De Beers and the Steinmetz Group has unveiled the world’s rarest and arguably the most valuable set of diamonds ever put together to mark the year 2000. Stressing that ‘millennia come and go, but diamonds are forever,’ the diamond giant’s Chairman Nicky Oppenheimer presented the De Beers Millennium Star, a D-color, internally and externally flawless [...]

This is a 24.44-carat emerald cut owned by Robert Mouawad. It’s current estimated value is over $20,000,000. (Twenty Million Dollars.) The exact color grade and clarity has not been published, but it due to its name and the photo, it is safe to say the stone has a higher color saturation than the Mouawad Pink [...]

Lebanese diamond dealer Robert Mouawad first appeared on the diamond scene in the 1970s. Soon his very presence in the sale or auction room was enough to send pulses racing when it was realized that a new, significiant player had appeared. Along with his two contemporaries, Sheikh Ahmed Fitaihi of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and Laurence [...]

This 60.19-carat D-color Flawless diamond is owned by Robert Mouawad and was named to represent both the traditional world of the family jeweler and the new face represented by Mondera.com, the jewelry e-tailers founded by his sons. The stone was set as the center of a bra, pictured below, modeled by Karolina Kurkova. The green [...]

A radiant cut pink diamond of 21.06 carats owned by Robert Mouawad. It has an estimated value of over $12,000,000. Its exact color grade is unpublished, but it has a clarity of VS1. More details lacking.

This diamond is unusual because it has an 11-sided girdle, but also because it is a D-color and Flawless clarity stone. It weighs 101.84 carats, and is valued at $13,970,000. It is owned by Robert Mouawad. At the end of 2006 the diamond was offered as the principal stone in a Victoria’s Secret diamond bra, [...]

The Mouna Diamond weighs 112.53 carats and is VS1 clarity. When it was submitted to the Gemological Institute of America on November 9th, 1995, they stated that up until this date it was the largest Fancy Intense Yellow diamond that they had ever graded. The cushion-shaped stone is 26 mm in diameter set in a [...]

The William Goldberg Diamond Corporation, famous for outstanding stones like the Premier Rose and the Guinea Star, cut this gem from a 13.90-carat rough. They transformed the piece into a spectacular red diamond weighing 5.11 carats. The GIA states, “It is the largest Fancy Red, natural color diamond that we have graded as of the [...]

“The Ageless Diamond” exhibition sponsored by Christie’s and De Beers in London in 1959 showed few exhibits as breath-taking as this pear-shaped diamond, weighing 79.41 metric carats, mounted as a pendant with a diamond chain. Little is known about its early history, though it is believed to have been found in the in the alluvial [...]

Unlike the proverbial cat, one may expect the Premier Mine to enjoy only four lives. The first lasted from the discovery of the diamond pipe just before 1902 – and the formation of the Premier (Transvaal) Diamond Mining Company – until the outbreak of World War I when the mine was shut down and operated [...]

The centerpiece of this tiara is the Nur-Ul-Ain Diamond, one of the largest pink diamonds in the world. The diamond is thought to have been brought from India, along with the Darya-I-Nur Diamond. The diamond is set in platinum, and is surrounded by diamonds in shades of pink, yellow, and colorless, with a row of [...]

GIA Color Grade: Fancy Deep blue-green Weight: 5.51 carats Owner: Cora Diamond Corporation By virtue of its color alone, the Ocean Dream, found in central Africa, is one of the very rarest diamonds known to man. The incredible color of this 5.51 carat diamond is so rare that many gemologists would presume that it was [...]

Legend, fact, supposition and theory each must be accorded its place in any historical account of this celebrated diamond. Nowadays the Orlov is one of the most important items in one of the greatest collections of gems and jewelry, the Treasures of the Diamond Fund, Gokran, comprises of many historical jewels that were amassed by [...]

This very unusual 7-sided diamond is known as the Paragon, and weighs 137.82 carats. The Graff Diamond Co. of London cut the gem, and is its current owner. The necklace has a diamond carat weight of 190.27 carats, and separates to both necklace and bracelet lengths. The piece features Fancy Intense blue, yellow and pink [...]

