kopje-walloper, noun

/ˈkɔpiˌwɒləpə/
Forms:
Also koppie walloper.
Origin:
Derivative of kopje-walloping; see quotation 1897.
historical
A diamond-buyer who bought stones directly from diggers on their claims, before this trade was outlawed by the Diamond Trade Act of 1882; kooper.
1886 G.A. Farini Through Kalahari Desert 21It was found that the wily Jew was a ‘partner’ in a ‘company’ of ten ‘Koppje wallopers,’ to whom a single licence was issued on payment of 10l. or 1l. per head.
1887 J.W. Matthews Incwadi Yami 227The ‘kopje walloper,’ who was generally a gentleman of the Hebrew persuasion..was one of those who, when diamond buying was as legal in the open air as in a properly registered office, used to haunt the edge of the mine.
1897 H. Raymond B.I. Barnato 14The slang camp term indeed for this (sc. dealing in diamonds) was ‘kopje walloper’...The diamonds were obtained from a number of kopjes or small hills in the neighbourhood of the camp, and the dealers travelled on foot from one to the other purchasing the finds as they were turned out at the sorting tables.
1910 J. Angove In Early Days 64In the early seventies there was a class of diamond buyers known as ‘Kopje-Wallopers’ — that is to say, having taken out a licence for the purpose, they were allowed to go where they pleased and buy diamonds whenever opportunity offered.
1923 B. Ronan Forty S. Afr. Yrs 166He went up to the diamond fields to join his brother, and there became a ‘Kopje Walloper,’ or dealer in diamonds.
1931 Nat. Geog. Mag. Apr. 421‘Kopje-wallopers’ — those who bought other men’s finds on speculation — hurrying to and fro among the sorting tables.
1947 Cape Argus 20 Dec. 2A ‘koppie walloper’ was a diamond buyer who went from claim to claim buying stones. The name was used in Kimberley in the early days.
1955 E. Rosenthal in Saron & Hotz Jews in S. Afr. 114A ‘koppie-walloper’, that is one who went from claim to claim buying diamonds as the diggers produced them.
1963 O. Doughty Early Diamond Days 119The lowest class of diamond buyers were known by the rather contemptuous name of ‘diamond koopers’, or more commonly, by the yet more contemptuous name of ‘kopje-wallopers’...Too poor to buy an office they perambulated the mines in search of sellers on the spot...Many were so successful that before long they graduated into the highest ranks of the diamond-buying hierarchy.
1976 B. Roberts Kimberley 123Most ‘kopje-wallopers’ were simply small-time opportunists who, without claims or much capital, toured the diamond-sorting tables in the hopes of picking up (or fiddling) a bargain.
1983 R.L. Fish Rough Diamond 75A ‘kopje walloper’..goes from claim to claim..buying the day’s find from the miners, offering as little as he can for their stones, and then selling them for as much as he can to the diamond traders.
1989 Personality 13 Mar. 38A koppie-walloper, a go-between running from claim to claims office and selling diamonds to the buyers for a commission.
A diamond-buyer who bought stones directly from diggers on their claims, before this trade was outlawed by the Diamond Trade Act of 1882; kooper.
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18861989

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historical
kopje-wallop, verb intransitivev.kopje-walloping, verbal nounvbl n.
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