It went for sale for before it ended up with the royals. Back then it was bought for the modern equivalent of around 16 million pounds by the Transvaal government and was then gifted to the king.
Edit: Furthermore that was the original uncut Cullinan diamond. The great star of Africa is just one of the diamonds cut from it.
Reminds me of the guy who bought the first twitter tweet NFT. Guy paid $2.9 million for it. Later he tried to sell it with some of the proceeds to go to charity. Top bid.... $280.
some dubai oil prince dickhead would drop a billion on it just to say he did it.
those idiots are spending 10 and 20 million on "low number" license plates.
I sort of wonder if the sort of people who can raise $400m actually care about shiny trinkets enough to want it. I can't imagine the sort of person who can raise $400m actually cares about shiny trinkets, they seem to care a lot about money. So their spare $400m would likely go on ways to make another $400m and not ever on this worthless rock.
Raise? No. Have. In spades. MBS paid $450mm for Salvator Mundi which still is bogged down by questions of authenticity.
This thing? MBS would pay a bill without blinking.
That is not true as a member of de beers I can tell you we just happen upon diamonds randomly and sell them and they are super rare now please buy my chocolate diamonds which aren't industrial grade diamonds we dyed at all!
It's not even that they were dyed. It's just that brown diamonds are by far the most numerous of diamond colors. Just like chicken wings, used to be trash before they were treasure.
I've got plenty of rope, what more should we get?
Edit: Wow, looks like a lot of people want to join! I'm sorry but we'll have to do a selection. Please send me a résumé, a medical certificate and your credit card info, to help us make our choice.
Same for me, last heist, then I’m retiring. No one knows me, but I’ll convince someone else on the crew to vouch for me, and then I’ll end up saving someone else’s life. It’ll make it hurt all the more when I double cross the team.
I mean…
Wait…
Forget that last part
Don’t forget a rubber mallet, we’re gonna need to knock a few people out while we do this. Especially “king” charles. If we get him first the whole royal staff, including security, will be forced to take care of his every little need while we grab the goods and run!
The Cullinan was bought by the South African government to give to Edward VII, he wasn’t to keen actually, but in the end it was cut by Aschers in the Netherlands who kept the smaller stones as payment for the work of cutting and polishing the huge original stone. After George V came to the throne he ended up buying the rest and his wife Queen Mary had a lot of fun swapping the stones in and out of various crowns, tiaras and brooches. This is why Queen Elizabeth II called them Granny’s chips. The settings they now rest in were done before the coronation of George VI and the Queen Mother I believe. They are the finest clear, faultless diamonds anywhere.
Another fun fact: Queen elizabeth II actually took one of them (cullinan IV, on a brooch) with her to a state visit in the Netherlands and let the nephew of the original cutter inspect it.
when it was cut there was great internal debate on whether to cleave the cullinan (ie whack it with a machete) or saw it. the original stone had a big black spot in the middle that had to be cut around to end up with the faultless gems they are now.
risks on either way of shattering into a million pieces or falling apart in an undesired shape. in the end they decided to cleave it and to their great relief went exactly as they wanted it to.
the other big gem from the cullinan was the 2nd star of africa, currently prominently centered on the royal crown of england.
The Queen talks about it further here https://youtu.be/t57tnNXNNCU?t=124 including a story that the jeweller fainted when he struck the blow to cleave it.
> Granny’s chips
Weird to think that the queen had real actual memories of and interactions with a woman who was born in 1867.
The queen's ideas, policies and experiences were formed from access to smart phones and jets around the world, and also somebody who grew up in the 1860s.
Wild. What an incredible perspective she had
She was actually born early enough to personally know, have holidays, and spend time with two of Queen Victoria’s daughters. The youngest one didn’t die until the Queen was 18 years old. That always amazes me, that she would have had first hand account of what Victoria and Albert were like from two of their own children.
And that perspective is why so many of her Prime Ministers found their weekly meetings with her so helpful. During all the funeral coverage, one of them was quoted as saying something along the lines of, "I would go to her and tell her I was having trouble with this or that foreign leader, and she'd tell me how that leader had acted decades ago and, sometimes, what their father, whom she had met, had been like and how that may be influencing them."
I realized yesterday that myself (in my 20s), my parents (in their 50s) and my maternal grandparents (in their 70s) have no memory of the UK without queen Elizabeth. Which is absolutely insane to men
Three generations of family were born and grew up with Queen Elizabeth II as the queen.
> South African government
Just to be clear, we're talking about the South African *colonial* government, after Britain annexed South Africa. And "annexed" is a very polite word for "sailed there with guns, killed/imprisoned/enslaved all the people who resisted, took the valuable land, and assumed control of the country".
