This is a true story, retold as a tale. The old mine worker telling it is imagined, but Frederick Wells, the giant diamond and its clever journey to London are real.
"You want a story about luck?" said old Jacob, settling onto the porch step as the sun went down over the dusty town. "I'll tell you about the luckiest walk a man ever took."
The children of the mining town gathered around. Jacob had worked at the Premier Mine in South Africa his whole life, and he had a hundred stories. But this was the one they always asked for.
A Flash in the Wall
"It was the 26th of January, 1905," Jacob began. "Late in the afternoon, hot as an oven. A man named Frederick Wells, who looked after the surface of the mine, was walking his rounds along the edge of the great open pit.
"And as he walked, the setting sun caught something in the wall of the pit, about eighteen feet down. A flash. Just a little wink of light."
He held up his thumb and finger, close together.
"Most men would have kept walking. Wells climbed down to look. He dug at it with his pocketknife, and out came a crystal so big that he thought the other workers were playing a trick on him. Surely it was a lump of glass."
"Was it?" asked a little girl.
Jacob grinned. "It was a diamond. The biggest gem-quality diamond ever found. Before or since. 3,106 carats. About as big as a man's fist, and over a pound in weight."
The children gasped.
The Gift for a King
"They named it after the man who owned the mine, Sir Thomas Cullinan. But what do you do with a stone like that? Nobody could afford to buy it. For two years it sat in a bank. Finally, the government of the Transvaal decided to give it to the King of England, Edward VII, as a gift, a gesture of peace after a long and bitter war.
"Now came the big problem. How do you send the most valuable stone on earth across the ocean, when every thief in the world is reading about it in the newspapers?"
The Great Trick
Jacob leaned in close, and the children leaned in with him.
"So they put on a show. A great locked box was loaded onto a steamship, with detectives standing guard all the way to England. Everyone knew the famous diamond was on that ship.
"Except it wasn't. The box was a decoy. The real diamond? They put it in a plain little package and sent it to London by ordinary parcel post."
The children shrieked with laughter.
"By post!" said Jacob, slapping his knee. "Like a letter to your auntie! And it arrived safe and sound."
The Hardest Cut
"Then came the scariest moment of all. The King sent the diamond to the finest cutters in the world, the Asscher brothers of Amsterdam. Joseph Asscher studied it for months. You see, a diamond has hidden lines inside it, and if you strike it in exactly the right place, it splits clean. Strike it wrong, and a fortune could shatter into worthless pieces.
"On the 10th of February, 1908, he set his blade against the stone and struck. And the blade broke. The diamond didn't even notice.
"So he tried again, with a stronger blade. And this time, the Cullinan split, perfectly, just as he had planned. People love to say that Asscher fainted right after. Whether he did or not, I think any of us would have!"
Stars of Africa
"From that one giant stone, the Asschers cut nine large diamonds and nearly a hundred small ones. The biggest, the Great Star of Africa, is over 530 carats, and it sits in the top of the King's royal sceptre in London to this day. The second, over 317 carats, shines on the front of the Imperial State Crown."
Jacob stood up and stretched. "So remember, children. When you see a little flash of light, don't keep walking. Climb down and look."
The Legend and the Truth
The Cullinan Diamond was found on January 26, 1905, at the Premier Mine near Pretoria, South Africa, by surface manager Frederick Wells. At 3,106 carats rough, it is the largest gem-quality diamond ever found. The Transvaal government presented it to King Edward VII in 1907. A heavily guarded parcel on a steamship acted as a decoy, while the real stone is said to have been sent to London by ordinary post.
Joseph Asscher of Amsterdam cleaved it in February 1908. It was cut into nine major stones and about ninety-six smaller ones. Cullinan I, the Great Star of Africa, about 530 carats, is set in the Sovereign's Sceptre with Cross, and Cullinan II, about 317 carats, in the Imperial State Crown. The story that Asscher fainted after the cut is a popular legend.
💡 Read more legends of famous diamonds in The Legends of Diamond.
🛍️ Your Own Star
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