With the purchase of this unusual, 20.65-carat Fancy Intense Yellow, IF clarity (internally flawless) diamond by C.D.Peacock, Chicago’s premier jewelry store plans to try to change the way people in America think about fancy colored diamonds — many people still don’t even know there is such a thing as a fancy colored diamond. According to [...]

This purplish-pink marquise cut diamond weighs 22.84 carats and is known as the Pink Orchid. Graff Diamonds of London owns the stone. I wish they would go into more detail on their site about their unusual gems, if they did, I would post it here. Pink diamonds, especially ones of this size, are extremely rare. [...]

Famed diamond cutter Gabi Tolkowsky pays homage to his 273.85-carat Centenary with the Pink Sun Rise, a 29.78-carat diamond with a design similar to the Centenary’s. The diamond is a rare, flawless pink and was cut by Tolkowsky and his team of master craftsmen. Tolkowsky is also famed for cutting the largest diamond in the [...]

Considered to be the finest American diamond found up to that time (1880), the 153.50-carat rough this stone was cut from came from the claim of Mr. Porter-Rhodes in the Kimberly Mine. It was valued at $200,000. In 1881, Mr. Porter Rhodes visited the Osborne House in London and showed it to Queen Victoria, who [...]

This stone was difficult to find information on. There’s really only been a couple major owners of the Portuguese. This is what the Smithsonian Institute had to say about it, and they had more information than any other source I found. The stone resides in the Smithsonian Institute on permanent display, Washington DC. The Portuguese [...]

This stone weighs 137.02 carats and is one of the largest D-color Flawless diamonds in the world. In March 1978 the Premier Mine in South Africa, the mine that produced the 3106-carat Cullinan Diamond, yielded yet another remarkable diamond, a triangular-shaped cleavage of the finest color, weighing 353.9 carats. Like an earlier gem found at [...]

GIA Color Grade: Fancy Vivid orange Weight: 5.54 carats Owner: Harry Winston, Inc This cushion-shaped diamond was in a ring worn by Halle Berry when she accepted her Best Actress Oscar® for the movie Monster’s Ball in 2002. The Pumpkin Diamond was so named when it was acquired at auction by the House of Winston on the day before [...]

There are differing opinions concerning the origin of this 135.92-carats cushion-cut diamond. The Dutch firm F. Friedman & Co. cut it into its present shape in 1904. They owned it for several years, exhibiting it at the 1925 Paris Exhibition of Arts and Industry. The Dutch sovereign from whom the stone takes its name was [...]

This canary yellow cushion-shaped diamond weighs 205.07 (metric) carats. It is said to have weighed 375 carats in the rough and to have come from one of the Kimberly mines in 1901. The largest rough found that year weighed only 307 carats, but two more weighing 337½ and 363 carats, had been discovered at the [...]

The adventurous history of the Regent is very much like that of several other great diamonds. Greed, murder and remorse play a part in the opening chapter. Trouble – political, social, and personal – accompanies this gem to it’s last resting place. Originally known as the Pitt, this 410-carat stone was one of the last [...]

Photo by Stephen Hofer The 0.59-carat diamond known as the Rob Red after its owner, Mr. Robert Bogel, is an extremely rare and unique collector’s item. It was presumably found in one of the alluvial (i.e. ancient river) deposits located within the remote interior of Brazil. The most famous Brazilian red diamond (also the most [...]

This is a diamond I am still in the process of researching. The article I found with the stone reads “The Royal Purple Heart Diamond is the largest fancy vivid purple diamond known to exist, weighing 7.34 carats. This unique stone has been expertly cut and polished into a perfect heart shape to allow the [...]

The Great Imperial Crown was made by a skilled court jeweler Jeremia Posier for the Empress Catherine II the Great’s Coronation in 1762. It has a traditional shape and is made up of the two open hemispheres divided by a foliate garland and fastened with a low hoop. The crown is set with 5,000 selected [...]