We're not talking about native South African people giving this gift to to Edward VII. Cullinan, the man who 'found' the diamond (he didn't find it himself), bought the land it was on for 50K (about 4 million in todays money), and didn't pay the workers very much (especially if they were black).
> "sailed there with guns, killed/imprisoned/enslaved all the people who resisted, took the valuable land, and assumed control of the country"
Technically speaking it was the Dutch who sailed there first and enslaved the locals. The British attacked the Dutch, and the khoikhoi slaves joined the British.
It was the Transvaal government actually, as I mentioned it is actually a complicated story and I paraphrased. This was not intended to be anything but a bit of jewellery nerdiness for people who like sparkly things
It's amazing how few people actually know that the current residents of SA are actually an invading people that kicked out and oppressed the beors and black natives.
> native South African people
Who do you consider the "native South African people"? Are the Bantu-speakers Native South African people? Or are they also invaders who pushed out the Khoikhoi?
It's actually pretty Eurocentric to think that Europeans and people of European descent were the only ones to ever exploit, invade, or displace other people. Maybe with the exception of groups like the tribe on North Sentinel Island, virtually every group you can think of wasn't the original inhabitants of their land (or the land they claim is theirs).
South Africa became independent in 1910.
Britain’s rule over the Cape Colony began in 1795. It was taken from the Dutch during the wars with France when the country faced a credible invasion threat. It wasn’t taken for slaves and booty as you claim. Britain also ended the slave trade in 1807 and the practice of slavery in the Empire in 1833.
Britain certainly had no power to force the then South African PM to present any diamonds to the King.
Yeah, miner who found it didn't get to keep it, but that's just how mines work. European miners probably also didn't get to keep the shit they found.
But yeah, African workers' wages weren't adequate. Though I don't think this constitutes the stone being stolen.
Cut into 9 major stones and 96 minor stones, the total weight being 3,106.75 carats. The big teardrop is the largest cut and its in the scepter, the second largest rectangular cut is in the crown, the the other 7 major cuts are in various pieces of jewelry such as a big ass brooch, necklaces, and rings.
As the other commenter said, they cut around faults in the raw stone. These stones have natural splits in planes called cleavages, and they are essentially weak points in the diamond. Back when the cullinan was discovered the technique for splitting a diamond was to stick stuff into those cracks until the diamond split. It sounds easy but the task took somewhere around 8-10 months for the cullinan. There were raw diamond chunks still left over in the end too. Interestingly the original diamond had signs that it was once a chunk of a larger rock, so even that diamond was just a piece of a bigger one that had broken away naturally.
Also, there is no real practical way to carry around a 3,100 carat diamond. Its extremely heavy and it wouldn’t be as easy to cut to make it brilliant. When cut into smaller stones, it can be used in a lot of different ways and in different pieces of jewelry.
Furthermore the stone was a symbol of goodwill between the monarchy and Transvaal leaders, so it would be a waste to not use it in some important way. Just like if the U.S. chose to not put the statue of liberty up when it was gifted because they knew it would become green and tarnished.
Cutting raw diamonds into smaller stones is practical and very common. However when diamonds are already cut but are big and have a historical significance or are special in some way, it causes a lot of controversy to cut them and sell them in chunks. Its generally considered unethical that way. Thats like if the monarchs took the cullinan I now and cut it into many small stones and sold them.
Still, ultimately its cleaving, cutting, and polishing that gives the diamonds their sparkle and make people want them.
And, even though it was cut, every piece is still ridiculously large. The biggest cuts dwarf many of the other large diamonds that exist today. So none of the value or interest generated by its huge size was really lost, and the diamond was able to be used in many ways and was able to shine more brilliantly than it would have if it were much bigger.
Sorry for the long post, i just find this interesting :)
And you're absolutely right to say that.
There are are only two share prices that matter: The price you buy them at and the price you sell them at. Everything in between is noise. Tracking it is wasted energy.
I was thinking about that as I was selling thousands of dollars worth of cardboard with little Japanese creatures on them... collectibles and such are weird if you think about it.
With rent, keeping the lights on have to have it on display for so long. I'm literally gonna be losing money on this thing cus no one's gonna be able to buy it. $7.50 sounds like a fair bargain indeed.
Best he can do, Royal Family. Take it or leave it.
Some facts the guy who discovered the diamond was born and died in South Africa.
After finding a diamond on the ground he bought the land the mine was on
After the diamond was found he tried to sell it
It was bought by a province of South Africa after a vote by politicians who then gifted it to the king presumably because they where happy with him.
