THE CULLINAN DIAMOND,

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 401, 9 January 1909, Page 10

THE CULLINAN DIAMOND,

ITS HISTORY. Tho Cullina/i dinmond was found in the mines of tho Premier (Transvaal) Diamondmining Company on January 26, 1905. On the evening of that day (says "The Times") an overseer named F. Wells was going his rounds, when ho noticed something glistening in. the half light, and on scooping out the object with his pocket-knife from the earth in which it was partially buried he recognised it to be a huge diamond, which was named, tho "Cullinan," after tho then chairman of tho Premier Company. When placed \n the scales it proved to be far and away the largest known.. Whereas the largest atone previously discovered, the Excelsior, from the Jagersfontein mine, weighed in the rough state only. 971 carats, the weight of the Cullman was 3025J English carats, or over ljlb. avoirdupois. Its length was about '4jin„ its height 2iin., and its breadth 2Jin., its girth being 83in.j 9Jin., and lljin., according to the position in which the measure- , monta were made; and the remarkable flatness of one of-its faces suggested that it was" only ' a portion of a still larger stone; the' remainder of . which may still be concealed m, the earth or may long ago, have exploded; into, smaller fragments.' The diamond-was subsequently Becured by the Transvaal Government and: presented to : the King. _ Tho next step was to arrange for the cutting; and polishing of the stone, and it was decided to entrust the task to'the well-known firm of Messrs, Joseph Asscher and Co., of Amsterdam : and Pans," who •" ■ also polished MlO-Excelsior;.. Messrs. M.,: J. Levey and Nopnevfs,: .the noted experts in preoious stones, acted as inspectors of the cutting. Th© - was handed over, to Messrs; Asscher, at the Colonial Ofßce on Thursday, January 23 last, and 'was imuiediately. conveyed to Amsterdam, The first operation undertaken on the stone was to divide it into two pieces. For some time before its arrival in Amsterdam the experts, of'the firm and the inspectors had been considering how this .could he. done-to the best advantage, so as to avoid the flaws which existed in it and obtain the largest brilliants possible, and after it had come into their hands they continued their studies nearly a fortnight ' avore before a decision was reached; For dividing diamonds two processes are available—sawing -and splitting. In the for- 1 , men which, is the more modern, and was introduced- only , about ten years ago, -use is made. 1 ofrao thrive disc of 1 steel phosphor cop-• per, s °me, aooo;times' r a ; ; ;. ffimite,' f whicli slowly "cuts* through the diamond in' any. desired-direction, ; lii the latter a steel knife is employed' to part , tho stone along its; natural cleavage planesj and it is only those planes, which are four ih number, Jie parallel to the of the octahedron, v ls vG» orm the diamond/ that the division can be. effected. v ' . : In the process of splitting a preliminary groove or incision has to be cut In the surface of the stone to receive the knife, and 0 groove be made accurately in one 0 rII? c ! ea ™g Q planes, else the attempt at splitting will be unsuccessful, and may cause serious damage to the stone. 'In the process of forming it; the diamond, mounted by means of cement'in a sort of oup at the end of a lignum .vitae stick, is supported by the left hand over a special box or "bak" (which for the Cullinan was four times the.usual size, and was provided with movable sides), .V' 1 ?! 1 . the , right hand the incision- is mado.! : by;.'the r aid: sharpredged diamond embedded in. cement at the-end of a smaller.-, stick. The making of the' groovo is at best a laborious process but it, was'especially.so m the case of the Cullman; because it had to. ba made /something like a quarter of - an meh deep, or . about.- three ftimes deeper than 1 usual.' The ..work was': be-' g ?V^£l br S ary and on::the afternoon; or the 10th the. actual, splitting was performed by Mr. JosephAsschbiy who is recognised as .the/most; skilful splitter in- the Asscher firm. The diamondwwa s again held in, .cement, at the,,.end : of, a - strong - wooden stiok,-.- which' was .. fixed vertically, : and the operator held tiift--'knife—2. -wedge-shaped piece ;of steel i .;'t6ilet';combi in its general groove with.;his. 1 fa'v»Sight be grasped a thammerjKCohs'iStin|'rol',U short, hcavy'steel roil,,' knife broke,' and' the ;diamoild '.remaiiied : uiiafreoted ,—it •'mttst.:bo-r'mHs^/;'tMt' : .itte ; .'.blow- employed ,is no' 'gentle. tap,?Mt ;: is ; delivered with all the foroei.a,strong ,man.can put.'forth— but at;the second, rto.'theielief.of, all;,-pre6erit, it .was. successfully severed .into two parts, woighing, respectively• 1977'i 1 . csirats and 1040J oaratd;- with a ;few.carats" as splinters. The : cleaving of any large, and';valuable diamond must -be. an anxioiis matter,'because there iis always a chance that, itt-spit^'of-everypre-caution that skill and experience can suggest, the split does not .follow the desired-direc-tion, but is diverted .along some flaw, with the that the; stone flies; .into ,a;.numbor of pieces. ; 'ahd -much of/its value is ; destroyed j b\it in" the; case; of- the; Cullinanthe'i anxiety was accentuated because of the. .unprecedented size of the mass that was being- dealt with, and tho fact that it belonged ,to His. Majesty the King of England. ; . A few days; later, on "February 14, the taskof dividing the larger of the two pieces' was taken-in hand.'; This operation was , even more anxious/than , the . former. The shape of the stone: at "the'point where this'split had to bo mado was such that, had an attempt been made to carry it out in'the ordirnary/way,; the, fingers, of .the, operator's left hand, ' which;he':,held the. knife in position, would have been liable to bo hit by the hammer, and the nervousness induced by thi.B' possibility,,; might have' b'eeri sufficient to spoil , tho'-blow, with the probable result of damaging the stone: If was, therefore, deoided,-.,after, much; consultation,.;;;and.': with the approval all ; the oxperts concerned, to mak6;, ati. innqyation. in iho . accustomed methods; fo : idiamoncl-splitting, .to ■ femM.knife with ; two .which'was held in the groove,'' iibt byr.^wo:;,as-sißtant-s. .Results -completely;,justified"the experiment—for experiment it was); though one which,- in the opinion of those - best qualified to judge, ;could not, be and , all . the subsequeiit. splittings; required for the stone 1 Were-performed with the samo two-handled knife, which,-.euriouEiy enough, broke as the last of them was completed; For the -grinding and polishing of all the stones a-/special room was constructed on; the. third floor of the factory,- in a position where it could be overlooked from the win" doW9 of the private office of the heads of the firm.' Here all the subsequent' operations were carried out, down to the time when the brilliants were finished. ...Owing,to the, size of the stones, special appliances also were, taken to guard them from accidental damage, the. floor of the room, for''instance, being thickly carpeted with felt to diminish tho risk, of . being chipped should they be dropped.'- - .-• •' : In spite of the number and delicacy of the operations .which the Cullinan diamond ..bad to undergo before It was, transformed into the gorgeous brilliants which will be handed to the.King shortly, the whole work has been accomplished in the record time •of nine months. . .