The Sancy Diamond has one of the most interesting, colorful, confused and involved histories of all the famous diamonds in Europe. It is a pale yellow 55.23-carat shield-shaped stone, apparently of Indian origin, and is said to be one of the first large diamonds to be cut with symmetrical facets. The stone is also unusual [...]

Many incredibly valuable and historical diamonds have been discovered in South Africa, where Graff has the largest facilities for polishing gem quality diamonds. A magnificent rough diamond weighing 218 carats was acquired from local South African diggings. Its beauty even in the raw state was astonishing. The light glowed warmly from within its octahedral shape, [...]

This table-cut or flat diamond, measuring 44.6 by 33 by 3.6 mm and weighing 56.71 carats, is one of several that have been credited as a match for the Great Table Diamond viewed by Jean-Baptiste Tavernier at Golconda in 1642. However, the attribution is probably an error, the Darya-i-Nur and Nur-Ul-Ain table cuts in the [...]

The 18.30-carat Shepard Diamond is from South Africa, it was acquired by the Smithsonian Museum by exchange for a collection of small diamonds that had been seized as smuggled goods by the United States Customs Service and is named for the Smithsonian employee who helped facilitate the transaction. The Shepard Diamond among other diamonds in [...]

The Spirit of de Grisogono at 312.24 carats is the world’s largest cut black diamond, and the world’s 5th largest diamond, period. In a white gold mounting, it is set with 702 white diamonds totaling 36.69 carats. There are not many black stones in the world of famous diamonds, mainly the Black Orlov and the [...]

GIA Color Grade: D (colorless) GIA Clarity Grade: Internally Flawless Weight: 103.83 carats Owner: The Steinmetz Group At 103.83 carats, this is one of the largest cut diamonds in the world. It is described by gemologists as – colorless and internally flawless adding even further to the diamond’s rarity. – Discovered in South Africa’s – [...]

The pride of the Topkapi Palace Museum and its most valuable single exhibit is the 86-carat pear-shaped Spoonmaker Diamond, also known as the Kasicki. Surrounded by a double-row of 49 round-cut diamonds and well spotlighted, it hangs in a glass case on the wall of one of the rooms of the Treasury. Its origin is [...]

The Star of America is the largest Asscher cut “D”-color flawless diamond in the world. It was discovered near the Orange River, originally a rough stone of 225 carats. After nine months of cutting and polishing by the Graff company’s craftsmen, into the 100.57-carat stone you see here, to commemorate the launch of GRAFF USA.

The Star of South Africa, a 47.69-carat old style pear-shaped diamond, was cut from a crystal of 83.50 carats, and is credited with being the diamond that turned the tides of fortune in South Africa. In 1869, it was picked up by a Griqua shepherd boy on the Zandfontein Farm near the Orange River. Schalk [...]

After their marriage in 1908, Edward B. McLean and his bride Evalyn traveled to Europe for their honeymoon. Each had received $100,000 from their respective fathers as a wedding present. Among the countries they visited was Turkey where Evalyn McLean expressed a wish to see the treasures of the jewelry-loving Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, [...]

In recent years Sheikh Ahmed Hassan Fitaihi has been a major force at international jewelry auctions. The Sheikh’s family business dates from 1907 when he grandfather opened a jewelry shop in Mecca in what is now Saudi Arabia. At that time, Abdul Aziz Al-Saud (known in the West as Ibn Saud) was battling to reconquer [...]

The 128.48-carat Star of the South is one of the world’s most famous diamonds. Discovered in 1853, it became the first Brazilian diamond to receive international acclaim. The stone was graded as VS-2 in clarity and Fancy Light Pinkish-Brown in color. It was also determined to be a type IIa diamond. It was the custom [...]

GIA Color Grade: Fancy Vivid pink GIA Clarity Grade: Internally Flawless Weight: 59.60 carats Owner: The Steinmetz Group First unveiled in Monaco in May 2003, and briefly worn around the neck of supermodel Helena Christensen, the Steinmetz Pink was discovered in southern Africa and is the largest Fancy Vivid pink diamond known in the world. Pink diamonds are extremely [...]