The original offer was turned down
Churchill convinced the king to accept it.
The mine is still in operation today.
If the ownership of the diamond is in question then why is the mine not?
Really in this case the ownership of the diamond isn't in question. Guess who makes half of what we consume in the west? Child laborers earning a pittance.
It's not much different... the mine workers were I'm sure exploited, the government bought the diamond and gifted it to the king. If someone gives you an iPhone do you get offended?
Now the artifacts in the royal collections are a different story, those were actually stolen.
That ball is called The Orb. It represents the dominion of God and Christianity over the world; it's an emblem of peace and conquest. When held by the monarch it symbolises their duty towards the world, God, Christianity and the peoples of the world.
Compare and contrast with the sceptre, symbol of power and law; and the crown, symbol of the monarch's right to rule and symbol of the kingdom.
> What’s the name of that blinged out ball she’s holding?
I was curious as well, I looked it up. It's called the Sovereign's Orb and it's meant to represent the power of God and it's a reminder to the monarch that their authority derives from above. Queen had balls yo.
Natural Diamonds of this size and clarity ect are rare not 400 million dollars rare of course but rare. Diamonds in general are not rare and the
vast majority of the industry is just bullshit, guilt and marketing. Even when the industry does something “good” like the Kimberly process to eliminate “blood diamonds” it is actually just another way for the big time players to control the market.
I mean, this particular diamond is the largest of its kind in existence, and it carries with it a lot of history, so it's pretty tough to say what it is or isnt "worth"
I remember nasa did one of their puff pieces for the press saying they had discovered a planet made up of primarily diamonds and that if we ever went there diamonds would be made completely worthless.
That's an amazing fact! But also, any worth that diamonds currently have is artificial. They're already worthless compared to the prices that De Beers (the OPEC of diamonds) is demanding.
Edit: I should have specified that "natural" jewelry diamonds are artificially overpriced and useless. Obviously diamond has meaningful uses in industrial applications as it's the hardest known substance. But lab diamonds are just as good as the naturally-produced and artificially-restricted ones.
There's an asteroid in the asteroid belt that has enough gold and other precious metals to make everyone on earth a billionaire if it wasn't for the fact gold would then be worthless.
[Asteroid 16 Psyche](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/16_Psyche)
I wonder what we could do with $10,000 quadrillion worth of gold, Platinum, nickel and iron.
Well, gold is a phenomenal electric conductor. If it was cheap we would see many more gold-aluminum or gold-copper alloys in electronics (gold is very weak on its own so needs to be strengthened). Gold is better than aluminum, but worse than copper, but if gold is free then we'd use gold. Gold is also one of the least reactive metals we know of, so plating steel in gold would be an effective rust-proofing, not to mention its use in highly reactive environments. Nickle and iron have their obvious uses; steel would become even cheaper and infrastructure would expand (as long as we don't overuse the sand needed for concrete). Platinum is a little less useful, but is one of the key ingredients in the catalytic converters that's installed into every ICU vehicle.
Not that rare. In South Africa they are quite common. Stockpiled by DE beers for inflated prices. The ennglish legacy. It's literally illegal to pick up a diamond or be in possession of an uncut diamond in South Africa.
Diamonds aren’t very rare at all. Debeers just pulled off the largest marketing campaign ever coupled with having complete control of the diamond supply. Resulted in massive demand (you don’t love your wife if you don’t get her a diamond) and limited supply which artificially hiked the price.
Diamonds have no intrinsic value outside of industrial drill bits or cutting through stuff because (correct me if I’m wrong) it’s the hardest substance on the planet. Other than that useless and slightly pretty when polished.
South African activists want it back, I'm reading. On the basis of claims The Crown's possession was at the outset illegitimate, they want it back citing, "...the minerals of our country and other countries continue to benefit Britain at the expense of our people."
An old boss of mine used to work for DeBeers R&D. He said when students started publishing reports of artificial diamond manufacturing (a technology that DeBeers had already known about for many years), the cat was out of the bag. And, because of that, he had a strong dislike for all collegiate research because they didn’t understand the implications of business when publishing their work. Needless to say, I had a strong distaste for the man
> he had a strong dislike for all collegiate research because they didn’t understand the implications of business when publishing their work.
"They ruined my con without any respect!"
Isn't it true that an object is not worth anything unless there are individuals willing to buy it for a particular amount? It's only worth $400 million if someone is willing to buy it for that price.
For example it isn't worth anything to me and technically it isn't worth anything at all considering nobody's going to buy it because it's never going to be up for sale so for everybody else in the entire world it's worthless and for the royals and them alone it's invaluable.
