TOPIC:

On the back of Rory's Kimberley post herewith an issue that has vexed me for some time. It is a well-known fact that the co-instigator of the Boer War Cecil John Rhodes was holed up in Kimberley during the 4-month siege. For the British this was both a blessing and a curse. Rhodes applied some of the infrastructure of his diamond mining operations towards the production of a long-range gun (“Long Cecil”) and ammunition, both used successfully in the defence of the town. Magnanimous Cecil also made a few extra bob by selling watery soup to hungry townsfolk. On the flip side, Cecil proved to be a pain in the neck to the very capable Lt. Col. Robert Kekewich as Rhodes used his position to meddle with military strategy and tactics. One aspect of the siege I came across years ago (I lost the source reference in a computer crash) pertained to the discovery during the siege of a massive (221 Carat) diamond in the open cast mine. The stone was apparently baptised “Ernestine” and does not appear in the list of the world’s largest diamonds although it clearly qualifies. My google search on the matter only renders an obituary for one Mrs. Ernestine Diamond who passed away at the respectable age of 94 back in 2022. Does any forum member know more about this discovery; what happened to the stone?

Everhard,

It seems it ended up in New York.





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Hampshire Telegraph, 27th October 1900

Neville, thanks for the quick response. Writing a story like that today would land the author in court. Is there more to this story to find out? It would be especially nice to know in which woke decolleté this pebble is presently nestled.

Everhard,

The jewel seems to vanish from the record. The last mention I can find of it is in the Sheffield Weekly Telegraph of 12 February 1916. However, this article simply re-tells the story of its discovery.

I wonder whether the diamond was renamed.

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Although there seems to be a mis-match in terms of carat weight, this appears to be the same diamond (found in Kimberley in1900, the largest diamond imported into the US, purchased by Stern Brothers, etc.).

The article states that "it is as yet unnamed".



Boston Sunday Post, 2nd June 1901




Shelbyville Daily Democrat, 8th June 1901


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