Birmingham state herald., 1896-10-11
A GEM WORTH S3,0OO,OO0.
The Greatest Diamond Ever Found Unearthed in South America-lt Will Be Hard to
 Find a Customer for the Stone.
San Francisco Examiner.

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 The greatest diamond in the world, the most valuable gem ever discovered, is at last to be cut and put on the market. Any lady or gentleman who has an odd $2,- 100000 or &, 900 lying around loose in the house may now acquire this gem as soon as the cutting process Is finished.
 In the rough the diamond was valued at $25000 900. How much the cutting may enhance this valuation or depreciate it only the future can tell. If it falls into the hands of particularly skillful man he may easily add $500,000 to 1t. If, on the other hand, the cutting is unskillfully done, $500,000 may be cut off with equal ease.
 The stone has never been out of the possession of the great diamond syndi- cate, of which Cecil Rhodes Is the head, and which controls the entire diamond output of South Africa. It was found by one of the syndicate's workmen in June, 1893, in the Jager Fontein mine, near Kimberly. It is known as the Jager Fon- '.in Excelsior. From the moment of it's discovery up to the present time it has sbeen guarded as carefully as the treas ure in the Bank of England.
 To make it's security all the greater, strict secrecy has been observed as to its exact location. It was first kept under military guard at the syndicates South African place, and then sent under spe- cial escort to London. There it has re- mained ever since. But, beyond the fact that it is in the city somewhere, no one has been permitted to know anything about it. The secret of it's location has been kept by the officers of the company and few trusted employees.
 No effort has heretofore been made for its cutting, because a customer for a two and half million solitaire, is not to be picked up every day. And as the cutting process is very expensive the syndicate did not care to go ahead with the work until there was some prospect of a sale.
 It takes an emperor or a king to secure control of such a stone as this, and the emperors and kings of Europe are rather hard up at present. Who it is that has finally promised to take the Jager Fon- ten Excelsior off the syndicate's hands is not known. It is rumored in London, however, that, like all the other great things in the world, the big diamond is coming to America; that some great American millionaire, who has much more good money than good sense, is go- ing to enter the lists with the effete monarchs of the old world who now prac- tically control all the big diamonds
 As to this, however, the syndicate peo- pie refuse to say anything, and beyond the fact that the stone is in process of cutting the officers decline to give infor- nation. Compared with the Jager Fon- tein Excelsior all the other great stones at present in existence are as hazel nuts to hens eggs.
 It weighed when exhumed 96oB carats. Its extreme girth in width was 59s inches, and its extreme girth in length was 6A inches. It's greatest length on any one side was 21s inches, and its greatest width on any one side was 2 inches It's smallest width was 112 inches. Altogether it is not unlike a small baseball in size, and in the shirt front of summer hotel clerk it a c ha hn simply dazzling, bringing ruin and deso- 1ation to all his rivals.
 There is only one stone in all the world that is larger than the Jager Fontein Excelsior, and as this other stone is not, in all probability, a diamond at all, 1t does not count.
 There are perhaps a half-dozen dia- monds in The world that will rank with Jager Fontein as among the greatest gems in existence, though none of them approach 1t in any sense, either in value or size The Mogul diamond, which Is among the Persian crown jewels, weighs 2S0 carats. It is one of the chief assets of the shah of Persia, and all sorts of fabulous prices have been offered for it.
 Among the British crown jewels is the Kohnoor. This stone has had a most re- markable history, and until it fell into the hands of Queen Victoria caused wars innumerable. At date not fixed by his tory it was discovered in the Gani mine, near the IaHOuS mines or GOlcOnud. In 1526, at the sack of Delhi by Ala Ed Din then sultan of the Mogul dynasty, it fell into the hands of the conquerors, who, it is related, "esteemed 1t at the sum of the daily maintenance of the whole world"
 At this time it weighed 793 karats. The gem passed along from generation to gen. eration, until the Emperor Aurengzebe came to the throne. This old gentleman became tainted with western heresies and concluded that the Mogul in its state of cutting was not fashionable enough to serve for court purposes. So he had a western lapidary, Borgio by name, take 1t under contract to cut 1t according to European ideas. Borgio was highly pleased at the commission but before he got through he devoutly wished that he might have been drowned before the em- peror ever sent for him. For six months the stone was in the lapidary's hands. and when he had finished his job he re- turned 1t with much pride to it's royal owner.
 It took the Emperor Aurengzebe just three seconds to order that Borgio should be boiled in oil torn limb from limb, have his head cut off and nailed to the city gates by the ears, and to undergo various other equally pleasing and cheerful ex- periences In cutting the diamond Borgio had been compelled to reduce it three quarters in size. That the job was scien- tifically and artistically done from the lapidary's standpoint cut no figure with the enraged monarch. He wanted the gem trimmed up according to western ideas, but he didn't by any manner of means intend to lose three-quarters of it, He was finally prevailed upon to spare Borgio's life. but got even by confiscating all the property possessed by that un- fortunate individual, which was not in considerable.
 In it's reduced form the stone passed along from generation to- generation, causing wars and riots innumerable, until in 1S47 the British, in the calm way they have, appropriat ted it. Queen Victoria had been then but a few years on the throne, and it was sent to her as a gift from the Loyal Army In India" It has remained with her majesty ever since, and the day has probably passed when 1t will be ever won again by fighting.
 Floor tiling-Mayberry Watson.