HISTORIC DIAMOND CRYSTAL. ...

Description

HISTORIC DIAMOND CRYSTAL
Kimberley Mines, South Africa
Although the first diamond was found in 1866, the Diamond Rush in South Africa didn't really get started until the discovery of a handful of diamonds at Colesberg Kopje on the DeBeers Farm by Esau Damoense, a humble camp cook, on 16 July 1871. There were so many would-be miners that the DeBeers Brothers sold the farm when they couldn't control the horde that descended upon their property. The multitude of claims covering the area, were finally consolidated by Cecil Rhodes and Charles Rudd in 1888 under the name "DeBeers Consolidated Mines, Ltd.". This 18.70 carat octahedron was evidently mined during those early days since the Smithsonian label that accompanies it reads 'Kimberley Mines' not 'Mine'. Too included to be faceted, this sharp, lustrous crystal made its way into the U.S. National Museum Collection where it acquired the accession number 53558 that it bears today. At some point it was de-accessioned from the Smithsonian and traveled by various routes through the collections of Walt Lidstrom of Oregon and William Pinch of New York; both collectors of considerable acumen. This historic stone comes with the appropriate labels from all of the above mentioned collections. The Smithsonian rarely de-accesses specimens these days, giving this specimen considerable cachet on the sophisticated collector market. This diamond specimen is accompanied by the original Smithsonian collection box.

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