who found the first diamond in south africa
Eureka Diamond The Eureka Diamond was found near Hopetown on the Orange River by a 15 year old boy named Erasmus Stephanus Jacobs in 1867. Soon afterward, Schalk Van Niekerk entrusted the stone to John O'Reilly, who took it to Colesberg to inquire as to its nature and value. The stone came under the view of the acting Civil Commissioner Lourenzo Boyes, who on seeing that the stone cut glass declared: "I believe it to be a diamond." [3] The stone was then sent by mail in an ordinary paper envelope to Dr. William Guybon Atherstone, the colony's foremost mineralogist, in Grahamstown.[3] Atherstone confirmed that it was a 21.25 carat (4.25 g) diamond[3] (although some sources put the weight at 24 carats (4.8Â g)).[4]