Hi history lovers and welcome or welcome back to the channel, where I bring you new videos
every week on all aspects of the past. Today on History Calling, we’re looking at the
biggest diamond ever found and which produced two of the most famous jewels in the British
crown jewels collection. I’m speaking of course about the famous Cullinan diamond,
mother stone of the Great Star of Africa which is now in the Sovereign’s sceptre and the
Second Star of Africa or Lesser Star of Africa, which now adorns the Imperial State Crown.
You’ll hear the story of how this record breaking diamond was found, how it made its
way into the British royal family and how it made those charged with handling it literally
faint on occasion.
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If you check out the description box below, you’ll also find a link to my Instagram
account, where my username is History Calling and to some other sources about this incredible
stone.
The story behind the discovery of the Cullinan varies a little depending on which sources
you read. The most common account I’ve seen is that on 25 January 1905, Captain Frederick
Wells, surface manager of the Premier diamond mine near Pretoria (which was then in the
British controlled region of Transvaal and is now part of South Africa), was walking
through the mine when he spotted a flash of light bouncing off what would turn out to
be the largest diamond ever discovered by humans. Another version of the story however
says that it was found on 26 January and by an unnamed mine hand who then gave it to Wells
to be taken to his superiors. Whatever the truth of the matter, it was extracted from
a depth of around 18 feet below the surface and proved to be eight sided, blue-white and
weigh a staggering 3,106 metric carats. It measured 10.1 by 6.35 by 5.9 cm, or 4 by 2.5
by 2 inches if you prefer imperial measurements. It dwarfed the other large diamonds in the
world, including the famed Koh-i-Noor and the Hope Diamond, both of which are in this
image. I also have a video on the Hope diamond and its supposed curse, which I’ll leave
linked on screen and below for you. The newly discovered diamond was almost flawless, with
only two spots, one on the surface, the other about 1cm within the stone. A small air pocket
within it produced a rainbow effect known as Newton’s rings and, as large as it was,
it appeared that it had initially been part of an even larger stone which had been broken
up by mother nature at some point in the past. The chairman of the mining company at the
time was named Thomas Cullinan and the diamond was quickly named after him. Wells was given
$10,000 for having (apparently) discovered it.
Initially the diamond was the joint property of the mining company and the Transvaal government,
who had a right to a whopping 60% share in all diamond profits in the country. According
to an article published in the Scientific American in 1908, the uncut stone was valued
at about $1m US. It was quickly put on display in the Standard Bank in Johannesburg where
8-9000 people filed past to see it, then, in April 1905, it was sent to England. The
issue of how to transport such a valuable commodity caused some headaches though, for
fear it would be stolen. A story was therefore put out that it was being conveyed on a steamboat
under heavy guard. This however, was a red herring designed to distract any would-be
thieves and the truth was much more remarkable. [post] The largest diamond ever found was
in fact placed in an unmarked box and sent via registered post.
In this way, it safely arrived in London at the offices of S. Newman and Co. who were
the sales agent for the Premier mining company. Precisely where it was kept over the next
two years again depends on which source you read, but The Times newspaper reported in
1908 that it had been held in a bank vault. The offices of S. Newman and Co. and of the
Premier Mining Company are also possibilities. It was shown to perspective buyers and was
inspected by, among others, King Edward VII. It was so large though that no one knew how
it could possibly be cut and the company found they couldn’t sell it. In 1907 the Transvaal
government decided to buy out the Premier company’s stake in the stone for £150,000
and make a gift of it to King Edward in recognition of their support of British rule in Transvaal
at that time. The diamond was taken under heavy guard to Sandringham House in Norfolk
where it was formally presented to the monarch on his 66th birthday, 9 November 1907. That
same day, the Secretary of State for the Colonies sent a telegram on the King’s behalf to
the Transvaal government which included the lines (as published by The Times two days
later):
His Majesty accepts for himself and his successors the valuable gift of the Cullinan diamond
as being, in the words of your Ministers, ‘a token of the loyalty and attachment of
the people of the Transvaal to his Throne and person’, and he will cause this great
and unique diamond to be kept and preserved among the historic jewels which form the heirlooms
of the Crown.
The diamond would indeed join the crown jewels in the Tower of London, however it had yet
to be cut and polished. The firm chosen to undertake this task was Asscher’s of Amsterdam
and on 23 January 1908 it was handed over to their representatives and taken to the
Netherlands by boat and train, via Calais and Brussels.
