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ago. When finished, the largest piece, a drop briolette, was found to
weight 516*/2 karats, and was given 74 facets, too little, some think,
to bring out its full beauty ; the second, a square English cut brilliant,
309 3/16, with 66 facets ;
the third furnishing several gems, varying
all the way from 92 to the most minute. Although the cutting of this
wonder was a good advertisement for the firm, Asscher Brothers are
said to have lost money by it.
The larger jewels were mounted by the court jeweler so they
can be worn either in the crown of the King on state occasions or as a
necklace by the Queen.
Previous to the Cullinan, the largest diamond in the world was
the Excelsior, found June 30, 1893, in the Jagersfontein mine.
Orange River Colony, under the control of the De Beers Company,
by a native, who received $750, a horse, saddle and bridle, equal to a
home and business in Kaffir circles. This weighed 971 karats in the
rough, was the shape of a broken icicle, and of the coveted blue-white.
It was kept for twelve years, with the hope that it would be pur-
The same
chased entire, but no buyer forthcoming was broken up.
cutter,
this.
Henri Koe, and the same firm, Asscher Brothers, managed
At the critical moment the cleaver struck fourteen blows before
the diamond parted. "The owners were anxious as to the outcome,"
says the spectator, "and some of them had drops of perspiration on
their brows as big as peas. The cleaver was as cool as if he were
cutting an apple, knowing that if the crystal parted, it would be only
where he wished."
The Cullinan is evidently, according to the best authorities,
broken off from perhaps a still larger piece, the stone at the breakage
showing evidences of internal strain, but the Excelsior, supposed to
be of the same construction, has been proved to be complete. It is an
interesting question whether the other half of the Cullinan may not
sometime be found. Think of a diamond weighing 7,000 karats !
The famous Braganza of Portugal turning out to be a white
topaz, these two South African stones, are undoubtedly the world's
greatest diamonds but there are a number of ;
others, by no means
small, which have played a part in history, and are talked about to
this day.
Such is the Great Mogul, seen by Tavernier in 1665, who says it
was found near Golconda in the middle of the seventeenth century.
It weighed 7S7 1A karats in the rough.
What became of this is unknown, unless it may be re-incarnated,
as some high authorities believe, in the Orloff and the Kohinoor.
With the authentic testimony of relative weights and dates, this seems
highly probable, if not proved. The upper part of the Great Mogul
is almost precisely like the Orloff in shape, size and weight, while the
Kohinoor as it came to the English might easily have been cut from
the bottom. It was seen by Tavernier after cutting, when he says
it weighed 279 9/16 karats, though late writers have disputed this,
because of the variations at that time between the Oriental and European
measures. Cattelle is strongly of the opinion that the Orloff
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