On Saturday, at the coronation ceremony in London, King Charles III will hold the scepter, which has the "Great Star of Africa" diamond on it.
The diamond is 530 carats and was discovered in South Africa in 1905, as a smaller part of the 3106 carat Cullinan diamond that was mined near Pretoria. Recently, an online petition was launched in South Africa demanding that Great Britain return the "Great Star of Africa" to that country. The petition has so far been signed by 8000 people.
"The diamond must be returned to South Africa." It must be a sign of our pride, heritage and culture," said Johannesburg-based lawyer and activist Mothusi Kamanga, Reuters reported.
"I think that, in general, the African people are beginning to understand that decolonization is not only about giving people certain freedoms, but also about giving back what was taken from us," Kamanga stated.
Cullinan is the largest gem-quality rough diamond in the world. It was found by Frederick Wells, open pit manager of the Premier Diamond Mining Company.
The government of the Transvaal colony, on whose territory the unique gem was found, presented it in 1907 to the then British king Edward VII for his 66th birthday.
To fool the tracks and prevent theft, a copy of the Cullinan was sent by ship, and the original jewel reached England by ordinary mail.
Callinan was sent from England to Amsterdam, to the workshop of Josef Asher, who spent six months studying the internal structure of the crystal and figuring out how to divide and process it. In the end, he decided to make the "Star of Africa" into nine large and 96 smaller diamonds. Grinding began on March 3, 1908 and lasted eight months.
The largest diamond, weighing 530.20 carats, teardrop-shaped and cut into 74 facets, is embedded in the British royal scepter, which is on display in the Tower of London, in a special collection of crown jewels. The second largest piece obtained from the large diamond is called Cullinan II and is embedded in the British Crown.
Cullinan parts cut for the crown jewels were sold at auction in 2019.
The media characterized a petition launched to return the "Star of Africa" to South Africa as an inconvenience before the coronation of Charles III.
S.Ć./Politika/Maestro Jewelers
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