CULLINAN DIAMOND

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. The two largest are the largest cut diamonds known, and the larger of these is the Great Star of Africa, or Cullinan I, a 530.2-carat, pear-shaped gem set in the English sceptre. The other is the most valuable stone in the imperial state crown, the 317-carat Cullinan II, sometimes called the Second Star of Africa.