Cullinan diamond

the largest diamond ever found, weighing about 620 grams. It was named after Thomas Cullinan, the head of the Transvaal mine in which it was found in 1905. Two years later the Transvaal government bought it for $1 000 000 and presented it to King Edward VII. It was then cut into nine large stones and 96 small ones and used in the Crown Jewels.

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Largest gem diamond ever discovered.

It weighed about 3,106 carats in rough form when it was found in 1905 at the Premier mine in Transvaal, S.Af. Named for Sir Thomas Cullinan, who had discovered the mine, the colourless stone was purchased by the Transvaal government and presented to Britain's King Edward VII. It was cut into 9 large stones and about 100 smaller ones, all flawless; they are now part of the British crown jewels.

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▪ gem

      world's largest gem diamond, which weighed about 3,106 carats in rough form when found in 1905 at the Premier mine in Transvaal, S.Af. Named for Sir Thomas Cullinan, who had discovered the mine three years earlier, the colourless stone was purchased by the Transvaal government and was presented (1907) to the reigning British monarch, King Edward VII. It was cut into 9 large stones and about 100 smaller ones by I.J. Asscher and Company of Amsterdam, famed for their cutting of the Excelsior diamond, which until the discovery of the Cullinan had been the largest known diamond. The stones cut from the Cullinan diamond, all flawless, are now part of the British regalia (crown jewels). The largest of these is the second largest cut diamond known and is called the Great Star of Africa, or Cullinan I, a 530.2-carat, pear-shaped gem set in the English sceptre. Another is the most valuable stone in the imperial state crown, the 317-carat Cullinan II, sometimes called the Second Star of Africa.

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