Diamonds and Wealth

Waipa Post, Volume 47, Issue 3386, 28 October 1933, Page 10

Diamonds and Wealth

BIG TREASURES AND THEIR STORIES.

A TALE OF HUMAN ENDEAVOUR AND TRAGEDY.

THE DEPRESSION AND ITS CONSEQUENCES

It was reported recently that a prospector on the upper waters of the Saobento River, in Minas Geraes, one of the chief States of Brazil, had found a diamond of over 2000 carats, which is believed to be the second largest diamond ever found in any part of the world. Its value is said to be £160,000. Six other comparatively large stones, including one of 400 carats, were also found, bringing the value of the discovery to a total of something like £200,000.

A carat is 3.2 grains, Troy; and 2100 carats-are equal to 1 lb avoirdupois. Therefore the largest diamond in the new find weighs more than 13 ounces. It is eight times the weight of the largest diamond previously found in Brazil, which was given the name of the Star of the South. This was found in 1853 by a negro slave near the River Bagagem, in Mpnas Geraes. It weighed 255 carats, and when cut it was reduced to 125 carats. All big diamonds lose heavily in weight when cut, as the object of cutting them, is to get rid of flaws, as well as to bring the stone to a shape which will best display its brilliance. Sometimes a big diamond, which contains several flaws, can be cut in such a way as to make several flawless stones. The Star of the South was sold for the comparatively small sum of £15;000 by the master of the slave who found it. The cut stone is new in the possession of an Indian prince, the Gaekwar of Baroda, who paid £BO,OOO for it. Diamonds were first found in Brazil about 1721, and although the output has never been large comlpared with the output of the diamond fields in South Africa, diamond mining is an important industry in Brazil.

sold to a sea captain for £2OOO, and eventually it passed into the possession of the Empress Catherine 11. of Russia, who paid £90,000 for it. Another famous diamond which also came from India is the Regent or Pitt diamond. In its uncut state it weighed 410 carats, and was bought by Mr Pitt, the Governor of Madras. It was eventually bought by the Duke of Orleans, Regent of France, who gave £BO,OOO for it. It was reduced by cutting to 136 carats. It remained among the French crown jewels until the deposition of Louis XVI. in 1793, and the establishment of the first republic. It was sold to a Berlin merchant named Treskon, but Napoleon 1. bought it, and had it set in the hilt of his sword. Subsequently it went back to Germany, and was bought by the King of Prussia. Diamonds, vary a great deal in colour, the rarest colours in order of raiit|y being ruby red, rose pink, blue, emerald green, and bottle green. Brown in the delicate coffee-tinted diamonds found in Brazil is prized as a colour, but deeper shades of brown lessen the value of the stones. A pale citron colour is also prized, but other shades of yellow, which merge into the ochres, are not. Many diamonds are opaque and cloudy, owing to minute fissures or air bubbles, which lessen their lustre.

for having kept it. But he was in desperate straits, and in order to get funds he induced a diamond cutter to cut off a small part of it, on the understanding that the cutter would receive a substantial share of the proceeds of the sale of the small piece. Beaulieu wade his way to London, in the hope of being able to dispose of the main part of the stone there. It had originally weighed 67 1-8 carats, and had been reduced by cutting to 445. In order to secrete the diamond Beaulieu hid it in a hollow in the heel of his boot. He was afraid to offer it for sale to reputable dealers in London, and he was reduced almost to starvation. It is said that while carrying the precious diamond in the heel of his boot he did all sorts of menial jobs for a living. Eventually he negotiated with a gem dealer named Daniel Eliason, in Hattin Garden (the centre of the* gem trade in London) for the sale of the diamond for the modest sum of £SOOO. Eliason insisted on having the stone in his possession, so that he might examine it carefully before handing over the money. When he went to Beaulieu's lodgings to pay the £SOOO he found the unhappy Frenchman had died in the night owing to weakness brought about by starvation.