This 103.83-carat diamond was offered for auction at Sotheby’s Geneva location in November 20th, 2003 with an estimate of $8 to $10 million. It is described by gemologists as Type IIa, D-color and Internally Flawless – adding even further to its rarity. It was discovered in South Africa’s legendary Premier mine. Some news articles on [...]

A 35.27-carat cushion cut grayish-blue diamond. Not much is known about it. In 1969, Cartier lent this diamond to the New York State Museum for their World of Gems Exposition. In 1972 it was sold to a private American collector. It is the fourth largest blue diamond in the world after the Hope Diamond. The [...]

According to British Press reports, this rare cranberry-colored diamond surfaced in London sometime in 2002. The diamond was graded by the British Gemological Institute in London. It is believed to be one of its kind and originated in the Amazon basin. It is being called ‘The Supreme Purple Star’. Reports say the color goes from [...]

The Taj-E-Mah Diamond (lower left stone). The other four loose diamonds weigh 72.50 carats, 54.50 carats, 47.50 carats, and 54.35 carats. The cushion-shaped one on the top left was probably cut from an even larger diamond. When the contents of the Iranian Treasury were opened up in the 1960s, the existence of three legendary Indian [...]

Diamonds have no mercy… “They will show up the wearer if they can,” says one character in The Sandcastle, an early novel by the famous British author, Iris Murdoch. Now this may be true of some women – usually wearing an outrageously large item of jewelry which imparts a degree of unwholesome vulgarity to themselves [...]

To gem historians, judging by the reaction of the press, and to the general public as well, it is always something of an event when the existence of an unusual stone, up till now known only to a handful of people, becomes more widely known. That is what occurred in 1984 when Christie’s announced that [...]

It is debatable whether Truman Capote’s novel Breakfast at Tiffany’s did much to increase the prestige of this famous New York jewelry store because long before 1958, the year of the book’s publication, it had become a household name within the United States as well as abroad. Doubtless some people continue to inquire whether the [...]

The Colonial Necklace featuring large yellow diamonds exhibited by Tiffany & Co. at the 1889 Exposition in Paris. The Louis XVI Revival design referred to the era of the American Revolution, just as the 1889 Paris Exposition celebrated the 100th anniversary of the French Revolution. In the lower pendant was the Tiffany Yellow II Diamond [...]

A pear cut 25-carat blue diamond that was found in the Premier Diamond Mine in Transvaal, South Africa, the same mine the 3106-carat Cullinan crystal was found in. It was once owned by Baumgold Bros., but it’s now owned by an unknown foreign buyer.

When considering which diamond cuttings centers are the most important, odds are London won’t spring to mind as one of them. The city’s main role in the diamond trade has been as the major point of distribution of rough diamonds. The London Diamond Syndicate, formed in 1890 as a joint buying and selling organization for [...]

On August 13, 1938 Brazil revealed its greatest gem when a diamond weighing 726.6 carats was picked up in the gravels of the San Antonio River in the Coromandel district of Minas Gerais. Two garimpeiros (diamond diggers or prospectors), Joaquim Venancio Tiago and Manoel Miguel Domingues, were the lucky finders. Their good fortune did not [...]

The Victoria sits elevated on an acrylic stand. From the very beginning an aura of mystery surrounded the discovery of this gem, which weighed 457½ (old) carats in the rough. Also called the ‘Imperial’ or ‘Great White’, it remained the biggest octahedral diamond crystal from South Africa until 1896 when it was surpassed by one [...]

The Victoria-Transvaal is a 67.89-carat, champagne-colored, pear shaped stone. It was cut from a 240-carat crystal that was found in the Transvaal, South Africa. The first cutting produced a 75-carat 116-facet stone that measured 1 x 1³/8 inches; a recutting retained the same length and width, but reduced the depth to better proportions, making it [...]

One of the “great unknowns” of the diamond world, the Walska is a 95-carat yellow briolette cut stone. Its size and cutting style is a rival for the Briolette of India, a 90-carat stone and probably the most famous diamond of this cutting style. Unfortunately not much is known about the Walska. Perhaps someday more [...]

