation of the price of the diamond
in the hands of a London syndicate.
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