The discovery of diamonds in South Africa dates back to 1867, and in the sixty years that have elapsed about 33 tons of diamonds to the value of over £250,000,000 have been exported. For ,m l any years the value of the South African fields ranged from, 70 to 90 per cent of the world's annual production of diamonds. The first big diamond found in South Africa 1 was the Star of South Africa, which was bought by the Earl of Dudley for £25,000. In its cut state it weighs 46s carats. It is said that this diamond, which was found in 1869, two years after the first discovery of diamonds in the Hopetoun district of Cape Colony, was in the possession of a Hottentot, who wore it as a mascot to ward off diseases and evil influences. Other large diamonds found in South Africa in the early years of the industry are the IStewart diamond, which weighed 288 carats in the rough and 120 carats when cut; the Victoria, a gem of 180 carats, cut from an octahedron weighing 457 1 carats; the Tiffany, a magnificent orange - yellow stone weighing- 125 a carats in the cut state; the Porter Rhodes, a stone of the finest water, weighing 150 carats; and the Jubilee, found at Jagcrsfontein in 1895, which weighed 634 carats in the rough and 239 when cut. Two years earlier a large diamond, weighing 969 u carats, was picked up at Jagersfontein by a native while he was loading a truck. It was eventually cut into ten stories of various sizes, weighing from 68 carats to 13 carats. This was the largest diamond that had ever been found in any country, but it held the record for only twelve years. In 1905 all records were beaten by the discovery of the Cullinan diamond, picked up in the yellow ground of the newly-opened Premier mine in the Transvaal, which was destined to become one of the richest diamond mines in the world. The Cullinan diamond weighed in the rough 32042 carats, which is equal to 21 ounces avoirdupois. The Transvaal Government bought this diamond in 1907, and presented it to King Edward VII. It was 11 inches long, and its circumference ranged from 2 to 9!» inches. It was cut into two large stones, seven small stones, and 96 tiny brilliants. The largest stone weighed 5161 carats, and the second stone ,300 carats. These two stones are the largest diamonds in the world. The larger stone adorns the royal sceptre, and the other has been set in the royal crown. The crown and the sceptre, which form) part of the rdyal regalia, are on public view in the jewel house of the Tower of London. Another big diamond which is included among the British Crown jewels is the Koh-i----noor, which weighs 106 carats, and in its • uncut state weighed 793 carats. After being in the possession of Indian emperors and princes for generations, it came into the possession of the East India Company when the Punjab was conquered in 1850, and the company presented it to Queen Victoria.

In 1830 Eliason sold the Blue diamond for £IB,OOO to Thomas Hope, a wealthy collector, and" the latter 'bequeathed it to his son, Henry Thomas Hope, together with many valuable works of art. The son, who was a banker, added to the collection, and he gave it to his daughter, who married the second son of the sixth Duke of Newcastle, who succeeded to the title in 1928. But in the meantime the Blue diamond had been sold for £120,000 owing to the financial embarrassment of the owner, the future Duke of Newcastle. It had been bequeathed to him on entail, and he had to obtain the permission of the Court of Chancery to sell it. It passed into the possession of the Russian Prince Kanitovski, who gave it to his mistress, Mile. Lorens Laude, a Parisian actress. He became jealous, and shot her on the stage the first night that she wore it. Two days later the Prince was assassinated by two men, who were never brought to justice. Simon Montharides, a Greek jeweller was the next victim of the evil power of the Hope diamond. It is not clear how it came into his possession, but he sold it to the Sultan of Turkey, Abdul Hamid. Montharides took his wife and children to celebrate the conclusion of a profitable deal by means of a sumptuous dinner. On the way home the horses attached to the carriage bolted, and all the occupants were killed. Abdul Hamid placed the Blue diamond with other precious genus under the care of Kulub Bey, the chief of the eunuchs. Tivo months later Kulub Bey was found dead outside the door of the vault which contained the Sultan's treasure. He had been strangled, but his murderers were never discovered. Abdul Hamid kept the Blue diamond until he was deposed in 1909 in the revolution organised by the Young Turks. The Blue diamond passed 'into the possession of a Persian merchant namied Habib, who was drowned shortly after. When last heard of it had gone to America in the "possession of MiMcLean, a millionaire. Even there it brought misfortune to its owner; for his son and heir was killed in an accident.

