THE CULLINAN DIAMQND.

Evening Post, Volume LXXV, Issue 32, 7 February 1908, Page 2

THE CULLINAN DIAMQND.

INSURANCE ON ITS JOUBNEY TO HOLLAND. Tho announcement made recently to the offecfc that the 'OuJJinau diamond, which has been presented to the King by his loyal Buojcels in the iTausvaal, was 10 'bo SetlL tO jLlOliailU to. bo out raia. tb,U-Un-ijuitant question of insurance What will it cost to meure such a valu*wo " rt "? 0 -' A representative ot the JLoncioii Inbuno yi-aB abie to got tome expert dpmiona on the subject from one of the members of a weiUknovm fym of underwriter at Lloyds, who devotes sp'ociol attention to diamond insurance. The cost, he said, wouid not be very great if it was ••nly a i question of the journey to Holland. One shilling per cent, ought to cover mat. ; However," ho added, "I see that the "none is to be a.ivay for two'years, and if it had to bo insured not only in transit but for tho whole of that period the pneo would be about 10s per cent. On (he sunToMboa that the Cullinan diamond is worth, aa stated, ba]i a million sterling, thm would work out at £2500 'I am assuming, also, that erery reasonabla requirement of t ho ' insurer* couid be carried out. When we insure diamonds in tiausit we want to know fir&t how they ara to. be forwarded. The usual coureo is to nand them through the post in «, registered packet. Then, if tha insurance- waa to continue during the cutting process-, wo should want to know to whom tho stones wero to bo entrusted, and whether pr.jpor arrar cements ,wero made for thanking looked up every night in a burgiarproof aafe. Further, we should not insure anything at a fancy value— that kto say wo shouid need to bo satisfied that the propei ly was really worth approximately thd sum it. was valued at. As tho diamond is nou one of the Grown jewels theso couons > it may be assumed, would bo ful-t-lled, and therefore tho sum I havo mentioned — £2500— may be taken as represoatitg the risk. That vould insuro it absolutely against every kind of risk, loss, Uipft, etc." A cii.imond merchant said that the Oul"*]L ar diamond, weighing in the uncut state 3025 carats, was far and away the largest in the world, but, questioned as to its value, declared that he could not even ostiniate it. "Of course/ ho said, "I -have seen .statements of various kinds estimating it at anything from £150,000 to £2,000,000. But who knows? Tho price of *n article depends upon ita scarcity on tlio one hand and what some political economists havo called an 'effective demand' on the other. You havo to find your purchaser, and ho must necessarily belong to a very select olasß. Let us *mpj poso that there wero two or throe millionaires like Mr. Carnegio and Mr. Roi.iefeuer eager to possess it — goodness only knows what the price might be run up to. It is quite possible, on tho other haud, that if the diamond were cut up into a dozen marketable stones tho price realised might bo no moro than £100,000 or £150,000? It h estimated that tho cutting will cost between £5000 and £10^000. In its uncut state the precious- masa looks very much like an ordinary niece of vashjnjK Eoda_.