The renowned firm Royal Ascher Diamond Company from the Netherlands was commissioned to carve it. In February 1908, a remarkable audience gathered to see Joseph Ascher carve the huge stone. To produce big, beautiful diamonds, he needed to hit the Cullinan in exactly the right place. The diamond turned out to be of such exceptional quality that, on its first strike, its steel blade broke, while the stone remained intact, leaving no scratch on its surface.
The result was nine diamonds of just over a hundred carats each and 96 small brilliants of less than one carat. Except for the two largest, baptized with the names of Cullinan I (530.20 carats) and Cullinan II, which were used for the Royal Scepter, used by the British sovereign on occasions as the coronation of a new monarch, the same scepter that Carlos III will hold in his left hand on May 6 in Westminster Abbey, at the time of his coronation and that has belonged to British monarchs since the 17th century. The diamond can also be taken apart and made into a pendant.
South Africa demands the return of the Cullinan diamond from the United Kingdom
The claims for the cullinanalong with requests for repatriation, have intensified since the queen’s death Isabel II. Several sectors of South Africa consider the acquisition of the jewels illegitimate. Indeed, more than 6,000 people have signed a petition for the South Star to be returned and exhibited in a South African museum.
“The diamond cullinan must be returned to South Africa with immediate effect,” said the activist. Thanduxolo Know It to the media and clarified that, “minerals from our country and other countries continue to benefit Great Britain at the expense of our people.”
“Our call is for the repatriation of all colonial theft, of which the theft of the Great Star of Africa is a part,” as the controversial diamond is also called, he told CNN Leigh-Ann Mathysnational spokesperson for the Economic Freedom Fighters, a South African opposition political party.
Source: Ambito
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