Schalk van Niekerk
Full name: Schalk Jacobus van Niekerk
Lifespan: (1828 Graaff-Reinet - 1887 Winburg)
Occupation: Farmer, gemstone collector
See: Eureka diamond
Schalk van Niekerk was the sone of Michiel Guiluame van Niekerk (1785 Cape - 1859 Colesburg) and Hester Aletta Sophia Pienaar (1803 Graaff-Reinet - 1879 Hopetown). Their farm 'Duvenaarsfontein' later became Hopetown.
He married Aletta Elizabeth du Toit (c.1833 Tulbagh - ?). They had 11 children.
In 1867, on a farm named 'De Kalk' near Hopetown on the Orange River, a 15-year-old boy named Erasmus Jacobs found a shiny pebble. Jacobs gave it to his neighbor, farmer Schalk van Niekerk (1828 Graaff-Reinet - 1887 Winburg), a collector of unusual stones, who suspected its value and entrusted it to John O'Reilly. In late 1867 the diamond, later named the Eureka Diamond, was sold to Sir Philip Wodehouse for £500.
O'Reilly and van Niekerk collaborated again in 1869 when van Niekerk acquired another large stone (83.5 carats uncut, later cut to 47.69 carats) from a Griqua shepherd for 500 sheep, 10 oxen, and a horse; O'Reilly helped authenticate and sell it as the Star of South Africa for £11,200, further fueling the rush to Colesberg Kopje (renamed Kimberley).
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