Origin of name
The Star of South Africa was the initial name given to
this diamond, when it was purchased as an 83.5-carat rough diamond, by
Lilienfeld Brothers of Hopetown, from Schalk van Niekerk, in 1868, for
£11,200. Subsequently after Lilienfeld forwarded the diamonds to their
office in England, it was purchased by Louis Hond, a diamond cutter, who
fashioned it into an oval three-sided brilliant. The diamond eventually
became the property of the Earl of Dudley, who purchased it from the Queen's
jewelers Messrs. Hunt & Roskell for £25,000, and presented it to his wife
the Countess of Dudley. The diamond thus became known as the
Dudley Diamond, after it's new owner.
Characteristics of the
diamond
The diamond is a D-color, pear shaped, three-sided
stellar brilliant cut stone, weighing 47.69 carats. The diamond takes pride
of place as one of the most significant and historical diamonds in the
world, not so much for it's size, shape, color, or clarity, but because it
has gone down in history, as the diamond that turned the tides of fortune in
South Africa, setting off a diamond rush that eventually led to the
discovery of the world famous Kimberley mines, and other diamond mines, that
changed the course of history in South Africa forever, and created
unforeseen and enormous economic prospects for the development of the
country.
History of the diamond
The story of the Dudley diamond, is the history of the
beginning of diamond mining in Southern Africa, starting from the region of
the Cape of Good Hope. The discovery of the diamond was purely an accident
and the main characters involved in this drama are the trader and hunter Mr.
John O' Reilly, Mr. Van Niekirk a pioneering colonist of the Griqua
territory, Dr. Atherstone, an authority on gems and minerals, Bishop Ricards, the Roman Catholic Bishop of
Grahamstown , Griqua Witch Doctor Swartbooi (Griqua shepherd boy in another
version).
It was the year 1867, when things were at the very worst
for the settlers and colonists from the west, and they came to regard the
whole of South Africa as God forsaken country. At this time a trader and
hunter by the name of John O'Reilly was living in a place called
Albania, which was part of the province of Griqualand West. The Griquas were
under the Chieftainship of Nicholas Waterboer, who later ceded his territory
to the British, which became a Crown Colony. It was in this territory that
alluvial diamond mines were later discovered. Griqualand West was about 600
miles from each of the sea ports, and could be approached by several land
routes such as the Western Table Bay route, the eastern route from Port
Elizabeth, the East London route, and the Durban or Natal route.
Colonists settled in the Griqua territory of Albania, two
years before the discovery of diamonds. One such pioneering colonist was Mr.
Van Niekirk. One day Mr. John O'Reilly, the trader and hunter , was
returning from the interior to Colesberg, and decided to call on Mr. Van
Niekirk and perhaps lodge with him for the night, before proceeding with his
journey. Later in the evening he casually observed one of Van Niekirk's
children, a little girl , playing on the floor with some pretty pebbles,
collected from the neighborhood. Among the pebbles, was one stone which
attracted John O'Reilly's attention, as it was reflecting the evening rays
of sunlight very strongly. Reilly picked up this stone and after a casual
examination offered to buy it from Van Niekirk, who was puzzled by Reilly's
extraordinary interest on a worthless pebble. The simple minded Boer that
Van Niekirk was, he said that he would take no money for the stone, but if
Reilly was interested he could have it for free.
