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Events/Record · 1905

Cullinan diamond found

Record, 1905-01-26, South Africa.

What happened

On 26 January 1905 the manager of the Premier mine, Captain Frederick Wells, found a 3,106 carat diamond near the rim of the pit. It was named after Sir Thomas Cullinan, the company chairman. The two largest stones cut from it, Cullinan I and II, weigh 530 and 317 carats.1,2

Why it matters

It is the largest gem diamond ever found.1,2

Story cards

Around the same time

  1. Ernest Oppenheimer born

    Ernest Oppenheimer born (date from Wikidata).3

  2. De Beers founded

    De Beers founded.4

  3. Premier diamond mine: Wikidata inception date

    The mine near Cullinan that later yielded the Cullinan diamond.5

  4. Cullinan Diamond found

    Cullinan Diamond found.6

  5. Harry Oppenheimer born

    Harry Oppenheimer born (date from Wikidata).7

  6. Kimberley Big Hole stops work

    The Big Hole is the largest hand-dug excavation in the world and the centre of the Kimberley diamond story.8,9,10

  7. Anglo American founded

    Anglo American founded.11

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Where next

Mines

Broke the record ofKimberley Big HoleA 3,106 carat stone found in 1905 is the largest gem diamond ever found.1An example ofVenetiaSouth Africa still digs diamonds: Venetia made 3.77 million carats in 2020.12

Sources

  1. Cullinan I and II diamonds, Summer 2006 Gems and Gemology (GIA)
  2. Cullinan (item Q2450605), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
  3. Wikidata item Q819374 (Ernest Oppenheimer)
  4. Wikidata item Q471891 (De Beers founded)
  5. Wikidata item Q2576349 (Premier Mine)
  6. Wikidata item Q374209 (Cullinan Diamond found)
  7. Wikidata item Q1586536 (Harry Oppenheimer)
  8. Work is stopped at the Kimberley mine (4 August 1914) South African History Online
  9. The Big Hole Kimberley Kimberley City Info
  10. Kimberley (item Q125905), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
  11. Wikidata item Q541451 (Anglo American founded)
  12. 2020-21 Minerals Yearbook, South Africa (advance release) US Geological Survey

From the Prospector Trails mining history dataset: each fact links to the source it was checked against. Figures are as the source gives them, in the money of their day. Not investment advice.

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Cover photos from Wikimedia Commons: The Big Hole by Rudolph Botha, CC BY-SA 3.0; Super Pit, Kalgoorlie by Kgbo, CC BY-SA 4.0; Underground mining equipment by Kaupo Kikkas, CC BY-SA 4.0. Pictures: Kimberley, South Africa: the Kimberley mine and town. Woodburytype, 1888, after a photograph by Robert Harris., Harris, Robert, active 1881-1888. (Public Domain Mark 1.0).