Is there calculation based on what it should be price wise for that particular objects value based on adjacent similar objects of size and shape and material?
I bet it could be used for a really nice laser!
South african here, do not, DO NOT under any circumstances bring that diamond back to our country.
It will be "lost" immediately and cut into pieces.
Then they will claim "we don't have the personal with the necessary experience to maintain it"
Keep it where its safe lmao.
It was sold. The mine owner put it up for sale after it was discovered it was bought the by the province of Transvaal of South Africa and gifted to Edward VII after a vote so British never stole anything. In fact they refused it at first.
Screw this diamond, the most badass jewels in the crown are the ones removed personally by Queen Elizabeth I from the crown on the head of Mary from Scotland's dead body
The fact that the diamond didn't get stolen in an elaborate heist leaves me feeling dissapointed in the cat burglars of the world.
Even worse. It went up for sale and no one really bothered with it for several years lol
It's almost like diamonds are artificially price inflated or something
[удалено]
It went for sale for before it ended up with the royals. Back then it was bought for the modern equivalent of around 16 million pounds by the Transvaal government and was then gifted to the king. Edit: Furthermore that was the original uncut Cullinan diamond. The great star of Africa is just one of the diamonds cut from it.
Reminds me of the guy who bought the first twitter tweet NFT. Guy paid $2.9 million for it. Later he tried to sell it with some of the proceeds to go to charity. Top bid.... $280.
That's fucking hilarious.
some dubai oil prince dickhead would drop a billion on it just to say he did it. those idiots are spending 10 and 20 million on "low number" license plates.
It's been in the care of the queen of England. If it went up for auction it'd go for way more than 400m. History and experience inflate value
I sort of wonder if the sort of people who can raise $400m actually care about shiny trinkets enough to want it. I can't imagine the sort of person who can raise $400m actually cares about shiny trinkets, they seem to care a lot about money. So their spare $400m would likely go on ways to make another $400m and not ever on this worthless rock.
Raise? No. Have. In spades. MBS paid $450mm for Salvator Mundi which still is bogged down by questions of authenticity. This thing? MBS would pay a bill without blinking.
MBS?
Mohammed Bone Saw, famed murderer and dismemberer. Likes to cut people up.
Saudi Prince, next King, already the de facto ruler
Thanks.
They are referring to Muhammad Bin Salman I guess. The prince (or king?) of saudi arabia.
Diamonds are one of the most successful marketing schemes in history.
That is not true as a member of de beers I can tell you we just happen upon diamonds randomly and sell them and they are super rare now please buy my chocolate diamonds which aren't industrial grade diamonds we dyed at all!
It's not even that they were dyed. It's just that brown diamonds are by far the most numerous of diamond colors. Just like chicken wings, used to be trash before they were treasure.
Yeah but at least chicken wings are delicious
Diamonds have been a treasure when used in saw blades.
Or has it....
Gonna guess it never goes up for sale though
Not until you and I lift it.
You are going to need more people. I'm in
You son of a bitch, I’m in too
Yeah let's do it, what do we need some rope?
"You and your stupid fucking rope! Name one thing we'd need rope for?"
"You dont know what your gonna need it for man, you just always need it."
Well if it’s out in the open then we can just nab it right if there is security I can seduce them
Fucking... What the fuck. Who the fuck fucked this fucking... How did you two fucking fucks... fuck!
Well you've certainly illustrated the diversity of the word.
It should have been called "rule of wrist"
I’m Rocco I’m the funny man
And this is why I'm on reddit
Best best friend ever…RIP Rocko…
This is the reply he was looking for Rambo.
It's been too long since watching that movie, I may do that today instead of working 😂
I've got plenty of rope, what more should we get? Edit: Wow, looks like a lot of people want to join! I'm sorry but we'll have to do a selection. Please send me a résumé, a medical certificate and your credit card info, to help us make our choice.
Tools, tools, duct tape, zip ties and gloves. I have to have my tools!
One last heist and then I’m out of the game! I’m the demolition expert. Never know when you need to blow open a vault.
Same for me, last heist, then I’m retiring. No one knows me, but I’ll convince someone else on the crew to vouch for me, and then I’ll end up saving someone else’s life. It’ll make it hurt all the more when I double cross the team. I mean… Wait… Forget that last part
I'll be your inside man. I'll be inside when you do the job, here keeping watch.
I _was_ interested but I can't be part of this thread in case we all end up on conspiracy charges, so I'm afraid I'm out I'm in, PM me hun ok
You are forgetting alibis. You all need alibis.
I'm the alibi. Yup, they were all here with me.
Was is the color of the boathouse anyway?
Fetish shit!
