Welkom, South Africa - Ernest Oppenheimer Theatre, gold, diamonds - postcard

• Postcard

   

• Picture / Image:  Ernest Oppenheimer Skouburg / Theatre, Welkom [South Africa] Gold and Diamonds [these seem to be artistic works representing the person who its named after]
• Publisher: Dreyer Drukkers, Bloemfontein
• Postally used: no
• Stamp:  n/a
• Postmark(s): n/a
• Sent to:  n/a
• Notes / condition: 

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Text from the free encyclopedia WIKIPEDIA may appear below to give a little background information (internal links may not  work) :

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Welkom (Afrikaans pronunciation: [ˈvɛlkɔm]) is the second-largest city in the Free State province of South Africa, located about 140 kilometres (90 mi) northeast of Bloemfontein, the provincial capital. Welkom is also known as Circle City, City Within A Garden, Mvela and Matjhabeng. The city's Sesotho name, Matjhabeng means 'where nations meet', derived from the migrant labour system, where people of various countries such as Lesotho, Malawi and Mozambique etc. met to work in the mines of the gold fields.

A settlement was laid out on a farm named "Welkom" (which is Afrikaans and Dutch for "welcome") after gold was discovered in the region, and it was officially proclaimed a town in 1948. The town became a municipality in 1961.^[2] It now falls in the Matjhabeng Municipality, part of the Lejweleputswa District. Welkom was officially declared a city on 14 February 1968.

Sir Ernest Oppenheimer (22 May 1880 – 25 November 1957) was a diamond and gold mining entrepreneur, financier and philanthropist,^[1][2][3] who controlled De Beers and founded the Anglo American Corporation of South Africa.

He was born in Friedberg, Germany, the son of Edward Oppenheimer, a cigar merchant. Oppenheimer began his working life at 17, when he entered Dunkelsbuhler & Company, a diamond brokerage in London. His efforts impressed his employer and in 1902, at the age of 22, he was sent to South Africa to represent the company as a buyer in Kimberley, where he eventually rose to the position of mayor.

He became great friends with William Lincoln Honnold, an American engineer, chairman Transvaal Coal Trust, Brakpan Mines, Springs Mines and The New Era Company.^{[citation needed]}

In 1917, they launched the Anglo American Corporation with financial assistance from J. P. Morgan. The initial capital was £1 million. Half of the capital was subscribed in America and half in England and South Africa.^[4]

In 1927, Ernest Oppenheimer managed to wrest control of Cecil Rhodes's De Beers empire and built and consolidated the company's global monopoly over the world's diamond industry until his retirement.

He was involved in a number of controversies, including price fixing, antitrust behaviour and an allegation of not releasing industrial diamonds for the US war effort during World War II.^[5][6]

He died in Johannesburg in 1957. He was born into a Jewish family, but as an adult, he converted to Anglicanism and was buried at St George's Church, Parktown. He was succeeded in the business by his son Harry Oppenheimer. Oppenheimer's brother, Sir Bernard Oppenheimer, was also heavily involved in the diamond industry.

In 1964, the Oppenheimer Diamond was named in his honour by its owner, Harry Winston, who donated the stone (not a gem, as it remains uncut and unpolished) to the Smithsonian Institution as a memorial.