The stone was worked on in the room you see here and using these very implements, but
Joseph Asscher didn’t split it right away. Preparations for the cutting had been underway
for months and crystal models had been made of the Cullinan in order to practice cleaving
them apart to try to ascertain what would happen when the real stone was worked on.
Eventually it took 4 days, with the diamond in a specially made clamp, for Asscher to
do what you see here, which was to make an incision of between a half and ¾ of an inch
into it using a diamond saw. Finally, on 10 February it was time to make the split. Asscher
inserted a blade of steel into the newly completed groove and stuck it with a thick steel rod
as you see here. It didn’t work. The diamond was so strong that instead of it breaking,
the steel knife broke instead. Asscher tried again and this time, the stone split in two.
One part was 2029.9 carats; the other was 1068.8. After this second blow, Asscher reportedly
fainted from the stress of the whole operation, however this story has been disputed in the
years since. Either way, his work was far from over. On 14 February he split the larger
of these two pieces into two again making the three pieces in total which you see here.
By the time the cleaving process was done, the original diamond had yielded 9 large stones,
named Cullinan I to I. There were also ninety-six smaller brilliants totalling 7.55 carats and
9.5 carats’ worth of unpolished fragments. On a quick side-note, the Royal Collection
Trust website says there were 97 small brilliants, however all the primary sources I’ve looked
at say 96, so I suspect they have a typo. When the stones weren’t being worked on,
they were held in this safe overnight.
On 2 March Asscher’s team began the job of polishing the largest section from the
original stone. This was the Cullinan I, or, as it would later become known, the Great
Start of Africa. In view of its size, this 530.2 carat stone has 74 facets (instead of
the 58 usually given to diamonds). It was ready on 12 September. The remaining 8 major
stones were ready by November, but only because a team of three polishers had worked on them
for 14 hours a day since the cleaving, using a cast iron disk onto which the diamonds were
placed and which could revolve 2400 times per minute, though according to The Times,
this was slowed to 2200 revolutions per minute in view of the size of the stones. Cullinan
I and Cullinan II were presented to King Edward here at Windsor Castle on 21 November. In
1910, the larger of the two was placed into the Sovereign’s sceptre, made in 1661 for
Charles II. This is the biggest, colourless cut diamond in the world and the sceptre had
to be adapted and strengthened in order for the stone to fit into it and for it to be
able to bear the Star’s weight. You can see the sceptre here both before and after
the Cullinan I had been added. Cullinan II (also known as the Second or Lesser Star of
Africa) weighs 317.4 carats and was given 66 facets. It was placed into the Imperial
State Crown in 1909, as shown here. Both are on view in the Jewel House in the Tower of
London, where they can be seen today, as long as they aren’t in use by the monarch. Interestingly,
the golden settings they are in within the sceptre and crown allow these two massive
diamonds to be removed and brought together as a single, eye-wateringly expensive brooch.
As payment for his work, Asscher was allowed to keep Cullinans III to IX, but these soon
made their way back into the British royal family. Cullinan VI was bought by King Edward
for his wife, Queen Alexandra and put into a necklace. The other six stones were purchased
in 1910 by the people of South Africa and given to Queen Mary, wife of King George V.
Cullinans III and IV (one a pear and the other a square shaped stone weighing 94.4 and 63.6
carats respectively), were initially placed into Mary’s crown and are affectionally
called ‘Granny’s chips’ within the British royal family. They were soon put together
to form a brooch which is how you will still see them being worn today.] Cullinan V is
18.8 carats and is a heart shaped stone which also became a brooch. Cullinan VII is 8.8
carats and Cullinan VIII is 6.8. They are now worn together as a necklace, though Cullinan
VIII can also be worn as a brooch with Cullinan VI. Cullinan IX, at a mere 4.39 carats, is
the only one of the major stones to be set in a ring. All of them remain in the current
monarch’s private collection. As for the 96 smaller stones, they were sold to private
clients by Asscher.
And that history lovers, is the story of the biggest diamond ever found. If you enjoyed
it please remember to subscribe, give the video a like and let me know in the comments
below what your favourite famous diamond is. For more stories about incredible treasures,
why not check out my videos on the Amber Room, the Darnley or Lennox jewel and the aforementioned
Hope Diamond. Whatever you choose, please enjoy and until next time, keep learning.