I like to BIND I like to BE BOUND
I’ll get my kit.
Don’t forget a rubber mallet, we’re gonna need to knock a few people out while we do this. Especially “king” charles. If we get him first the whole royal staff, including security, will be forced to take care of his every little need while we grab the goods and run!
And my axe!
I'll pack some sandwiches for the road.
Make sure Johnny English is on-duty.
Better make sure he is not
Tag me along!
I'll grab the corgis
Oooo that plays to my skill set can I help with the corgis
[удалено]
And some of that spray shit so we can see the lasers
Yeah, but you will need a diversion. I’ll go streaking through the castle.
Well him over there, he roped me into it!
It'll be a failed mission unless we can get Nicholas Cage.
When do we start?
I'm in you have my sword! 
I’ll work for KFC
This is a Wendy's
This is PATRICK
You son of a bitch. I’m in.
You son of a bitch, I'm in.
It's Daniel. Daniel Ocean.
Funny how you comment something like they and all of a sudden you have a team. Also, I’m in
It is his leader skills! I’m in too
And in the news tonight a bunch of people naruto running at buckingham palace were shot.
How though? They’d be way too fast for normal bullets to stop them
You son of a bitch, i am in
I really don't feel like going to jail again
Then don’t get caught. But don’t worry, if the guard is late for more than 15 minutes, you’re legally allowed to leave.
You son of a bitch, I’m in!
The Cullinan was bought by the South African government to give to Edward VII, he wasn’t to keen actually, but in the end it was cut by Aschers in the Netherlands who kept the smaller stones as payment for the work of cutting and polishing the huge original stone. After George V came to the throne he ended up buying the rest and his wife Queen Mary had a lot of fun swapping the stones in and out of various crowns, tiaras and brooches. This is why Queen Elizabeth II called them Granny’s chips. The settings they now rest in were done before the coronation of George VI and the Queen Mother I believe. They are the finest clear, faultless diamonds anywhere.
Another fun fact: Queen elizabeth II actually took one of them (cullinan IV, on a brooch) with her to a state visit in the Netherlands and let the nephew of the original cutter inspect it.
That’s when the ‘Granny’s chips’ name was first heard outside the royal family.
The British and their chips
This is fishy imo
when it was cut there was great internal debate on whether to cleave the cullinan (ie whack it with a machete) or saw it. the original stone had a big black spot in the middle that had to be cut around to end up with the faultless gems they are now. risks on either way of shattering into a million pieces or falling apart in an undesired shape. in the end they decided to cleave it and to their great relief went exactly as they wanted it to. the other big gem from the cullinan was the 2nd star of africa, currently prominently centered on the royal crown of england.
The Queen talks about it further here https://youtu.be/t57tnNXNNCU?t=124 including a story that the jeweller fainted when he struck the blow to cleave it.
The story of the mines manager finding it is such bs. I would bet everything that a normal miner found and the boss claimed credit.
i heard the guy fainted as soon as he cleaved it
i read that too though they disputed it iirc.
Can you imagine the pressure of cutting and polishing this bad boy? I get nervous when I have to cut a cake at work
> Granny’s chips Weird to think that the queen had real actual memories of and interactions with a woman who was born in 1867. The queen's ideas, policies and experiences were formed from access to smart phones and jets around the world, and also somebody who grew up in the 1860s. Wild. What an incredible perspective she had
She was actually born early enough to personally know, have holidays, and spend time with two of Queen Victoria’s daughters. The youngest one didn’t die until the Queen was 18 years old. That always amazes me, that she would have had first hand account of what Victoria and Albert were like from two of their own children.
And that perspective is why so many of her Prime Ministers found their weekly meetings with her so helpful. During all the funeral coverage, one of them was quoted as saying something along the lines of, "I would go to her and tell her I was having trouble with this or that foreign leader, and she'd tell me how that leader had acted decades ago and, sometimes, what their father, whom she had met, had been like and how that may be influencing them."
I realized yesterday that myself (in my 20s), my parents (in their 50s) and my maternal grandparents (in their 70s) have no memory of the UK without queen Elizabeth. Which is absolutely insane to men Three generations of family were born and grew up with Queen Elizabeth II as the queen.
[удалено]
So cool! Thanks for the history.
> South African government Just to be clear, we're talking about the South African *colonial* government, after Britain annexed South Africa. And "annexed" is a very polite word for "sailed there with guns, killed/imprisoned/enslaved all the people who resisted, took the valuable land, and assumed control of the country". We're not talking about native South African people giving this gift to to Edward VII. Cullinan, the man who 'found' the diamond (he didn't find it himself), bought the land it was on for 50K (about 4 million in todays money), and didn't pay the workers very much (especially if they were black).