How often does one come across phrases such as “present location unknown” or “all trace of the diamond has been lost” when undertaking research into the histories of famous diamonds? It is all the more satisfying, therefore, to recall an item in a newspaper that appeared in January, 1962, under the heading “Rare diamond reappears.” [...]

In 1969 the Zale Corporation of Dallas purchased in Antwerp a fine blue-white gem weighing 434.6 carats, the source of which was simply stated as West Africa. More specifically it had almost certainly come from Sierra Leone. After two years work in New York the outcome was thirteen gems totally 172.46 carats. The biggest, a [...]

The city of Agra was founded by the Mogul Emperors who made it their capitol for more than a hundred years in the 1500′s and 1600′s until Aurangzeb, the 6th mogul emperor transferred the seat of the monarchy to Delhi in 1658. It was in Agra that Akbar received a letter from Queen Elizabeth I [...]

Ahmadabad, the capitol of the Indian state of Gujarat, is located 550 km north of Bombay, on the Sabarmati River. The city has long been a center for trading and cutting diamonds, both of which are still pursued there today (although to a lesser degree). One famous visitor to Ahmadabad in the 1600s was the [...]

When Porter Rhodes travelled to the Isle of Wight in 1881 to show to his fine white diamond crystal to Queen Victoria and Empress Eugénie of France, who was at that time residing nearby, he helped to dispell a myth: South African diamonds were usually yellowish in color and therefore less valuable. Both the Queen [...]

Photo © EightStar Diamond Co. of Santa Rosa, California. The American Star Diamond began life as an unnamed 14.89-carat D-color, Flawless-clarity modern round brilliant. It was bought in late 1999 by the EightStar company of California, with the intent of a recutting. The plan was to prove, on a large scale, that the EightStar approach [...]

This rare black diamond of African origin is reported to be completely black. It weighs 33.74 carats, has 145 facets and was cut from a 55.85-carat rough. The stone was first shown in February, 1973, at D. Drukker & Zn., Amsterdam. It was auctioned off at www.christies.com in November, 2001, for $352,000, setting a world [...]

This 76.45-carat diamond gets its name from from Archduke Joseph August (1872-1962), a previous owner of the gem and a prince of the Hungarian line of the Hapsburg dynasty. The Archduke was a descendant of the Emperor Leopold II, son of Empress Maria Theresa who owned the famous Florentine Diamond, one of the most notable [...]

The Hanoverian rulers of Great Britain amassed a large collection of personal jewelry and Queen Charlotte, the consort of King George III, was surely no excpetion. She received many jewels, the most notable being the diamonds she was given by the Nawab of Arcot. These included five brilliants, the larest of which was a 38.6-carat [...]

It is said that this amber-colored, cushion-shaped diamond weighing 102.48 carats, was formerly part of the Russian Crown Jewels. It must have been a late addition to that collection because the stone bears all the characteristics of one from South Africa. In 1934 the Russian Trade Delegation sold the diamond to Mr. Ashberg, a leading [...]

A drawing I made of the Beau Sancy, based closely on illustrations I’ve seen of it. I have also seen a couple photos. Unfortunately, none of them are clear enough to be worth showing here. At the time of the marriage of Prince Albert of Prussia with Princess Mary of Sachsen-Altenburg in Berlin, the bridge [...]

The Beluga Diamond was cut by the William Goldberg firm from a rather flat, blocky 265.82-carat rough and weighs 103-point-some carats. I am still researching it. It is the largest standard oval brilliant cut diamond in the world and appeared in an article about ‘blood diamonds’ in the March 2002 issue of National Geographic magazine. [...]

According to the legend, the Black Orlov is said to have taken its name from the Russian Princess Nadia Vyegin-Orlov who owned it for time during the mid-eighteenth century. It is a 67.50-carat cushion-cut stone, a so-called black diamond (actually, a very dark gun-metal color). It is reported to have belonged to a nineteenth-century shrine [...]

