THE BIGGEST DIAMOND IN THE WORLD.

Bush Advocate, Volume XI, Issue 869, 9 December 1893, Page 6

THE BIGGEST DIAMOND IN THE WORLD.

I g The Biggest Diamond in the World U the '• Exceleior " (very big dia. j monda always have names ol their : own), recently discovered in the Jagerefontein Mino, in the Orange Free State, South jj Africa, and now in the possession of Messrs Wernher, Beit and Co. The following in- * toresting particulars have boon obtained by' ' a representative of the "Westminster Gazette":— This oolossal Rem ko fat " licks oreation' (American millionaires, please note) that if it ' were oloven in two, either half would still be considerably bigger than any diamond pre- ' vioualy discovered. That is, compairing tho ' "Excelsior" in the rough with any other big ( diamond in the same Btate. But the " Ex- I celsior" ib so happily shaped that when it ' comes to be cut the disproportion will ' be even j»reator. It ia at present 970 ' carats, and experts declare that it will cut to ' a brilliant of 500— with a bit over, which ' will make a separate small brilliant of 15 to ' 20 carats. Now the biggest cut diamond hitherto discovered only weighs about 200 ' carats, and that is a yellow one. The biggest | white diamond after the " Excelsior " (wkioh ' is itself of finest " blue " white water), is the ] " Imperial," cut to 180 oarate. So that the latest find is betwnen two and three times as big as anything whioh oan bo compared with it. Die following table shows the comparative sizes at a, glance, before and alter cutting : — . Name of Diamond. Carats, uncut. Carats, out. Excelsior 070 _ .. 600 J)d Beers Yellow.. .. 428 .. .. 200 Imperial .. ... 380 .. .. ISO After that— a long way after— oome other champion diamonds of the past, Koh-i-noors, and bo on, that are nothing out of the oommon nowadays since the wonderful African mines have been pouring forth their treasure. The " Exoehuor," then, is on several grounds, the most wonderful diamond the world has ever seen. Bnt— there is a "but" in this case. It has a flaw. Somewhere in the glassy recesses of the rough lamp, when one looks into it/appeara a little blackish spot like a fly — the "fly in the amber" oi tradition. It ia this which makes it possible that the " Excelsior" will have to be cut in two. Should that prove necosßary, the shape and " Bpread" of the stone make it possible that it will provide two of the finest as well as the biggest diamonds in existence. A Judgment of Paris. Figures are all very well; but the really impresaive objeot-lesson is to see the ••Eroelsior " put side by aide with its diminished rival?. This I have been privileged to do. "There," said the genial and oourteoos partnerofthegreatdiamondfinninwhosekeepinj? Ihad tracked the stone, after a quest which "Willie Collins might have described, " there yon see side by side the three biggest diamonds which have yet oome above ground —down in the depths there aiestiU bigger ones, no doubt, which mankind may or may not ever see. This is the big yellow Be. Beers — and here you see the size of the white ■ Imperial,' the one which was disputed over by Mr Isaacs and his Nizam. 1.200,000 was given for it. Look how the ' Exoelsior ' dwarfs them both." At this moment Mr Miohaelis waa called in tothe nextroomby theimpetutoussummonsof the telephone. I was left weighing the rival beauties in my hand, watching the light dance in them, and wondering lazily whioh I would most like to possess. . . . Whioh should it be? . . . The smallest of the throe would satisfy my modest requirements, I dcoided. . . I have few expensive tastes. . . . This great big Baitcellar would bq a white elephant L 200,000 is quite enough. — And the romantic associations of the smaller with Marion Crawford's Mr Isaacs — yes, it should be the "Imperial." .... A pretty stone, but rather dull, surely? 41 1 was juat thinking of walking off with this stone," eaid I, holding it up as Mi Hichaelis came in again. " But it struck me — I hope you won't be offended with me — that really a pieqe of glass of the same size and shai;e would not look mnoh differently." . ',' It iSa piece of plass ! " was the disconcerting reply. " That's only a model, to ahowyou tho Bize. The stone is not ours. The "other two are the originals, but that one is only a copy." ',' Indeed ! "What an unfortunate selection I should have made — aud how sold I should have been when I got home and waited for you. to advertise and offer fabulonß re« wards !" The Diieaji op the Dustoxd Grotto. The " Excelsior" is associated frith a Dream, a. Myßtory, and a Romance. 1. The Dream is the name I give to Mr MichaeliB 1 theory about the origin of the diamond. He has a fancy, to which its ap. pearucce gives color, though I know not What geology 'might say in the matter, that hia groat lump of diamond is only a fragment of a mass much greater. " Yon know the spikey formation of the ordinary mountain crystal," he explained. " Weil, doesn't this look just like the tip of such a spike,' broken off? Hade in the deepest depths of the earth, where the pressure was far greater in the diamond- making period, and where diamonds are no doubt as common as dirt, and broken off and thrown up within our roach by some later convulsion — later, but Btill bf course thousands and thousands of years ago. What a dream ! what an Arabian Nights' vision this suggests to the imaginative mmd — a great Cave somewhere in the middle of the earth, with stalactites of diamond drooping from its roof, with a perfect Staff* and lotrn of diamond recessing its walls, and in the middle of the crystal floor a great iceberg of diamond with Hb topmost pinnacle wanting, and all the Earth spirita searching eternally for the missing piece, whidi is simply the "Excelsior" diamond, engaged in South Africa to be bought and Bold in London City ! Worth a Quaetku-oi 1 a Million. Thought and sold for how much, by thn way ? What is its prico ? No one oan say. If tho Imperial fetched L 200,000, and this ia nearly thrco times ns big as the Imperial, it ought to fetoh half h million at loast, one lvoulfl think. But tbese are fancy prices, and a market dependent largely on tho whim of Oriontal princes is not to be counted on. Tho "Imperial" was the biggest diamond in ita day, and oven tho "Excelsior" c«n be no more. Probably the owners would not refuse a quarter of a million, oaeh down. Try them. '2. THE EOMAN'CE. It was by a halr'a-breadth chance that the ' "ICxoeleior" came into the hands of its pro- ] sent owners. It is a common thing for the : whole output of a mine to be bought by ' tender in advauoe. About a million starling was recently ventured in this way on tho De ' Beers' outpnt for only a fow months. A syndioate, of whioh Wernher, Beit and Co. . were members, had bought the Ja^ersfontein j output for a term which ended on 30tb June. On that very day, only ten minntes before ! the end of the day's work — in fajfc, as the ' men were pnttinc; away their pioks — a Kaffir ' saw soinethinjr alittorinj? among the " blue ' ground." It was the " Excelsior" diamond, ' Ten minutes later, and it would have gone ' over into the torm contracted fer by another ' firm. ? 3. THK MYSTEKY I is this : How on eartn that Kaffir managed , to hido tho immense stone, as ho promptly t did, and smuggle it through tho searahing ] room into the compound, where he " declared it tothe compound ovorseor. Swallow a stone the size of a salt-cellar he nould not. And yet how otherwise? Goodness knows. But the fact remains that tho Kafir first revealed hia flnd within tho compound t walls. That Kafir was soon off homo, . the proud possessor of a LoO tip, iv j. gun and a pony. But how did ho do it ? The full mystery will porbaps hardly appear ;, to the unversed reador till he is informed or v reminded of the conditions under which the diamond industry is carried on.