; The following _ is a_ complete list of the stones, with their weights : —• 1. A : pendeloque or drop brilljant, weighing 510J Carats. The extreme dimensions of this stone are 2.822 in. long and 1.791 m. broad.- i • 2. A square brilliant, weighing 309 3-16 carats, 1.771 in, long by 1.594 in. broad. 3. A poncleloque,_ weighing 92 . 4. A' square brilliant, weighing 62 carats. 6. A heart-shaped brilliant, weighing 18| carats. ;. 6. A marquise brilliant, weighing 11} oarats. ~ - - . ■ ■' ■ ' 7. A' marquise brilliant, weighing 8. 9-16 carats. . . ... . 8. A square brilliant, weighing 6 5-8 carats. 9. A;pendalope brilliant, weighing 4 9-32 carats. . • .. . 10. Ninety-six brilliants,. weighing 7 :3-8 carats. • 11. A quantity of unpolished "ends", weighing 9 carats. The first and second of these stones are by far the largest in existence. Even the second is milch bigger than the largest previously .known brilliant, viz., the Jubilee, weighing 239 carats, which is the property of Messrs. Wernher, Beit, and Co., and some ' members of the diamond syndicate; while beside either of them so famous a jewel as the Koh-i-noor sinks into comparative insignificance, since its weight, 100 1-18 carats, ia

littlo more than one-third of that of tho smaller or one-fifth of that of tho larger. Moreover, the stones are not more distinguished for their sizo than for their quality. All of them, from tho.biggest to the smallest, are absolutely without flaw, and aro of tho finest extra blue-white colour, existing. As regards the two largest, an innovation was mado in tho mariner of tho cutting. Normally a brilliant has 58 and this number, after repeated trials with others, has been found bii the wholo to be the' best hi ordinary cases. In view, however, of the immense; size of the two largest Cullinan" brilliants, it was determined to increase ' the number, and to give tho first 74 facets and the second 66. This decision has been abundantly vindicated by results, for the stones exhibit the most marvellous brilliancy that diamonds can show—a fact all tho more remarkable' and satisfactory, because very largo brilliants, aro apt to be somowhat dull and deficient in fire. :