Cullinan Diamond

I recently had the pleasure of attending the Scottish Gemmological Association Conference. It is a conference that happens annually exploring the science, history, and use of gemstones within the jewellery industry & a great place to meet a multitude of experts & learn more about these fascinating creations of nature.

There were a number of renowned experts in their field at the conference, and I was extremely lucky to meet Mark Cullinan, who granted me the pleasure of holding an exact replica of the uncut Cullinan Diamond that his grandfather, Sir Thomas Cullinan discovered in 1905. It is the largest diamond ever to be found, weighing in at 3106 carats & Mark delivered a fascinating lecture on its mystical history, since its discovery at Sir Thomas’s Premier Mine in South Africa.

Following its discovery the stone had to be cut into several, smaller sized, more wearable stones and the cutters chosen for the task were the Royal Asscher Diamond Company based in Amsterdam. The Asscher brand were made famous at the turn of the 20th century when Joseph Asscher patented the “Asscher Cut” in 1902, and the business remains family run to this day. In February 1908 an excited audience gathered to witness Joseph Asscher cleave this incredible stone, but on delivering the first blow, he was left holding a broken blade & banished the audience from the room. He returned to the task the following week with new tools & successfully split the stone. Legend has it that he fainted due to the effort he put into that strike, but it was a success nonetheless.

From this uncut stone, nine of the largest cut and polished stones were created and are found in the British Crown Jewels or owned by the British Royal family. The most famous being The Cullinan I which weighs a whopping 530.20 carats and is set in the Royal Sceptre and The Cullinan II which is set in the Imperial State Crown.