The largest diamond in the world appears in a rough way.
Every year, Queen Elizabeth II wears a crown and dresses up for the opening ceremony of the British Parliament. In front of this crown with the most gorgeous and historic treasure in the world is the famous diamond Cullinan 2.
The more famous Cullinan 1 is embedded in the British scepter and stored in the Treasure Hall of the Tower of London with other crown jewels. Every year, countless tourists enter the Tower of London to see the giant diamonds in the world. These two diamonds are from1Cullinan diamond discovered in June, 905. This giant diamond once caused a sensation in the world, and its origin in Primia mining area is also famous in the world.
Discover "Cullinan"
Before the discovery of diamonds in Brazil in 1725, India was the only diamond producing area in the world, and this situation did not change until the second half of 19 century. With the gradual depletion of diamond resources in India, African mining took its place, thus opening the most attractive period in diamond history. 1902 In May, the British Empire, which was in full swing at that time, won the Boer War in South Africa. That year, Thomas, a construction contractor from Johannesburg, England? Cullinan, together with prospector percival? Tracy bought a kimberlite cone mine in Transvaal, South Africa for 52,000. Subsequently, they established Primia Drilling Company. Primia mine later became the most famous diamond mining area in the world, because it produced several valuable diamonds, including the diamond "Cullinan".
Cullinan's discovery was very accidental. 1905 65438+1On the evening of October 25th, the miners who were mining told Mr. Welsh, the ground manager, that there was a shiny thing on the wall of the open pit. Wales slipped into a 30-foot-deep pit and saw this amazing crystal, which was too big to cover his palm. He dug around the gem with a knife. The gem was finally dug up. It turned out to be a huge diamond. Incredibly, it weighs 3 106 carat (1 carat 0.2 gram). It is as big as an adult man's fist, pure and transparent, with a light blue tone, and it is the highest grade diamond.
Mr. Wales gave it to the manager of the mine, Cullinan, hence the name "Cullinan". It seems that Mr. Welsh's choice is undoubtedly correct, because owning such priceless gems is a very dangerous thing, which can easily attract thieves and even lead to death. I don't know how many such bloodshed happened before.
As the discoverer of rare treasures, Wales won a prize of $6,543,800+after handing in diamonds, which was extremely impressive at that time and was also the compensation he deserved.
When the Cullinan diamond was discovered, King Edward VII of England had just approved the South African government to formulate its own constitution. According to the then governor of transvaal province government and later the first federal prime minister of South Africa, Luis? Under the instruction of General Botha, the government bought the original stone at a price of 6.5438+500,000 pounds, and prepared to pay tribute to the royal family as a gift on Edward VII's 66th birthday, as a token of gratitude.
Transport "Cullinan"
When the Cullinan diamond was given to the new owner, its relaxed and romantic journey continued, which was more interesting than its discovery. Since the news spread that a big diamond was found in South Africa, the whole world has been sensational. As soon as the news spread that the diamond was going to London, I don't know how many pirates were going to the Atlantic Ocean to intercept it. After considering all the possibilities of diamonds being stolen, the transvaal province government has taken a series of meticulous security measures to protect this box which seems to contain giant diamonds and was shipped to London. These are all tricks. While heavily guarding and escorting diamonds on a large scale, the king of England quietly sent people from South Africa to ship Cullinan to Britain as ordinary goods. At that time, the insured price of the package was only 5 pounds! This move really worked. When the package containing Cullinan arrived at the British Palace from South Africa, the pirates woke up like a dream.
In London, the comedy continues. After many consultations, King Edward appointed Astor Brothers, a well-known diamond dealer in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, to cut the diamond, and the processing cost was 80,000 pounds. When transporting diamonds from London to Amsterdam, we used the trick of sneaking into the warehouse again. Accompanied by the band, the Royal Navy transported an empty box across the North Sea. Even the captain himself didn't know that the well-protected box on his ship was empty. Meanwhile, Abraham? Esther went home with this Cullinan diamond!
Cut off "Cullinan"
Abraham's brother Joseph undertook the task of cutting diamonds. Dividing a diamond is obviously risky, because a tiny mistake may break the whole diamond into countless small pieces. Afraid of destroying this giant diamond, Joseph spent several weeks studying Cullinan, made a glass model according to its size and shape, and designed a set of tools. He first tested the glass model with these tools, and the model was indeed split.
On February 1908, 10, Joseph and his assistant came to a special studio, clamped Cullinan in a big pliers, and then put a special steel wedge in a pre-ground groove on it. Joseph hit the steel wedge with a heavy stick, and with a bang, Cullinan did not move, but the steel wedge broke. Joseph's face was dripping with cold sweat, and he put a second steel wedge in an atmosphere as tense as an explosion. Hit hard again, this time, "Cullinan" cracked completely as planned. Unfortunately, because of great psychological pressure, Joseph fell to the ground, unconscious. Later, he rested in the hospital for a long time before he recovered.
After Cullinan split, three skilled craftsmen worked 14 hours a day and pondered for eight months. A * * * is ground into nine big diamonds and 96 small diamonds, and all the nine big diamonds are owned by the British royal family. The total weight of this 105 diamond is 1063.65 carats, of which Cullinan 1, also known as the "Star of Africa", enjoys the reputation of "the best in the century" and weighs 530.2 carats. This "Cullinan 1" diamond with 74 refracting surfaces is still the largest cut diamond in the world. In order to show its power, the British royal family inlaid this giant diamond on the scepter made in 166 1 year, which symbolizes the power of the British king. Cullinan II, weighing 365,438+07.4 carats, is embedded in the crown of the royal empire. Cullinan No.3 and No.4 weigh 94.4 carats and 63.6 carats respectively, and are embedded in the crown of Queen Mary.