Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. In my rough state I was one of the biggest diamonds ever discovered in the world. In fact, I was so huge that the mine management east of Pretoria thought me a fake and threw me out of a window in disgust. Cut and polished into nine main pieces, my largest piece weighs an astonishing 530 carats. Happily, I live in the Tower of London.
2. I can be considered to be coffee-coloured or slightly red. The first time I saw the light of day was in 1967 at a mine in the Free State province, South Africa. Cut and polished I only weigh 111 carats but am known for my brilliance.
3. In 1893 I was discovered at Jagersfontein Mine in South Africa. My discoverer was rewarded with 500 pounds and a horse. Blue-white in colour with tiny black spots embedded inside, I weighed in at 995 carats. Later on I was cut into ten pieces, ranging from 69 to 9 carats.
4. I can proudly call myself an internally flawless diamond. When I arrived in New York in 1952, I was carried in a brown paper bag. The cutters decided to keep me intact and spent 1400 hours grinding and polishing me down to a 128 carat pear-shaped gem. At some time, I was called the Ice Queen.
5. In 1918 I was sold at auction at Christie's in London on behalf of the British Red Cross. I was born at a De Beers mine in South Africa and noted for my canary-yellow colour and 375 carats. Doing the rounds in sale rooms around the world, my current owner's identity has never been disclosed.
6. Miners found me in the Big Hole in Kimberley, the largest hand-excavated hole in the world. Beautifully colourless and weighing in at 153 rough carats, I was presented to Queen Victoria in 1881. Many sources state that cutting and polishing turned me into a lifeless, dull stone. Luckily, I've since been recut to try and restore my lost brilliance.
7. In the early days of mining, I turned up on the banks of the Vaal River as an alluvial diamond. After seeing my yellow colour and 296 carats, my discoverer was so shocked that he could not eat for two days. I was sent to the cutters in Amsterdam and emerged as a brilliant-cut gem of 123 carats.
8. Although no one knows from what De Beers mine I came or even exactly when, I have had a highly visible career in New York City. Weighing 287 carats, I was closely studied in Paris for a full year before being cut and polished into a yellow cushion-shaped gem with ninety facets.
9. My discoverer was a 62 year old digger who had worked claims for eighteen years without success. Icy white and weighing 726 carats, I came from Elandsfontein east of Pretoria. I was considered a likely jubilee gift to King George of England but ended up in New York instead. I was cut into twelve pieces in 1936.
10. When I was discovered in 1895, I was named after a Free State president. Two years later I was renamed for a significant event in England. Another child of Jagersfontein Mine, I weighed 650 carats. When I was cut and polished, I was the first diamond in the world to inaugurate a new cutting style named after my new first name.
Source: Author
sterretjie101
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Exit10 before going online.
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