72 The World’s Largest Diamond

In 1907 King Edward VII of England received an extravagant present for his 66th birthday: a diamond that weighed 3,106 carats.

This raw, rough diamond named Frederick Wells stumbled across it while inspecting the Premier Mine before closing it down for the day. The diamond, named the Cullinan, was the largest diamond ever discovered, picked up a gigantic precious stone that day.

So he also gained still for himself a $10,000 reward. When the government purchased the huge chunk of stone as a fitting gift for its monarch, King Edward finally received his priceless present. It was still in its original form, so he had to have the diamond cut and polished. After a lengthy search, Joseph Asscher, a Dutch craftsman, was chosen to perform the delicate operation.

In 1908 after weeks of study and inspection, Joseph Asscher finally concluded that the best plan was to cleave the Cullinan diamond into nine major stones, 96 lesser gems and 10 miniature polished fragments.

The Cullinan, most magnificent of the nine major stones cut from the Cullinan stone is the 530-carat, pear-shaped gem known as the Great Star of Africa. Today this stone is part of the royal scepter of the British crown jewels, which are carefully guarded in the Tower of London.

72 世界上最大的钻石

1907年，英国国王爱德华七世在他66岁生日时收到了一份奢华的礼物：一颗重达3106克拉的钻石。

这颗未加工的粗糙钻石被命名为“库里南”，是弗雷德里克·威尔斯在当天关闭矿场前检查普雷米尔矿时偶然发现的。这是迄今为止发现的最大的钻石，他当天捡到了这块巨大的宝石。

因此他也为自己赢得了1万美元的奖金。当政府买下这块巨大的石块作为送给君主的合适礼物时，爱德华国王终于收到了他的无价之宝。它仍保持着原始形态，所以他不得不让人切割并打磨这颗钻石。经过长时间的寻找，荷兰工匠约瑟夫·阿舍被选中执行这项精细的操作。

1908年，经过数周的研究和检查，约瑟夫·阿舍最终决定，最佳方案是将库里南钻石切割成9颗主石、96颗较小的宝石和10颗微型抛光碎钻。

库里南钻石中最华丽的一颗主石是530克拉的梨形宝石，被称为“非洲之星”。如今，这颗宝石是英国王冠珠宝中皇家权杖的一部分，被妥善保管在伦敦塔中。