Harrods department store in London has unveiled a diamond necklace valued at around £10 million ($16 million US) which it hopes will be sold as a Christmas present. The necklace has already attracted a bid of $10 million. It is built around the Blue Empress – a rare blue pear-shaped diamond. It weighs 14 carats [...]

Some reports refer to this unusual diamond as the “Eugenie Blue” although it is now recognized that there is no evidence of its having been owned by the Empress. Had she owned it, wouldn’t she have chosen to flee with it rather than the diamond which is named after her? However, a French link does [...]

This 30.06-carat blue diamond was cut by the William Goldberg Corporation. He named the stone after his wife, Lili. The stone’s shape is a sort of tapered cushion. More details lacking.

Here is what Christies.com’s auction said about the stone when it was up for auction: “A MAGNIFICENT FANCY VIVID BLUE DIAMOND RING Set with a modified pear-shaped fancy vivid blue diamond weighing 12.02 carats to the tapered baguette-cut shoulders and 18k white gold hoop. With certificate 11568233 dated 19 June 2001 from the Gemological Institute [...]

The Briolette of India is a legendary diamond of 90.38 carats, which, if the fables about it are true, may be the oldest diamond on record, perhaps older than the Koh-I-Noor Diamond. In the 12th century, Eleanor of Aquitaine, the first Queen of France and later England, brought the stone to England. Her son, Richard [...]

The diamond Jubilee of De Beers Consolidated Mines passed off quietly in 1948, the massive post-WWII growth and expansion of the diamond industry had barely begun, while several important sources of diamonds, including the Premier Mine, were still closed, while others remained to be discovered. Forty years later the annual output of diamonds exceeded 100 [...]

This watch by Chopard features three heart-shaped diamonds, the pink weighs 15 carats, the blue weighs 12 carats and the white weighs 11 carats. They are set in a bracelet encrusted with clusters of white pear-shaped diamonds arrange in flower motifs, with a yellow diamond standing up from the center of each. Total caratweight of [...]

The Grand Conde is one of the most unusual of the world’s notable diamonds: a light pink pear-shaped stone of 9.01 carats. Agents of Louis XIII are said to have bought the stone in 1643 after which the King presented it to Louis de Bourbon, Prince of Conde, who had distinguished himself as Commander of [...]

The Cullinan I – aka the Star of Africa. 530.20 carats. Royal Scepter with Star of Africa. (The stone can be removed from the Royal Scepter and worn as a pin or pendant.) The Star of Africa, a pear shaped diamond weighing 530.20 carats, aka the Cullinan I. It measures 53mm x 44mm x 29mm, [...]

Considered to be the most celebrated diamond in the Iranian Crown Jewels and one of the oldest known to man, the 186-carat Darya-i-Nur is a crudely fashioned stone measuring 41.40 × 29.50 × 12.15mm. The name means Sea of Light, River of Light, or Ocean of Light. Both the Darya-i-Nur and the historic Koh-i-Noor are [...]

Not long after the formation of De Beers Consolidated Mines Limited in March 1888, a huge light yellow octahedral crystal was found in the De Beers Mine. The gem weighed 428.50 old carats (old carats being the pre-1913 non-metric carat) and measured 47.6 mm through its longest axis and 38.1 mm square. Excluding Victoria, aka [...]

A red diamond weighing in at 5.03 carats. The cut is a round brilliant, but as you can see, the main kite-shaped facets on the crown are horizontally divided in two, giving the stone slightly more brilliance than a standard round brilliant. This stone was once bought at estate sale mistakenly as a red garnet! [...]

In the rough, greenish diamonds tend to occur as one of three types: a stone, often a crystal shape, possessing a light tinge rather like the color of water in a swimming pool; a stone with a dark green skin; a yellowish-green stone characterized by a degree if lubricity. After being cut and polished, diamonds [...]

The Earth Star was cut from a rough gem weighing 248.9 carats found in the Jagersfontein Mine on May 16th, 1967. It traveled right through the recovery process until it appeared on the grease table in the recovery plant. Not surprisingly its appearance caused a commotion at the mine and to many in the diamond [...]

