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There was a time--it is said--that the bushmen in South Africa used to weight their hunting sticks with diamonds. Ergo: Who truly discovered the first diamond in Africa. Ah ... but these diamonds did not bring to the forefront the attraction of world attention to South Africa's diamond potential.
Enter the Cape Colony of De Kalk. Prospectors scoured the land only to find the pickings meager.
1868. Mineralogist Professor James R. Gregory makes a thorough inspection of the Cape. Are there diamonds there? The report was damning. There was no indication in the area to even remotely suggest there were diamond bearing deposits in any of the surrounding localities. For the few diamonds that were found there ... the answer was truly quite simple: They were brought there by Ostriches ... or the area had been "seeded" in order to improve land values. I tend to be shocked ... shocked I say ... to even intimate that man would stoop to such lowly tactics.Let us backtrack to the cause of these investigations. The year: 1867. We introduce a Mr. John O'Reilly. He's a traveling trader. He deals in ostrich feathers and elephant tusks. He calls at a lonely farmstead in the Cape. It's the De Kalk farm. A place to rest for the night. Living on the farm was Van Niekerk ... a luckless chap and a collector of apparently worthless colored stones. Why not? The countryside was bleak. Amusements were few. What else was there do to? Van Niekerk showed O'Reilly his collection. One stone drew particular attention. It was unusual. It was heavier than the others. It had been discovered by a fifteen year old boy: Erasmus Jacobs. Van Niekerk saw it ... liked it ... tried to scratch glass with it. Was it ... could it be ... a diamond? He offered to buy it but was laughed at. That piece of junk. Take it. It's yours.
And so Van Niekerk gave O'Reilly the stone and asked him to see what he could do with it. O'Reilly showed it around. They all laughed. That? A diamond? A worthless nothing. A topaz at best. If I'm wrong I'll buy you a new hat. The value was ultimately uncovered by a nearby geologist. Yes sir. It is indeed a diamond. Ruined every jeweler's file it was tested on. 21 1/4 carats ... later recut to 10.73 carats. O'Reilly got his new hat. And the diamond became known as the "Eureka" and its story told and retold many times.
And this is what started prospectors rummaging about the area ... looking for The Big One. The Eureka was valued at 500 pounds. It was exhibited in Paris at the "Exposition Universelle". I have a picture of this diamond before and after cutting.
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And there ya have it. That's it for this week folks. Catch you all next week. Benjamin Mark
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