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1886 G. A. Farini Through Kalahari Desert ii. 21 The wily Jew was a ‘partner’ in a ‘company’ of ten ‘Koppje wallopers’.

1897 H. Raymond B. I. Barnato i. 14 The slang camp term..for this [sc. diamond-buyer] was ‘kopje wallopper’, derived from the circumstance that in the earliest days 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.

1947 Cape Argus 20 Dec. 2/5 A ‘koppie walloper’ was a diamond buyer who went from claim to claim buying stones. The name was used in Kimberley in the early days.

1949 K. L. Simms Sun-drenched Veld viii. 70 Profits dwindled quickly, especially as native workmen stole many diamonds, which they sold to unscrupulous ‘kopje wallopers’ who made enormous profits without having done any hard work.

1955 E. Rosenthal in Saron & Hotz Jews in S. Afr. vi. 114 A ‘koppie-walloper’, that is one who went from claim to claim buying diamonds as the diggers produced them.

1967 E. M. Slatter My Leaves are Green 38 Now don't sell it to any of these kopje-wallopers.