Mr. John O'Reilly a man of good character and an honest
and sincere trader, told Van Niekirk that he believed the pebble to be a
precious stone of value, and would not take it for nothing. it was finally
agreed that O'Reilly should carry the stone with him, get it identified ,
and it's value ascertained, and after selling it, the money should be
divided equally between them. Mr. O'Reilly took the stone to Colesberg and
showed it to some of his friends at the bar, confidently telling them that
it was a diamond. To prove his point he wrote his initials with it, on the
glass window pane,and also cut a tumbler with the stone. But, his friends
would not believe him, and made him a laughing stock for his alleged
foolishness. However O'Reilly was not discouraged, and sent the stone to
Grahamstown to Dr. Atherstone an authority on minerals and gemstones, for
testing and evaluation. Dr. Atherstone showed the stone to Bishop Ricards,
the Roman Catholic Bishop of Grahamstown who was knowledgeable and a man of
Science. After careful examination, both men pronounced that the stone
was a diamond of 22 ½ carats. The stone was then sent
to the Hon. Richard Southey, the then Colonial Secretary, who later became
the Lieutenant-Governor of Griqualand West. Hon Richard Southey, sought
expert opinion available on the authenticity of the stone, and every one was
agreed that the stone was indeed a diamond. The Colonial Secretary then
forwarded the stone to Queen's jewelers, Messrs. Hunt & Roskell, in
England, and the finding of the experts in South Africa, was confirmed by
them. They also valued the stone at around £500. The stone was then
purchased for this amount by his Excellency, Sir Philip Wodehouse, who was
the Governor of the colony at that time. The diamond was subsequently cut
and polished to give a 10.73-carat cushion-cut brownish-yellow brilliant,
known as the Eureka Diamond. This diamond is now preserved in the De Beers
Archives because of it's historical significance.
Having confirmed his finding to be a diamond, Mr.
O"Reilly was spurred into action, and began looking around for similar
pebbles, and it was not long before he found another stone weighing 8.9
carats, and this stone too was purchased by Sir Philip Wodehouse for £200.
The news of the two finds spread like wildfire, and there was great
excitement throughout the country. The natives started looking for diamonds
everywhere and they discovered several small diamonds. Then the news spread
that a large diamond of over 83 carats had been discovered. Mr. Van Niekirk
who discovered the 22.5-carat Eureka, in the previous year heard about the
large stone being picked up by a Griqua Shepherd boy on the Zandfontein farm
near the orange river. But, other authorities say that stone was actually
picked up by a Griqua Witch Doctor by the name of Swartbooi, on the
Zanddfontein farm. Mr Van Niekirk approached the native who was holding the
stone ,and after satisfying himself that the stone may be a diamond, struck
a barter deal with him, in which he acquired the stone in exchange for 500
sheep, 10 oxen, and a horse. It was practically all of Niekirk's
possessions.
Mr. Van Niekirk carried the stone to Messrs.
Lilienfeld Brothers of Hopetown, who also purchased his previous finding the
22.5-carat Eureka. They purchased the stone for £11,200, and christened it
the "Star of South Africa". Later they forwarded the diamond to England,
where it was cut and polished to a 47.69-carat pear-shaped three-sided
stellar brilliant, that was eventually sold by the Queen's Jewelers Messrs.
Hunt & Roskell to the Earl of Dudley for £ 25,000. The Earl presented
the diamond to his wife Countess of Dudley. The Earl of Dudley got the
diamond mounted on a head ornament with 95 other small brilliants . The
present whereabouts of the diamond is not known.
Chemistry of colorless
diamonds
In the G. I. A. color grading scale D-color stands for
the highest color rating for colorless diamonds, which are considered to be
absolutely pure and colorless, and are known as top-color diamonds. E and F
grades are also considered to be colorless though to a lesser degree. The
next on the scale are G, H, I, and J which are considered to be near
colorless. In other words they have a slightly yellowish tint, caused by the
presence of extremely minute quantities of the impurity Nitrogen.
Nitrogen is the main impurity found in diamonds that can
impart a yellow to brown color ranging from a slight tint to the more
intense shades, depending on the concentration and distribution of Nitrogen
atoms in the diamond crystal. The concentration of Nitrogen present is
usually less than 0.1 %.
If Nitrogen atoms are scattered as single atoms or
groups of odd numbers such as 3-atoms, they can absorb visible light
in the blue end of the spectrum causing a yellow color varying from
pale to intense shades.
If Nitrogen atoms are found as aggregates of even numbers
such as two or four atoms that do not absorb visible light, the color of the
stone is not affected.
Therefore colorless diamonds are either absolutely pure
diamonds without any Nitrogen atoms or diamonds in which the Nitrogen atoms
are distributed as groups of two or four atoms.
