Origin of name
The name "Excelsior", meaning higher, for the massive
rough diamond weighing 995 carats, seems to have been inspired by the unique
shape of the diamond, that looked like a loaf of rye bread, flat on one side
and rising to a peak on the other side. Perhaps the name could also have
been inspired by the massive size of the rough diamond, which, when
discovered in 1893, became the largest rough diamond with the highest carat
weight on record, to be discovered anywhere in the world.
Characteristics of the
diamond
The 995-carat Excelsior rough diamond had all the unique
features of the Jagersfontein diamonds, such as the bluish-white color and
a number of internal black spots. In spite of the internal flaws the stone
was of very fine quality. Under the heading "characteristics of the diamond"
for other famous diamonds we considered the 4Cs of the diamond, color,
clarity, cut and carat weight and other associated features such as the type
of diamond, and sometimes comparative features of similar diamonds of the
same color, in the form of a table. This is not possible for the Excelsior
diamond, as the rough stone was cut into 21 satellite diamonds, varying in
weight from about 70 carats, to less than one carat in size. As such we have
selected the first ten largest satellite diamonds in decreasing order of
weight, and given their carat weight and type of cut, in the form of a
table. The color grade of Excelsior I is G-color, which means, near
colorless. The color grades of the other diamonds are not known. The clarity
grades are unknown, but judging by the clarity of the rough stone, the
stones could be very slightly included. In fact the decision to cleave the
rough stone into so many pieces would have been prompted by the desire of
the owners and the cutters of the diamond to eliminate as many black spots
or inclusions as possible, in order to have several smaller diamonds of
better quality rather than going in for larger diamonds of sub-standard
quality.
List of the first ten
Excelsior satellite diamonds
|
S/N |
Name |
Carat Weight |
Shape/Cut |
|
1 |
Excelsior I |
69.68 |
pear |
|
2 |
Excelsior II |
47.03 |
pear |
|
3 |
Excelsior III |
46.90 |
pear |
|
4 |
Excelsior IV |
40.23 |
marquise |
|
5 |
Excelsior V |
34.91 |
pear |
|
6 |
Excelsior VI |
28.61 |
marquise |
|
7 |
Excelsior VII |
26.30 |
marquise |
|
8 |
Excelsior VIII |
24.31 |
pear |
|
9 |
Excelsior IX |
16.78 |
pear |
|
10 |
Excelsior X |
13.86 |
pear |
The Excelsior I diamond had been certified by the GIA in
1991 as a stone of VS-2 clarity (very slightly included), and a color
grading of G (near colorless). The Excelsior I diamond therefore, is not a
type IIa diamond, which are absolutely colorless, and perhaps could
accommodate only D, E, and F color grades. Therefore the excelsior diamond
must be a Type Ia diamond, containing detectable quantities of nitrogen. The
nitrogen atoms however are found mainly as groups of even number of atoms
such as 2-atoms and 4-atoms, which do not affect the color of diamonds.
However there may be a few odd groups of atoms, such as 3-atoms (N3
centers), which can impart a very, very, slight, tinge of yellow and make
the diamond near colorless.
History
The Excelsior diamond held the unique distinction of
being the World's largest gem-quality rough diamond ever to be discovered,
for a period of 12 years, from 1893 to 1905, having wrested this coveted
title from the Great Mogul Diamond (787 carats), which had enjoyed the
undisputed distinction for 243 years, since it's discovery in the Golconda
mines of Southern India, in 1650. The Great Braganza diamond (1680 carats),
discovered in Brazil in the 1700s was only a spurious claimant to the unique
title, having eventually being identified as only a giant topaz. The
Cullinan diamond weighing 3, 106 carats and discovered at the Premier mines
in Transvaal, South Africa, emerged as the "King of all rough diamonds" in
1905, relegating the Excelsior diamond to second place, a position which it
still retains up to date.
