Cullinan - From Rough to Polished Diamond

The Cullinan rough cleaved into 2 pieces

The Cullinan rough cleaved into 4 pieces







The Cullinan rough cleaved into the 9 largest pieces

Here is the excerpt from the Royal Asscher website http://www.asscher.nl/:

1907

The Cullinan diamond is discovered. At 3,106 carats it is a legendary find which achieves instant notoriety across the globe. The diamond is presented to Great Britain's King Edward VII, and he invites the Asscher brothers to London to discuss cleaving the diamond. It is decided that Joseph Asscher will cut the Cullinan into three parts, necessary because of the inclusions within the rough diamond.

1908

On a cold February day a noteable audience gathers to watch Joseph Asscher cleave the natural wonder. He needs to hit the Cullinan in exactly the right place... He strikes the diamond , but the blade breaks, not the stone. He dismisses all present and remarks that the largest diamond ever found seems to require significantly larger tools!

The following week, armed with new tools Joseph Asscher resumes his work, allowing nobody but the notary public in the room. Although later, urban legend recounts that Joseph Asscher faints after striking the diamond with a tremendous blow, in truth he remains entirely focused, demonstrating unprecedented expert force as he hits the Cullinan in exactly the right place, the stone, the stone is cleft according to his original calculations. He pauses, crouches to examine his work, then rushes into the next room and lets out a relieved cheer; the champagne corks pop. Later, the Cullinan diamonds are polished, ready to take pride of place in Great Britain's Crown Jewels.

The two largest pieces cut, The Greater and Lesser Star of Africa, were kept by King Edward VII and the rest was left with the Asscher Company as payment for cutting the diamond. Later, the Asscher Company sold the larger pieces to the Transvaal Government who in turn gave them to Queen Mary (the daughter-in-law of King Edward) as a sign of their devotion to the British Crown. She had the diamonds set in her own pieces of jewellery and bequeathed the 7 remaining original Cullinan diamonds to Queen Elizabeth II in 1953.

These are the final polished diamonds as originally cut by Joseph Asscher in 1907.

Photos courtesy of The Royal Collection website www.royalcollection.org.uk/eGallery/searchResults.asp?searchText=Cullinan

Cullinan VI and VII

The Cullinan VI diamond is marquise cut and weighs 11.5 carats. King Edward VII had given to his queen consort, HM Queen Alexandra, who had it set into her Regal Circlet in 1908.

Currently, it is set into a brooch and suspends from another diamond cut from the Cullinan rough, Cullinan VIII.

This diamond is often confused with Cullinan VII as they are both marquise cut. The difference between the two stones is that Cullinan VI is a longer, more pointed style of marquise cut, and the Cullinan VII is slightly smaller and more rounded marquise cut.

This photo shows the difference in shape and size from the Cullinan VI and VII respectively.

The Cullinan VII weighs 8.8 carats and was placed in a necklace along with cabochon emeralds and presented to HM Queen Mary by the Maharanee of Patiala on behalf of the ladies of India to mark the first visit to India by a British Queen-Empress. Queen Mary had the necklace altered to match her Delhi Durbar Parure. Both the emerald and diamond drops are detachable.

Famous Gem Stones

The greatest diamond find of the 20th century had to be the Cullinan diamond.

It was discovered at the Premier Mine in Transvaal, South Africa on January 25, 1905 by the surface manager, 'Daddy' Wells. This find was happenstance as he saw a glint in the yellow ground of the side wall of the mine and went to remove it with his pen knife.

The rough diamond weighed 3,106 carats and measured approximately 4" long and 3" high with a total weight of just over 1.33 lbs.

The Cullinan diamond was named after Sir Thomas Cullinan, who was the chairman of the mining company. He had sent the diamond to Johannesburg with the rest of the week's production, and it remained on the London market for nearly 2 years because nobody wanted to buy it.

The Transvaal government bought the rough diamond at the suggestion of General Louis Botha, the Prime Minister, and presented it to King Edward VII on his 66th birthday on November 9, 1907.

The King decided to entrust the diamond cutting to Joseph Asscher and Company of Amsterdam, who had previously cut the Excelsior. Joseph transported the diamond rough in his pocket over the English Channel on a steamboat, while the reporters were being told that the diamond was being sent via post.

The division of the Cullinan stone yielded 9 major stones and 96 small brilliant stones yielding 1,063 carats - recovering 34.25% of the original weight.

Asscher retained the numbered stones III - V and VII to XI along with the 96 smaller diamonds as a fee for cutting and polishing the Cullinan. All of these diamonds were purchased by the South African government and given to Queen Mary in 1910.