Two Remarkable Diamonds.

Auckland Star, Volume XXI, Issue 288, 6 December 1890, Page 2 (Supplement)

Two Remarkable Diamonds.

Mb Lewis Atkinson, the experb and man-' ager of the diamond industries at thd Colonial and Indian Exhibition, ia now ia Kimberley, South Africa, visiting the diamond fields, and he send 3to the " Times" an account of tv/o remarkable stonea which he has seen. Uo cays that in October, 1889, a Dutchman named Nicholas Wilhelm Pentz cams to tho Detective Department ab Kimberley and handed in a rough and uncut diamond weighing 87J carats, alleging that he had roceived it about 20 years ogo from an old sweetheart! of his,, who resided afc Heidelberg, Cape_ Colony, Neither tho giver nor the receiver wag aware that ifc was a diamond. Pentz, ac*, cording to his story, appears to have fcepU tho stone as a memento, and carried ib about with him wherever ho went. Being in poor circumstances, he managed 'to make his way to tlie River Diggings, in order to try his luck in' winning diamonds. He arrived there in October, 1809, and was informed by, some old diggers that the Gtone he had taken such great care of was a diamond of| good quality, worth about £1,800. Aa stated above, Penfcz then came to the Detective Department and requested a permit to sell ths diamond, as according to tho law no one is allowed to sell diamonds here withoub a permit from the Detective De J parbmenb. The chief of the Department,; however, very rightly refused the permit, pending inquiry into the story told by Pentz, and retained the diamond. In the meantime, the chief clerk of theJDetectiva Department was despatched to the district) in which the young lady who was supposed fco have handed over the stone was last! heard of. Ho found her residing oa a farm and married to a respectable farmer. The whole circumstances of tho case were narrated to her and the actual diamond shown to her. She admitted that she knew Pentz in her girlhood, but she did not recollect: having given him a stone such as the one. shown to her. Now comes the strange part of the atory. The sister of the lady alluded fco herein now put in a claim to the diamond, stating that she was the person who actually handed the stone to Pentz. She stated that she picked it up on her mother's farm, and aeksd Pentz to ascertain the nature of it. She had quite forgotten the circumstance until her memory was refreshed by an account of tha diamond appearing in the local papers. Pentz denies her story in toto, and defies her to prove ib in a Court of law. The consequence of all this is that Pentz is bringing a friendly action agatnst the Gdveiiimeni) to restore the diamond, while the sister here referred to is suing Pentz. The cases will shortly be heard afc Kimberley. It is of a decided rose tint, iba crystallisation is of the octahedron form, but of very ragged character. Ib has nob the usual polished surface of.other diamonds, bub on all prominent surfaces is dulled or fretted, no doubb through being waterworn and coming in contact with other diamonds and stones. It has two patches of a decided brownish tint, but these are only on the surface. Ib is nob a perfecb stone, as ib has aboub three flaws in it; bub there is no' doubt that a mosb perfect brilliant, pure of flaws, of a rose tint colour, could be produced from it weighing aboub 37 carats. A piece weighing aboub three carats must, daring its travels up and down the river, have been broken oufe of it, as the cleavage lines are so distinctly marked. It is aboufe the size of a fairly large walnut.

The other stone was found in Da Beer'a Mine about a month ago by a native. Id was in two pieces—one weighing 19J carats and the other 25| carats. The remarkable thing about it is its shape as, with the two pieces jointed, ib measures 2Jin. long, lin, broad, and -|in deep. It has crystallised more in the form of ordinary quartz, only instead of being sesagonal it is of the prism form, having only three side?. At the one end—the base—it has a flat cleavage plain on the slant, ahd there is no doubt thab to make it a perfect crystal there is anotner piece, about gin., that ought to be added to it, and which may be found yet in the sorting. Ab the other end, or top, it comes to a blunt point, and it is this piece that was found broken off. Ib is of ft lightish brown colour. ■