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Henri Lemoine Diamond Fraud Collection
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Held at: Princeton University Library: Manuscripts Division [Contact Us]
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Princeton University Library: Manuscripts Division. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.
Overview and metadata sections
Henri Lemoine was a French fraudster who claimed to be able to produce synthetic diamonds. In 1904 Lemoine contacted Sir Julius Wernher, a German-born British owner of South African diamond mining companies, to demonstrate his claim. Over the next three years, Wernher invested thousands of pounds in Lemoine's "secret" process. Lemoine was convicted of fraud in 1908 but left the country before sentencing.
The collection consists of contractual papers relating to Lemoine's claim to be able to make synthetic diamonds: correspondence, contracts, letters of intent, and other documents. Besides Lemoine, the other parties represented in the various agreements are Julius Wernher of Wernher, Beit & Co., William Feldenheimer of Feldenheimer & Co., and Jocelyn Brandon of Brandon & Nicholson.
Arranged by type of material and chronologically within.
Purchased from M. Benjamin Katz Rare Books in 2011 (AM2011-92).
For preservation reasons, original analog and digital media may not be read or played back in the reading room. Users may visually inspect physical media but may not remove it from its enclosure. All analog audiovisual media must be digitized to preservation-quality standards prior to use. Audiovisual digitization requests are processed by an approved third-party vendor. Please note, the transfer time required can be as little as several weeks to as long as several months and there may be financial costs associated with the process. Requests should be directed through the Ask Us Form.
This collection was processed by John Delaney in 2011. Finding aid written by John Delaney in 2011.
Folder inventory added by Nicholas Williams '2015 in 2012.
No materials were separated during 2011 processing.
People
Subject
- Publisher
- Manuscripts Division
- Finding Aid Date
- 2011
- Access Restrictions
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The collection is open for research.
- Use Restrictions
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Single copies may be made for research purposes. To cite or publish quotations that fall within Fair Use, as defined under U. S. Copyright Law, no permission is required. For instances beyond Fair Use, it is the responsibility of the researcher to determine whether any permissions related to copyright, privacy, publicity, or any other rights are necessary for their intended use of the Library's materials, and to obtain all required permissions from any existing rights holders, if they have not already done so. Princeton University Library's Special Collections does not charge any permission or use fees for the publication of images of materials from our collections, nor does it require researchers to obtain its permission for said use. The department does request that its collections be properly cited and images credited. More detailed information can be found on the Copyright, Credit and Citations Guidelines page on our website. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us through the Ask Us! form.
Collection Inventory
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