The Jubilee Diamond, originally known as the Reitz Diamond is a colourless, cushion-shaped

diamond Diamond is a Allotropes of carbon, solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Diamond is tasteless, odourless, strong, brittle solid, colourless in pure form, a poor conductor of e ...

weighing 245.35 carats (49.07

gram The gram (originally gramme; SI unit symbol g) is a Physical unit, unit of mass in the International System of Units (SI) equal to one thousandth of a kilogram. Originally defined in 1795 as "the absolute Mass versus weight, weight of a volume ...

s), making it the sixth largest

in the world. It was originally named after

Francis William Reitz Francis William Reitz Jr. (5 October 1844 – 27 March 1934) was a South African lawyer, politician, statesman, publicist, and poet who was a member of parliament of the Cape Colony, Chief Justice and fifth State President of the Orange Free ...

, the then president of the

Orange Free State The Orange Free State ( ; ) was an independent Boer-ruled sovereign republic under British suzerainty in Southern Africa during the second half of the 19th century, which ceased to exist after it was defeated and surrendered to the British Em ...

where the stone was discovered, before being renamed to honour the 60th anniversary of the coronation of

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...

in 1897. The original stone, a rough octahedron weighing 650.80 carats (130.16 g), was discovered in 1895 at the

Jagersfontein Mine Jagersfontein Mine was an open-pit mine in South Africa, located close to the town of Jagersfontein and about south-west of Bloemfontein.South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. A consortium of diamond merchants from

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

purchased it along with its even larger sister, the

Excelsior Excelsior may refer to: Arts and entertainment Literature and poetry * "Excelsior" (Longfellow), an 1841 poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow * "Excelsior", an 1877 picture book in verse by Bret Harte, published as an advertisement for the Sa ...

, in 1896, and sent it to Amsterdam where it was polished by M.B. Barends. A 40 carat (8 g) chunk was removed, which itself yielded a 13.34 carat (2.668 g) pear-shaped gem eventually purchased by

Carlos I of Portugal Dom (title), ''Dom'' Carlos I (; 28 September 1863 – 1 February 1908), known as "the Diplomat" (), "the Oceanographer" () among many other names, was List of Portuguese monarchs, King of Portugal from 1889 until his Lisbon Regicide, assassin ...

Dorabji Tata Sir Dorabji Tata (27 August 1859 – 3 June 1932) was an Indian industrialist and philanthropist of the British Raj, and a key figure in the history and development of the Tata Group. He was knighted in 1910 for his contributions to indu ...

acquired the Jubilee Diamond around 1900 and gave it to his wife Meherbai who used to wear it during her visits to the royal courts and public functions. The Jubilee Diamond was the largest in the world until 1905 when a bigger diamond, the Cullinan I also known as the Great Star of Africa which was itself cut from an even larger rough diamond - The Cullinan Diamond, was exhibited. It was sold after his death in 1932, and the money went to the formation of the

Sir Dorabji Tata Trust The Sir Dorabji Tata Trust was established by Sir Dorab Tata (fondly called ''Sir Dorabji''), the elder son of Tata Group founder Jamsetji Tata. Founded in 1932, it is one of the oldest non-sectarian philanthropic organisations in India. Hist ...

.The Sir Dorabji Tata Trust – A Historical Perspective
, Sir Dorabji Tata Trust website

References

"The Jubilee"
''Famous, Historic and Notable Diamonds'' {{Authority control Diamonds originating in South Africa 1895 in South Africa Individual diamonds

See also

Further reading

References