List of the largest
gem-quality rough diamonds discovered in the world
The story of the discovery of the Excelsior diamond in
1893, at the Jagersfontein mine, provides interesting reading. The
Jagersfontein mine in Orange Free State, in South Africa, was opened as a
diamond pipe mine in 1888, after the accidental discovery of a 50-carat
diamond on a farm in the area in 1870. A characteristic feature of diamonds
mined in this new mine was a faint bluish tint, and the term "Jagers" was
coined to refer to this special character. Thus the name Jagersfontein
is derived from the term "Jagers" used to denote the special bluish tint of
the diamonds mined here. The mine became the property of the New
Jagersfontein Mining and Exploration Company Limited, formed in April of
1887.
Just five years after the opening of this diamond
pipe mine a dramatic discovery was made in this mine, that created history
and provided a much needed boost for further mining activity. An
African worker at the mine was loading gravel into a truck, on the evening
of June 30, 1893, when suddenly he noticed a large bluish-white stone, that
looked like a diamond, in a shovel of gravel, which he was loading. He
picked up the stone almost by instinct, and hid it from his co-workers and
the prying eyes of the overseer, and delivered it directly to the hands of
the mine manager.
Later it was confirmed that the stone
indeed was a massive diamond, weighing 995 carats, and possessed the
characteristic features of Jagersfontein diamonds, such as the bluish-white
color and a number of internal black spots. The stone became the largest
ever gem-quality rough diamond to be discovered in the world. The management
of the company decided to reward the discoverer of the diamond for his
honesty, and presented him with £ 500.00 in cash and a horse equipped with a
saddle and bridle.
The New Jagersfontein Mining and
Exploration Company Limited had signed a contract with a consortium of
London Firms for the purchase of the mine's output. The largest of the 10
firms that constituted the consortium was Messrs. Wernher Beit & Co. By
peculiar circumstances or by strange coincidence, June 30, 1893, the day the
Excelsior diamond was discovered, also happened to be the day the contract
between the mining company and the consortium of London firms expired. In
spite of this the Excelsior was shipped to the London Office of Messrs.
Wernher Beit & Co., who sought to insure the diamond for £ 40,000, but could
only get insurance for £16,250.
The New Jagersfontein
Mining and Exploration Company was still legally entitled to an undivided
one-half share of the Excelsior diamond, according to the Director's report
for the company for the year ended March 31, 1894.
While
the diamond still remained in London, another dramatic discovery was made in
the Jagersfontein mine in the year 1895. This was the discovery of the
651-carat "Reitz Diamond", named after the then President of the Orange Free
State, F. W. Reitz. The Reitz rough diamond which later became the Jubilee
diamond, is placed 9th in the above list of largest gem-quality rough
diamonds ever discovered in the world. The Reitz diamond too found it's way
to the mine's agents in London, where it joined it's more famous cousin, the
Excelsior diamond.
At the annual general meeting of the
mining company held in Kimberley on May 28th, 1896, the Chairman stated,
that in the interests of the shareholders of the company, the Directors of
the company have deemed it advisable, to put up for sale, the undivided
one-half share of the company in both the diamonds. The day immediately
after the annual general meeting, a letter was received by the Secretary of
the company, from a consortium of three companies - Messrs. Wernher Beit &
Co., Barnato Bros., and Mosenthal Sons & Co. - expressing interest in the
one-half share of the company in both diamonds, the Excelsior, and Reitz,
and offering a prize of £ 25,000 for the same. The Board of Directors of the
company resolved that the offer be accepted and the Secretary was
instructed to confirm the same.
The above companies having
acquired the full ownership rights for both the diamonds, set about the
difficult task of converting them to marketable diamonds. The Reitz diamond
was cut into two gems in 1897, and the larger of the two was fashioned into
a rectangular, cushion-shaped, brilliant, weighing 245 carats, which
eventually ranked as the 6th largest polished diamond in the world. The year
of creation of this clear white flawless masterpiece coincided with the year
of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee and hence the diamond was called the
"Jubilee Diamond."