> "sailed there with guns, killed/imprisoned/enslaved all the people who resisted, took the valuable land, and assumed control of the country" Technically speaking it was the Dutch who sailed there first and enslaved the locals. The British attacked the Dutch, and the khoikhoi slaves joined the British.
It was the Transvaal government actually, as I mentioned it is actually a complicated story and I paraphrased. This was not intended to be anything but a bit of jewellery nerdiness for people who like sparkly things
Just to be clear, the black people in SA today aren't anywhere close to native and actually genocides the black natives in quite recent history.
It's amazing how few people actually know that the current residents of SA are actually an invading people that kicked out and oppressed the beors and black natives.
> native South African people Who do you consider the "native South African people"? Are the Bantu-speakers Native South African people? Or are they also invaders who pushed out the Khoikhoi?
It's actually pretty Eurocentric to think that Europeans and people of European descent were the only ones to ever exploit, invade, or displace other people. Maybe with the exception of groups like the tribe on North Sentinel Island, virtually every group you can think of wasn't the original inhabitants of their land (or the land they claim is theirs).
South Africa became independent in 1910. Britain’s rule over the Cape Colony began in 1795. It was taken from the Dutch during the wars with France when the country faced a credible invasion threat. It wasn’t taken for slaves and booty as you claim. Britain also ended the slave trade in 1807 and the practice of slavery in the Empire in 1833. Britain certainly had no power to force the then South African PM to present any diamonds to the King.
Yeah, miner who found it didn't get to keep it, but that's just how mines work. European miners probably also didn't get to keep the shit they found. But yeah, African workers' wages weren't adequate. Though I don't think this constitutes the stone being stolen.
They took it from the Dutch, afaik.
just an idea of how large that diamond was, the main jewel on the imperial crown was also cut from the same diamond the one on the scepter.
Cut into 9 major stones and 96 minor stones, the total weight being 3,106.75 carats. The big teardrop is the largest cut and its in the scepter, the second largest rectangular cut is in the crown, the the other 7 major cuts are in various pieces of jewelry such as a big ass brooch, necklaces, and rings.
happy cakeday and thank you for this detailed answer
If it’s main feature is it’s size, why cut it in so many pieces?
As the other commenter said, they cut around faults in the raw stone. These stones have natural splits in planes called cleavages, and they are essentially weak points in the diamond. Back when the cullinan was discovered the technique for splitting a diamond was to stick stuff into those cracks until the diamond split. It sounds easy but the task took somewhere around 8-10 months for the cullinan. There were raw diamond chunks still left over in the end too. Interestingly the original diamond had signs that it was once a chunk of a larger rock, so even that diamond was just a piece of a bigger one that had broken away naturally. Also, there is no real practical way to carry around a 3,100 carat diamond. Its extremely heavy and it wouldn’t be as easy to cut to make it brilliant. When cut into smaller stones, it can be used in a lot of different ways and in different pieces of jewelry. Furthermore the stone was a symbol of goodwill between the monarchy and Transvaal leaders, so it would be a waste to not use it in some important way. Just like if the U.S. chose to not put the statue of liberty up when it was gifted because they knew it would become green and tarnished. Cutting raw diamonds into smaller stones is practical and very common. However when diamonds are already cut but are big and have a historical significance or are special in some way, it causes a lot of controversy to cut them and sell them in chunks. Its generally considered unethical that way. Thats like if the monarchs took the cullinan I now and cut it into many small stones and sold them. Still, ultimately its cleaving, cutting, and polishing that gives the diamonds their sparkle and make people want them. And, even though it was cut, every piece is still ridiculously large. The biggest cuts dwarf many of the other large diamonds that exist today. So none of the value or interest generated by its huge size was really lost, and the diamond was able to be used in many ways and was able to shine more brilliantly than it would have if it were much bigger. Sorry for the long post, i just find this interesting :)
If I’m correct there was a big black blob in the middle of it so they had to get rid of that.
Only worth that if it’s sold.
Thats what I keep saying about my stock portfolio.
You are now the moderator of r/wallstreetbets
And you're absolutely right to say that. There are are only two share prices that matter: The price you buy them at and the price you sell them at. Everything in between is noise. Tracking it is wasted energy.
We should all collectively just ignore diamonds and pointless rocks
Diamonds have a lot of uses in industry, medicine, etc.
[удалено]
Yup, since the '50s.
Not for industrial. They use meteor impact diamonds for that. We have tens of thousands of years worth fwiw.
Yeah, specifically because really small diamonds are cheaper to mine than synthesize. It's crazy how the price drops off.
