Size Still Matters
July 02, 20
There can't be many world records that stand unchallenged for over a century.
In the world of sports and indeed in every other human endeavor, there is always the opportunity and desire to improve.
But things are different in the natural world. Mount Everest isn't about to overtaken as the highest mountain, the Dead Sea remains a pretty safe bet as the lowest point on earth, and the Pacific will carry on being the largest ocean for a very long time.
All of which makes it even more remarkable that for the last 115 years the iconic Cullinan Diamond has remained by far the largest rough stone ever mined.
Aside from the coronavirus blip, more carats are being unearthed now than at any time in history. We have the infrastructure, the expertise, the technology and the demand to dig deeper, to dig wider and to dig in places that have never been dug before. We'll soon be pulling 200 million carats a year out of the ground.
Since diamond prospecting became a mechanized venture in the 1880s we have extracted a lot of diamonds across the globe.
And still nothing has even come close to the 3,106.75-carat monster discovered on 25 January 1905, an era when the fledgling diamond industry was still in diapers.
Frederick Wells was working 18ft below ground at the Premier Mine in Pretoria, South Africa, when he spotted a glint in his flashlight that turned out to be the Cullinan Diamond.
The Premier Mine was renamed the Cullinan Mine, was recently sold by De Beers to Petra Diamonds and now faces an uncertain future as the company battles mounting debts and puts itself up for sale. Thus the renewed interest in the mine and its world-famous stone.
The story of the Cullinan Diamond has been told many times. The quick version of the Cullinan Diamond story is that the mine owner, a no-doubt ecstatic Sir Thomas Cullinan, sold it to the Transvaal provincial government, which presented it to Britain's King Edward VII as a birthday gift - and a very generous one given that it's been valued at $400m in today's money.
The legendary Amsterdam cutter Joseph Asscher divided the stone - after six months of nervous deliberation - into two primary polished diamonds, which form part of the British Crown Jewels, and over 100 smaller ones.
His brother Abraham brought the Cullinan Diamond back from London in his coat pocket, so legend has it, as the Royal Navy carried a decoy across the North Sea with much fanfare.
The 530.2-carat Cullinan I, also known as the Great Star of Africa, now sits at the top of Queen Elizabeth II's sceptre and the 317.4-carat Cullinan II, or the Second Star of Africa, is set in the front of her Imperial State Crown.
Fast forward to 2020 and there's been only one stone that comes even close in the size stakes - and that's a discovery from last April.
The Sewelo diamond, found at Lucara's Karowe mine, in Botswana, weighed in at a hefty 1,758 carats.
It was bought by the luxury goods empire Louis Vuitton for an undisclosed sum in a purchase that "took a little bit of guts", according to CEO Michael Burke.
And so I seek an answer. How is that human beings peaked so early in the quest to unearth our planet's greatest treasures?
Logic (flawed logic, maybe) would suggest that with every billion tons of earth we sift, our chances of finding a new record-breaker increase. Yet history says otherwise.
Have a fabulous weekend.