I was born in April, which means diamonds are my birthstone. Lucky me? Oh, there is that old saying, “Diamonds are a girl’s best friend.” Well, not all girls. I think diamonds are beautiful, and they are certainly quite valuable, but they’re certainly not my best friend. Unfortunately, it is disappointing that something so magnificent could have so many negative aspects associated with it.
Probably the biggest downfall are Conflict Diamonds. They are also known as Blood Diamonds. The reason is because these are diamonds mined in war zones and sold to finance armed conflict against governments. The trade in conflict diamonds has fueled civil wars in countries like Sierra Leone, Angola, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Also, the mining of diamonds is difficult, and it has been associated with many human rights violations. These include forced labor, child labor, and unsafe working conditions.
These things are getting slightly better, I’ve read. There is something called the “Kimberley Process,” which is an international certification scheme established to prevent “conflict diamonds” or “blood diamonds” from entering the mainstream diamond market. And other measures too.
But diamonds are here to stay. A team of researchers used seismic technology (the same kind used to measure earthquakes) to estimate that a quadrillion tons of diamonds lie deep below the Earth’s surface.
And right now, worldwide reserves of diamonds are estimated at 1.3 billion carats. Russia has the largest diamond reserves in the world, estimated at some 600 million carats. And we all know that those diamonds come to us in all shapes and sizes.
Which made me wonder about the biggest one ever.
Well, according to the History Channel, on January 25, 1905, during a routine inspection of the Premier Mine in Pretoria, South Africa, the largest diamond was discovered by a mine worker. That baby was a 3,106-carat diamond.
The story of it is interesting. A mine superintendent named Frederick Wells was 18 feet below the Earth’s surface when he spotted a flash of sparly-ness embedded in the wall just above him. He called his boss, a guy named Sir Thomas Cullinan, who owned the mine.
Cullinan was no dummy. They mined that thing, and then Cullinan sold the diamond to the Transvaal provincial government. And they, in turn, presented the stone to Britain’s King Edward VII as a birthday gift.
Well. The dudes were worried that the diamond might be stolen in transit from Africa to London, so Edward arranged to send a phony diamond aboard a steamer ship loaded with detectives. The old fake-out, it seems. And while the decoy slowly made its way from Africa on the ship, the Cullinan Diamond was sent to England in a plain old box.
Edward entrusted the cutting of the Cullinan to Joseph Asscher, head of the Asscher Diamond Company of Amsterdam. This Asscher guy studied the stone for six months before attempting the cut. On his first attempt, the steel blade broke, and the diamond didn’t budge. On the second attempt, the diamond shattered exactly as planned. And then, our man, Asscher, fainted from nervous exhaustion.
The Cullinan was later cut into nine large stones and about 100 smaller ones. The largest stone is called the “Star of Africa I,” or “Cullinan I,” and at 530 carats, it is the largest-cut fine-quality colorless diamond in the world.
The second largest stone, the “Star of Africa II” or “Cullinan II,” is 317 carats. Both of these stones, as well as the “Cullinan III,” are on display in the Tower of London with Britain’s other crown jewels.
Diamondy.
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“Diamonds are nothing more than chunks of coal that stuck to their jobs.” – Malcolm Forbes
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“The most precious gift we can offer anyone is our attention.” – Thich Nhat Hanh
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“There are moments when we feel the most precious thing in the world is a moment. At other times, we may believe the most precious thing is eternity.” – Richelle E. Goodrich
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Diamonds. The good, the bad, and the huge.
