The Stone That Changed Hands

Schalk van Niekerk, a neighbouring farmer, saw the stone and suspected it was worth more than anyone realised. He had it examined, and the small object began moving from hand to hand. What had been a boy's curiosity was identified as a diamond. News spread quickly. Buyers arrived, followed by prospectors, surveyors and fortune-seekers carrying picks, tents and wooden pegs. Ground once measured by cattle and crops was suddenly judged by what might be hidden beneath it. Claims were marked and farms divided into squares small enough to buy, sell and fight over. Erasmus watched the discovery move farther away from him as its price increased. He had found the stone without understanding its value, but the men who understood its value knew how to turn it into ownership. Soon larger diamonds were found and the rush intensified. Wagons crowded the roads, camps spread across the landscape and strangers arrived believing fortune lay beneath their feet.

By the time the richest deposits were identified, the land that would become the centre of the diamond industry belonged to the De Beer brothers. Their surname became attached to the mine even as the property passed into the hands of wealthier buyers and businessmen. The brothers sold the farm and returned to ordinary lives. Their name did not. Companies absorbed smaller claims, fortunes rose from the ground and an industry formed powerful enough to reshape the country. The name De Beers became known across the world. Yet the people closest to the beginning remained outside the wealth it created. Erasmus Jacobs received no share of the empire that followed, and the De Beer brothers left no diamond fortune to their descendants.

The first stone was found by a child who saw beauty before price. But discovery did not decide who would profit. The reward went to those who could measure the land, mark its boundaries and claim what lay beneath it.