Diamond: a journey to the heart of an obsession

273 Pages·2001·9.544 MB·English

by  Hart, Matthew

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D i a m o n d
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A J o u r n e y
t o
t h e H e a r t
o f
a n O b s e s s i o n
wa l k e r & c o m pa n y
n ew yo r k
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D i a m o n d
(cid:2)
M a t t h e w H a r t
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Copyright © 2001 by Matthew Hart
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted
in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including
photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval
system, without permission in writing from the Publisher.
First published in the United States of America in 2001 by
Walker Publishing Company, Inc.
ISBN 0-8027-9928-0
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To Heather
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C O N T E N T S
1. A Large Pink 1
2. The Diamond Seas 22
3. The Middle Empire 32
4. The Long Hunt 60
5. Rush in the Barrens 84
6. The End of the Old Cartel 113
7. The Manufacture of Desire 138
8. Bad Goods 159
9. The Diamond Wars 182
10. Diamond Cutter 201
11. Rosy Blue 223
12. The Dogrib Country 241
Appendix 253
Selected Bibliography 255
Acknowledgments 259
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
1. Garimpeiros’ barges on the abaete. (Matthew Hart) 3
2. Gilmar Campos with the pink (Matthew Hart) 5
3. A garimpeiro. (Matthew Hart) 7
4. An assortment of rough diamonds at the Diamond Trading
Company, London. Each pile is valued at $500,000,
demonstrating the wide range in per-carat prices between
large and small stones. (De Beers) 13
5. A kimberlite pipe. (BHPDiamonds) 25
6. Barney Barnato (De Beers) 38
7. Early digs at Kimberly. (De Beers) 40
8. Cecil rhodes (De Beers) 42
9 The checks that started the cartel: With the sudden
payment of 5,338,650. Cecil Rhodes dissolved
the last opposition to his takeover of the
Kimberly mine. (De Beers) 44
10 Joseph Asscher cleaving the Cullinan diamond in Amsterdam,
February 14, 1908. (De Beers) 46
11. Models of polished gems from the Cullinan rough. Cullinan I,
also known as the Great Star of Africa, weighs 530.2 carats—
the largest diamond in the world. It is set in the British royal
scepter. (De Beers) 47
12. Ernest Oppenheimer. (De Beers) 49
13. Southern Africa 52
14. Botswana 56
15. Chris Jennings placing a geophysical probe in
Botswana in 1965. (Jennings family) 62
16. John Gurney. (John Gurney) 65
17. Extracting an ore sample from an African
kimberlite target. (Matthew Hart) 66
18. Northwestern Canada 75
19 Chris Jennings ice fishing in the Barrens. (Jennings family) 80
20. Robert Gannicott. (Aber Diamond Corporation) 86
21. Gren Thomas (Gren Thomas) 88
22. Eira Thomas. (Matthew Hart) 94
23. A diamond-exploration camp at the edge
of the Barrens. (Matthew Hart) 96
24. The winter road. (Matthew Hart) 105
25. Using a magnetometer to pinpoint a target pipe at
Lac de Gras. (Aber Diamond Corporation) 106
26. Eira Thomas in 1999, in front of the shaft that tunneled
out under Lac de Gras to sample her discovery—
the A-154 pipe. (Matthew Hart) 111
27. Tokyo Sexwale. (Trans Hex Group) 115
28. London’s Diamond Quarter 122
29. Sorters at the Diamond Trading Company,
London. (De Beers) 124
30. Simon Teakle with a close model of the Ahmadabad, a 78.86-carat
top-color diamond acquired for Christie’s by Teakle, and
auctioned at Geneva for $4,324,554. (Christie’s) 151
31. Vacuuming rough at Namdeb on the
Diamond Coast. (De Beers) 162
32. A De Beers mining ship off
Namibia. (De Beers) 167
33. William Goldberg. (William Goldberg
Diamond Corporation) 203
34. Motti Bernstein marking the yellow.
(Matthew Hart) 205
35. An illustration of the importance of proportion. In
the well-cut diamond on the left, the angles are such
that light entering the top bounces around inside the
stone and comes back out the top, creating brilliance.
In the shallow-cut diamond in the center and the deep-cut
diamond on the right, the angles cause the light to leak from
the bottom, reducing brilliance. (Dia Met Minerals) 211
36. Left to right: The top, bottom, and side views of a
diamond polished into the classic brilliant
cut devised by Marcel Tolkowsky in 1914. 217
37. Facet plan of the Centenary diamond showing the complex
scheme that yielded 247 facets. (De Beers) 219