The Premier Mine

In the town of Cullinan, South Africa, lies the premier mine. It is an open pit construction. In 1905 it became famous when the worlds largest diamond was discovered. The famous Cullinan Diamond at approximately 3,100 carats. It was by far, the largest diamond ever found.

It was discovered by Frederick Wells near the successful end of a long day of hard work. He was doing a walk through, tidying up the days production when he saw the Hugh piece of what he genuinely believed was glass sticking out from the side of the wall shaft.

He actually thought this was some practical joke played on him by one of his co-workers. His heart must have skipped a beat when he retrieved it and realized to his amazement, it was a real diamond. He made approximately $10,000 for his find, It was then renamed the Cullinan after Sir Thomas Cullinan who owned the mine. The diamond was later sold to the British monarchy ( King Edward VII ) for approximately $800,000. The stone was then sent to the Asscher Brothers in Amsterdam to be cut. After toiling for months on how and where to cut it, The first attempt to cut was made, but the blades broke. On the second attempt Mr. Asscher successfully cut the stone in half.

It was Rumored that he hired a doctor and a nurse, just in case he fainted when he struck it. This Just added to the legend of the diamond. He might not have fainted, but I'm sure his heart stopped when he realized the historical significance of his work.

Eventually, the diamond was cut in three large pieces, producing nine gem quality stones and numerous others at lesser value. All said and done the premier mine has produced some very famous diamonds. The Cullinan 1 was eventually called the Great Star of Africa approximately 530 carats. The Cullinan 2 was called the Lesser star of Africa approximately 317 carats. In a ceremony back in 2003 the premier was renamed the Cullinan mine. premier mine