The Excelsior diamond however remained
un-cut until 1903, a period of almost 10 years since it was discovered. In
1903, the stone was dispatched to I. J. Asscher & Co., the renowned diamond
cutters of Amsterdam, who introduced a new diamond cut known as the Asscher-cut
in 1902, which is also known as the square-emerald-cut. In 1904, after a
prolonged study the company decided at first to cleave the diamond into ten
pieces. This task was performed by Mr. A. Asscher. Subsequently more
cleaving and polishing took place and the final result was 21 gems of
varying sizes and cuts, ranging from 70 carats to less than one carat. The
total weight of the finished stones was 373.75 carats, which works out to a
loss in weight of almost 63 %. This loss was enormous by any standard, but
still the final outcome was considered to be better than expected. The list
of the first ten Excelsior satellite diamonds in descending order of weights
is given in the table above.
The Excelsior diamonds were
disposed of separately. Three of the gems were purchased by Tiffany & Co.,
that was then based in Union Square, New York City. The buyers of the other
fragments remain anonymous, but the De Beers Company displayed one of the
marquise-shaped fragments at the 1939 World Fair in New York.
The Excelsior I had remained in the possession of one unknown family in the
United States, until it was purchased in 1989, by Graff Diamonds Ltd. of
London, and then re-sold to an anonymous client. The diamond re-appeared for
sale on two occasions in May 1991 and May 1996. The GIA had given the stone
a VS-2 clarity and a color grading of G.
Last transaction and present owners of the Excelsior I diamond
In the last sale in May 1996, the Excelsior I was
purchased by Robert Mouawad for $ 2, 642,000, a record price for a diamond
of 70 carats. Mouawad has set the pear-shaped Excelsior I in an elaborate
bracelet, which is shown in the photograph. The Excelsior diamond is the 9th
largest diamond in the rare and magnificent collection of diamonds belonging
to Robert Mouawad.
Comments on the world's largest rough
diamonds
Extraordinarily large rough diamonds like the Cullinan
and the Excelsior are extremely rare findings and have a great historical
significance. The probability of finding another diamond as enormous as the
3,106-carat Cullinan diamond, is extremely remote, and may not happen for at
least another thousand years, or more. As such it would have been
appropriate, if diamonds of such enormous size had been preserved in their
rough state, for the benefit of future generations. If not, they would have
to be satisfied just by reading a fictional and rather inaccurate account of
their one time existence in the distant past. Perhaps, this may be one
reason why the Kremlin Diamond Fund, had preserved their diamonds of
enormous size, such as the "Alexander Pushkin" and the "XXVI Congress
of CPSU", in the rough state.
The cleaving of large
diamonds into several smaller fragments that are eventually transformed into
smaller diamonds, seem actually to be motivated by profit, rather than
creating anything of historic value for posterity. The same sentiments were
expressed by Alphen F Williams, the former General Manager of De Beers, in
his book, "Some Dreams Come True." He said, that the decision to cleave the
Excelsior into several smaller fragments as the greatest tragedy of modern
times, in the history of famous diamonds. He wrote, "It was unpardonable
that this exquisite diamond was so cleaved that the largest stone cut from
it weighed only 70 carats. The intrinsic value meant more to it's owners
than it's historical importance, so different from the spirit of the owners
of the Cullinan diamond, who in deciding to have the diamond cleaved into
nine pieces, insisted that one of the pieces so cleaved should be, when cut,
the largest polished diamond in the world."
Please submit
your contributions ,comments and questions (See below)
-When you submit a question/comment we will build a
page exclusively for you. You can add more contributions, or let visitors
add comments and ratings
-The idea is Ask one or Answer one!
This way, you save yourself and others the trouble of asking the same
questions on famous diamonds, famous gemstones etc. or become my co-expert on this subject by
rating and submitting comments. I'd appreciate a
little help here! Absolutely!!!