The only large blue diamond in the world, which is known as the Hope diamond, is associated with a long record of calamity and disaster among the people who have possessed it. On that account it is said to be a very unlucky gem. It was brought to Europe from India in 1688 by a French traveller named Tavernier, who sold it to Louis XIV., the Grande Monarque. The king allowed his mis-; tress, Madame de Montespan, to wear it, and shortly afterwards she was displaced in the affections of the licentious Louis by Madame de Maintenon. It remained among the royal jewels, and was worn by the unfortunate consort of Kouis XVI., Queen Marie Antoinette, who, like her husband, perished on the scaffold during the French Revolution. Tradition asserts that the queen had allowed her beautiful friend Princess de Lamiballe to wear it on one occasion. This princess was murdered by a frenzied mob during the September massacres in Paris in 1792, thirteen months before Marie Antoinette was guillotined. Like hundreds of other aristocrats, she had been thrown into prison, and during the first week in September the mob broke open the prisons, and in four days massacred 1082 of the inmates. The body of the Princess de Lamiballe was cut into fragments by the frenzied murderers, "with indignities and obscene horrors which human nature would fain find incredible," wrote Caiiyle in his "History of the French Revolution." Her severed head was placed on a pike and paraded through the streets and under the windows of the Temple, where the king and queen were prisoners.

(The blue diamond disappeared during the Reign of Terror which ushered in the first French Republic. It was next heard of in the possession of an Amsterdam! gem dealer named Falls, who had been commissioned by an unknown client to cut it. His. son, a dissolute youth, stole it, and the father died of grief and despair. The son, after selling it to a Frenchman named Francois Beaulieu for a fraction of its value, spent the proceeds in debauchery, and committed suicide.

DIAMONDS AND DEPRESSION. The diamond industry has suffered severely from the world-wide depression. At a' time when increased supplies have become available, the demand has fallen away. During the post-war years the United States, which enjoyed unprecedented pros-

A. TRAIL OF TRAGEDY. Francois Beaulieu found that the blue diamond was a white elephant. He could not attempt to dispose of it without the risk of having it taken from him as property that belonged to the State, and forfeiting his life

HISTORIC GEM|S.

There are not many big diamonds in the world. The number of those which exceed 150 carats (about an ounce) in weight, is probably not more than 20. They include in addition to those already mentioned, the Orloff diamond of 198 carats, which up to the time of the deposition of the Czar of Russia in 1917 was among the crown jewels of that country, being set( lin the top of the sceptre. This gem is said to have formed one of the eyes of the idol Sheringham in the temjple of Braham, and to have been stolen by a French soldier. It was

perity up to 1929, took nearly 80 per cent of the world's production of diamonds. But the trade has dwindled to small proportions in consequence of the collapse of the prosperity boom in the United States. In March, 1932, the Premier mine, in the Transvaal, closed down,, throwing 330 whites and 1500 natives out of employment. The Premier, which has been in existence for 30 years, is the largest diamond mine in the world. It ha-s produced more than seven tons of diamonds, including the Cullinan stone, which is the largest diamond ever discovered. The Jagersfontein and Koffyfontein mines in the Orange Free State also closed down in March, 1932, owing to the depression in the industry. During the past few years new diamond fields have been discovered in various parts of South Africa, imich to the eiribavrassmont of the South African Government, as well as to the people interested in the old fields. The richest of these new discoveries is on the coast of Namaqualand, near Alexander Bay. It is said that this field is fabulously rich. Claims were granted to the discoverers, Dr Hans Merensky and Dr :Reuning, and they proved to be so rich that the Government restricted the monthly output from' them so as to prevent a serious fall in the diamond market. Instead of throwing the field open to prospectors, the Government proclaimed it a State diggings, to .be worked for the benefit of the (South African Union. In making this announcement in the South African House of Assembly on Ist March 1928, Mr F. W. Beyers, Minister of Mines, who had visited the field, said: "Sometimes the diamlonds are found a few feet below the surface, sometimes at even less depth. The ground is very soft, and when you start digging you can see the diamonds with the naked qye. No washing machines are needed there. The rich ground is not confined to the claims of the Merensky people. There are diamonds over a large area, and there are a very considerable number of claims over the whole area of Alexander Bay. When I was there I picked up diamonds to the value of £6OO in less than an hour, and I was not very busy doing that. A native scratched the ground, and I simply picked up the stones."