The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-07-09
HUGE DIAMONDS.
Some of the Worlds Wonders in Pre-.
 seious Stones.

HUGE DIAMONDS.
 Some of the Worlds Wonders in Pre-
 .ciOus Stones.
 Scientific American.
 The huge diamond recently found in the Premier mine near Pretoria, South Africa, and which was insured for $l,- 250.000, measures approximately I by 1-2 by l 1-4 inches. and weigh BOSE carats. or IT pounds troy. equivalent to about one pound and six ounces avoirdupois. The stone Is almost per fectly pure; few grains are present and 1t contains some flaws or cleavage planes. but fortunately they are so dis posed that they can be cut away with out appreciably reducing the size of the cut gem. Dr. G. A. F. Molen- graaff describes the diamond as sim gle crystal, having no twinning planes or lamellae. It Is perfectly transpar- cnt. and looks like piece of pure ice. He says it is certainly the purest of all the very big stones known" It's structure shows that tho stone was originally much larger. This is proved by the four flat cleavage planes. which have the regular octahedral position. Only 0 small portion of the natural surface of the stone remains. and the fragments broken off must each have been very large. Whether these frag- ments will ever be found Is question which introduces tho interesting study of the formation of diamonds.
 It has long been known that dia- l monds are crystals of pure carbon. and | 1t is supposed that the specialization took place under a tremendous pres mines particularly bear out this the ory. The deposits appear to occupy | the chimneys of extinct volcanoes. They form cores of circular or oval cross section, bounded by walls of car boniferous shale. This core, near the surface. where 1t Is subjected to tho influence of the weather, is of d yell Jewish color. but lower down is com posed of a bluish rock of igneous char acter. called by the miners blue ground" In this the precious crystals are embedded. Their broken condi- | tion, and the fact that they are found in rock formation of many different | compositions, indicate that the blue ground was not their original matrix but that the diamonds were cast up by volcanic eruptions from great depths, where the tremendous pres sure and intense heat were sufficient to crystalize the carbon. In the case | of the Premier diamond, the force of | the eruption must have been so great as to cleave the fragments from the | stone during its passage up the vent | ments may have been blown out at the time of the explosion, or may be still awaiting discovery somewhere in | the volcano chimney.
 At any rate, the portion found is | large enough to satisfy the owners; l indeed. 1t Is so large as to prove some- what of burden. It seems hardly possible that 1t will be bought by any J.ivate collector. Apparently It's only office would be to grace royal col lection, but even a rich government would hesitate to pay the sum dia- mond, of this size should bring. The value of the stone is. of course. mat ter of conjecture. Between the years 1750 and 1870 diamonds were rated &C., cordirg to the square of their weight | multiplied by the value of a single | carat Thus, If one carat sold for $100. two carats would sell for $400. three | carats for S90O, and so on. On the same basis, the value of the great Premier diamond would be 3.032 times 3,O32 times s100, or $919,302,4O0. or course. no such sum will ever be paid for the stone. In fact. 1t was because of the large stones discovered in Africa that this system of rating diamonds was abandoned. It Is considered pos sible that the Premier diamond may be sold for from $2,500,000 to $5,000,- 900. but even these figures may be en- tirely too high. and the actual value is entirely dependent on the bids re- ceived. Possibly the stone may suffer the fate of the large Syndicate or Tiff fany diamond dug up In the De Bers | mine A few years ago. This stone weighed 969 carats in it's rough state; but instead of cutting 1t as single large brilliant 1t was made more sala- ble by cleaving 1t into ten smaller stones. However 1t seems like a |
 feet q stone as the great Premier dia- mond though as we have just stated, large stones are apt to prove a great
 burden, and have the reputation, well
 borne out by past history. of bringing
 bad luck to their owners. Except for
 the really modern stones. all of the large stones of the world have histories
 which are black with crime.
 The Syndicate or Tiffany diamond | previously held the record as the
 largest stone. The great Premier stone | will lose much of It's size when cut
 but owing to it's present good form and the great skill possessed by the modern
 lapidary, 1t is probable that the finish | ed gem if the stone be cut as a single
 brilliant, would weigh many times as
 much as any other cut stone now in ex- istence The famous Koh-i-noor Is 2
 remarkable example of the loss by cut
 ting which a stone is apt to sustain | 793 5-S carats An unskilled Vene-
 tian lapidary cut 1t, reducing 1t to a
 weight of 279 carats. Later 1t was cut
 to more symmetrical shape. which still further reduced it's weight to 106 1-le
 carats Many remarkable stories are
 told of this stone According to one
 account. 1t was worn five thousand
 years ago by Karna one of the heroes
 celebrated in Indian legend. By some
 it Is considered a part with the famous
 Orloff stone of the Great Mogul. This
 however, is now pretty generally dis
 credited.
 The orlofr stone derives it's name
 from Prince Orloff, who presented the gem to Catherine II of Russia. It is now mounted in the tip of the Russian , sceptre. The diamond has rose shape, that is, 1t is cut with hat base whereas the usual cutting Is called the
 brilliant.
 The Regent or Pitt stone is very beautiful. It weighs 136 S-4 carats. is pure white, and of almost perfect , shane Before the South African mines