As many people know, South Africa is one of the world’s best diamond-producing areas. Some of the first diamonds were discovered in South Africa. This story begins in 1866, with the discovery of a diamond happening purely by chance. One day, fifteen-year-old Erasmus Jacobs, who was living on a farm with his family on the southern bank of the Orange River, was searching for a stick to clear a drain. On the riverbed, he saw a sparkling stone in the sunlight and decided to pick it up and take it home.
A few days later, a family friend of the Jacobs family – Schalk van Niekerk – visited the family and noticed the shiny stone. He recognised it to be different from others he had seen. Although he had never seen a diamond, he loved the coloured gems he found in the region. Noticing his keen interest in the stone, Mrs. Jacobs gifted it to him. Van Niekerk was convinced there was something special about this white stone and had it sent to Dr. Guybon Atherstone – an amateur mineralogist in Grahamstown.
After careful examination, Dr. Atherstone declared that this was a diamond of 21.25ct worth £500 at the time. Experts then confirmed this in the Cape. Van Niekerk was paid £350 for it and offered half the payment to the Jacobs family, which Mr. Jacobs refused. Sir Philip Wodehouse, who was governor of the Cape Colony, purchased the diamond and shipped it to London, where it stayed for 100 years.
It was named “Eureka,” and they cut it into a cushion shape weighing 10.73ct.
The next phase
For over two years after this discovery, no more diamonds were found. The story passed into the realm of fables until another chance discovery was made by a Griqua shepherd named Booi. In 1869, Booi was driving his flock on the Zandfontein Farm near the Orange River when he was drawn to a stone that shone unusually.
That evening, he sought shelter from a storm and offered the unusual stone to a farmer, who refused it. Instead, he told Booi to take it to his neighbour, Schalk van Niekerk, interested in stones. Years after Eureka, van Niekerk had more experience and knew immediately that this was a diamond.
This one was four times larger than the one given to him by the Jacobs. When van Niekerk asked Booi what price he wanted, Booi replied, “Sir, whatever you wish.” Van Niekerk offered him all of his possessions – five hundred sheep, ten oxen, and his horse. Booi left the next day with his newfound wealth, and a few days later, van Niekerk went to Hopetown to weigh the diamond.
It was 83.50ct, and van Niekerk received £11’300 for it. This was subsequently cut into a 47.75ct pear shape and was bought by the Earl of Dudley. It was named the “Dudley Diamond” but more commonly known as the “Star of South Africa”. The following months after van Niekerk’s sale of this famous diamond, the diamond rush in South Africa began, with prospectors heading to the Vaal and Orange Rivers banks.
Coming Home
In 1966, one hundred years after discovering the Eureka Diamond, Harry Oppenheimer, the chairman of De Beers, purchased the Eureka and it was donated to the South African people. The first South African diamond was returned home and is now on display in the Kimberley Mine Museum. The Star of South Africa remained in the Dudley family until 1974. It was then sold on auction in Geneva for 1.6 million Swiss Francs. It was last seen for public viewing in 2005 at the Natural History Museum of London.
Source: Diamonds Myth, Magic & Reality; Crown Publishers New York
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