The largest rough diamond ever found is the Cullinan, discovered in South Africa in 1905 .
The Cullinan rough diamond and its 9 subdivisions. (Image: Wikipedia).
The Cullinan is a giant diamond weighing 3,106 carats and measuring 10.1 x 6.35 x 5.9 cm. That’s the equivalent of 621g, about the size of a basketball or 7,692 bees, according to IFL Science .
On January 25, 1905, Frederick Wells, manager of the Premier mine in Pretoria, South Africa, saw a flash of light from something in the upper wall when he was 5.5 meters below the ground. Wells obtained the diamond and gave it to Sir Thomas Cullinan, the owner of the mine, on the afternoon of the same day. However, no one would buy the diamond named after Cullinan until 1907. Finally, the Transvaal provincial government bought the gem as a birthday present for King Edward VII of England. Worried that it might be stolen en route from Africa to London, King Edward arranged a fake diamond on the steamer surrounded by detectives to distract it, and Cullinan was sent to England in a steamer. simple box.
Since the Cullinan was too large to hold in its original shape, King Edward entrusted the cutting of the diamond to Joseph Asscher, head of the Asscher Diamond Company in Amsterdam. Asscher, who cut the Excelsior, the 971-carat diamond held the previous record. He studied the gem for six months before cutting it. On the first attempt, the steel blade broke while the diamond remained intact. In the second attempt, it took the experts four days to make a 1.3-centimeter-deep incision, allowing them to split the gem into two halves with a single tap. Asscher then fainted from exhaustion and anxiety. Over the next eight months, the three worked 14 hours a day to complete the division of the diamond. Finally, the Cullinan was cut into 9 large stones , numbered I-IX, and nearly 100 smaller stones, worth millions of dollars.
The largest of them is Cullinan I aka the Star of Africa , weighing 530.2 carats (106 g), equivalent to 32 tea bags. All nine large stones are owned by the British royal family, most of which are used to decorate the crown and many other jewelry such as necklaces.
The second largest diamond after the Cullinan, the Excelsior , was discovered by miners at the Jagersfontein mine in South Africa in 1893. The Jagersfontein mine is home to two of the 10 largest diamonds in the world. The other is called Jubilee, weighs 245.55 carats.