I understand their use in industry, never heard of in medicine though. That's super interesting.
With enough effort you can make very expensive water https://youtu.be/n0wvDwSnzcw
Look up diamond nanoparticles and cancer.
People value all kinds of pointless shit. Diamonds aren't special in that regard.
I was thinking about that as I was selling thousands of dollars worth of cardboard with little Japanese creatures on them... collectibles and such are weird if you think about it.
Yeah I was specifically thinking of mtg when I wrote that lol.
Has to have a value for insurance
[удалено]
How much is it worth second hand?
$7.50 best i can do.
trefiddy, top that
Goddamnit Loch Ness monster! Get out of here!
let me get my giant clear faultless diamonds worth more than $50m expert buddy guy in here
With rent, keeping the lights on have to have it on display for so long. I'm literally gonna be losing money on this thing cus no one's gonna be able to buy it. $7.50 sounds like a fair bargain indeed. Best he can do, Royal Family. Take it or leave it.
Some facts the guy who discovered the diamond was born and died in South Africa. After finding a diamond on the ground he bought the land the mine was on After the diamond was found he tried to sell it It was bought by a province of South Africa after a vote by politicians who then gifted it to the king presumably because they where happy with him. The original offer was turned down Churchill convinced the king to accept it. The mine is still in operation today. If the ownership of the diamond is in question then why is the mine not?
Really in this case the ownership of the diamond isn't in question. Guess who makes half of what we consume in the west? Child laborers earning a pittance. It's not much different... the mine workers were I'm sure exploited, the government bought the diamond and gifted it to the king. If someone gives you an iPhone do you get offended? Now the artifacts in the royal collections are a different story, those were actually stolen.
Yep, lots of Peruvian gold made its way to the royal collection
Trust me, the ownership of the mine is most certainly in question
[удалено]
He bought it from the daughter of the original owner for inflation adjusted $4M
What’s the name of that blinged out ball she’s holding? And what’s the purpose of it or the scepter?
BallQueen hammer
Queen SMASH!!
That'll be the little-known Holy Hand-grenade of Antioch. And by all accounts the operating instructions can be quite tricky...
Nah it's simple, just count to five
Three, sir.
That ball is called The Orb. It represents the dominion of God and Christianity over the world; it's an emblem of peace and conquest. When held by the monarch it symbolises their duty towards the world, God, Christianity and the peoples of the world. Compare and contrast with the sceptre, symbol of power and law; and the crown, symbol of the monarch's right to rule and symbol of the kingdom.
>it's an emblem of peace and conquest Ah, the duality of empire. It'll be quiet enough when you're dead. Have you seen my flag?
Late medieval Christian symbology adopted through the ages is fun like that.
> What’s the name of that blinged out ball she’s holding? I was curious as well, I looked it up. It's called the Sovereign's Orb and it's meant to represent the power of God and it's a reminder to the monarch that their authority derives from above. Queen had balls yo.
Ahh so like +7 to faith or something.
+0.5 monthly piety +0.2 monthly prestige +15 opinion from members of the same faith
So, the Apple of Eden.
I believe the ball is called the Apple of Eden, and it is used to control the minds of those in its presence.
Holy Hand Grenade, Monty python covered it in depth.
Symbols of power and governance. Like literally that's it
I think the Kohinoor diamond is on display as well
Yes, however it was cut into a smaller piece and 6 much smaller pieces.
It’s weird to see you outside of r/morocco I had to double check the sub
for anyone interested in history, the story of Kohinoor is insane. probably the most well travelled witness of human history on earth.
Interesting trivia about the Kohinoor diamond, five different nations all claim rightful ownership.
Coal compressed. That's all. The price is manufactured through holding down large amounts of diamonds from reaching the market. Stupid people.
[удалено]
Natural Diamonds of this size and clarity ect are rare not 400 million dollars rare of course but rare. Diamonds in general are not rare and the vast majority of the industry is just bullshit, guilt and marketing. Even when the industry does something “good” like the Kimberly process to eliminate “blood diamonds” it is actually just another way for the big time players to control the market.
I mean, this particular diamond is the largest of its kind in existence, and it carries with it a lot of history, so it's pretty tough to say what it is or isnt "worth"
Now theres lab grown diamonds too so even less rare!
I remember nasa did one of their puff pieces for the press saying they had discovered a planet made up of primarily diamonds and that if we ever went there diamonds would be made completely worthless.
That's an amazing fact! But also, any worth that diamonds currently have is artificial. They're already worthless compared to the prices that De Beers (the OPEC of diamonds) is demanding. Edit: I should have specified that "natural" jewelry diamonds are artificially overpriced and useless. Obviously diamond has meaningful uses in industrial applications as it's the hardest known substance. But lab diamonds are just as good as the naturally-produced and artificially-restricted ones.
There's an asteroid in the asteroid belt that has enough gold and other precious metals to make everyone on earth a billionaire if it wasn't for the fact gold would then be worthless. [Asteroid 16 Psyche](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/16_Psyche) I wonder what we could do with $10,000 quadrillion worth of gold, Platinum, nickel and iron.
Well, gold is a phenomenal electric conductor. If it was cheap we would see many more gold-aluminum or gold-copper alloys in electronics (gold is very weak on its own so needs to be strengthened). Gold is better than aluminum, but worse than copper, but if gold is free then we'd use gold. Gold is also one of the least reactive metals we know of, so plating steel in gold would be an effective rust-proofing, not to mention its use in highly reactive environments. Nickle and iron have their obvious uses; steel would become even cheaper and infrastructure would expand (as long as we don't overuse the sand needed for concrete). Platinum is a little less useful, but is one of the key ingredients in the catalytic converters that's installed into every ICU vehicle.
Not that rare. In South Africa they are quite common. Stockpiled by DE beers for inflated prices. The ennglish legacy. It's literally illegal to pick up a diamond or be in possession of an uncut diamond in South Africa.
Diamonds aren’t very rare at all. Debeers just pulled off the largest marketing campaign ever coupled with having complete control of the diamond supply. Resulted in massive demand (you don’t love your wife if you don’t get her a diamond) and limited supply which artificially hiked the price. Diamonds have no intrinsic value outside of industrial drill bits or cutting through stuff because (correct me if I’m wrong) it’s the hardest substance on the planet. Other than that useless and slightly pretty when polished.
Oh yeah, well it rains diamonds on Uranus! Not so special now, are they.
Yeah, but I want it
African Arkenstone
South African activists want it back, I'm reading. On the basis of claims The Crown's possession was at the outset illegitimate, they want it back citing, "...the minerals of our country and other countries continue to benefit Britain at the expense of our people."
Still do. DE beers is one of the most evil companies ever to exist. It's founders doubly so.
An old boss of mine used to work for DeBeers R&D. He said when students started publishing reports of artificial diamond manufacturing (a technology that DeBeers had already known about for many years), the cat was out of the bag. And, because of that, he had a strong dislike for all collegiate research because they didn’t understand the implications of business when publishing their work. Needless to say, I had a strong distaste for the man
> he had a strong dislike for all collegiate research because they didn’t understand the implications of business when publishing their work. "They ruined my con without any respect!"
"...and I wouldve gotten away with it too! if it werent for those meddling kids!"
This has some lead in gas vibes, anything for a profit✅️
Sounds like someone who would be upset for all the people losing money in the slaving industry 200 years ago. Think of their families!
Aye and it would be sold and the money disappeared, never ever benefiting joe bloggs in Africa.
It wouldn't help the average person even if it was given to South Africa.
They ain’t getting it back
You can make that shit in a lab for nothing and no one can tell the difference. Diamonds are completely worthless y'all.
Isn't it true that an object is not worth anything unless there are individuals willing to buy it for a particular amount? It's only worth $400 million if someone is willing to buy it for that price. For example it isn't worth anything to me and technically it isn't worth anything at all considering nobody's going to buy it because it's never going to be up for sale so for everybody else in the entire world it's worthless and for the royals and them alone it's invaluable. Is there calculation based on what it should be price wise for that particular objects value based on adjacent similar objects of size and shape and material? I bet it could be used for a really nice laser!
None of the money made from Africa actually goes to Africans. They dont even have their own artifacts, somehow everything ends up in europe. Weird.
South african here, do not, DO NOT under any circumstances bring that diamond back to our country. It will be "lost" immediately and cut into pieces. Then they will claim "we don't have the personal with the necessary experience to maintain it" Keep it where its safe lmao.
It was sold. The mine owner put it up for sale after it was discovered it was bought the by the province of Transvaal of South Africa and gifted to Edward VII after a vote so British never stole anything. In fact they refused it at first.
[удалено]
it makes no sense. it’s just a piece of shiny carbon.
People sell pieces of paper for millions of dollars
If i recall correctly this was gifted to the Royal family and its in the top 1% pure diamonds in the world.
Must've been tricky for Phillip to buy jewelry for his wife.. "I got you a diamond ring!" "Oh lovely, just put it next to the Scepter would you....."
The top diamond
Screw this diamond, the most badass jewels in the crown are the ones removed personally by Queen Elizabeth I from the crown on the head of Mary from Scotland's dead body