This 10.73-carat brilliant is not, by ordinary standards, exceptional. However, it was cut from the first diamond found in South Africa and therefore has historical significance. In 1866 a shepherd boy found a small, shiny stone on the south bank of the Orange River near Hopetown. The pebble was kept for a while by a [...]

The Excelsior I, set in an elaborate bracelet by Mouawad. On may 28th, 1971, a sad but inevitable event in mining history occurred: operations finally stopped at the Jagersfontein Mine. Not long before, the mine had celebrated its centenary, the first diamond having been picked up in the Jagersfontein valley in the Orange Free State [...]

This cubic zirconium replica was designed and cut by Scott Sucher. Sucher said he had to use mathematics to figure out the angles and measurements of the sides of the stone because of a lack of information about it. Only Jean-Baptiste Tavernier’s drawing of the stone and a few black and white photos (from prior [...]

Gabi Tolkowsky examines the diamond with a jeweler’s loupe. The Golden Jubilee is the largest faceted diamond in the world, weighing 545.67 carats. The stone was designed by Gabi Tolkowsky, who also designed the 273.85-carat Centenary Diamond, which is the largest D-Flawless diamond in the world. The Golden Jubilee was presented to the King of [...]

This large earth-hue diamond was shown at the Paris World Fair of 1937 and was later loaned to the American Museum of Natural History for 15 years (circa 1975 to 1990) by its owner, Ella Friedus. Around 1991 she sold the stone for $1.3 million. The Gemological Institute of America reported the 65.57-carat gem as [...]

The stone is ‘Asscher cut’, which is a modern emerald cut that leans towards square rather than rectangular. It weighs 21.46 carats, is a D in color grade (completely colorless) and FL in clarity (flawless). This might not be a REALLY famous diamond right now, but it might be some day – it certainly has [...]

Not to be confused with the Graff Imperial Blue, which I am still looking for a photo of. I was not able to find many details about this stone, other than its weight, which is 6.19 carats. If Graff ever goes into more detail about their unusual stones, I’ll post more about this one. Judging [...]

This 11.89-carat D-color, Internally Flawless cushion shaped diamond has been featured a number of times in the Graff’s advertisements in the New York Times newspaper. Cushion is one of the oldest diamond cuts there is. Many of the older cushion cuts, often called Old Mine Cuts, have steep crown and pavilion main facets, a culet [...]

This 10.83-carat pink pear-shaped diamond is (or was) owned by Lawrence Graff of London. It is Internally Flawless and probably has the term ‘Purplish’ in its color grade — it is a very saturated pink. Graff bought the stone at auction in November, 1993 at Christie’s Geneva for 6,163,500 Swiss francs.

In the summer of 1963, a 198.28-carat fancy brown diamond was found in the South African diamond fields. This unusual stone was purchased by Julius Cohen, New York City manufacturing jeweler, under whose direction it was fashioned by the firm of S & M Kaufman into a 104.15-carat pear shape. The stone has a total [...]

The famous Swiss jeweler Fawaz Gruosi is credited for starting the current enthusiasm for black diamond jewelry, launching the current fashion for black diamond in 1996 by creating some eye-catching collections of jewelry and watches set with black diamonds. He is now exhibiting a heart-shaped black diamond, the largest black diamond of such cut in [...]

The Heart of Eternity, top, with the Excelsior Diamond bracelet, below. It was expected that some 12-million people would visit the De Beers Millennium Jewels Exhibition at the Millennium Dome in London. There they were on view in a specially designed exhibit for the entire year of 2000. It is worth it to pause a [...]

Hope Diamond (a great photo by Chip Clark) Hope Diamond in it’s display case Hope Diamond in it’s display case (another angle) Hope Diamond and a replica of the stone cut by Scott Sucher from blue cubic zirconium. The 45.52 carat steel blue Hope Diamond was found in India back in remote times as a [...]

King Louis XIV was respsonsible for the addition of this pale orangey-pink diamond to the Crown Jewels of France. However, the Hortensia was not one of the diamonds which the King had purchased from Jean Baptiste Tavernier, because the largest stone of this particular color which he brought back from India weighed only 14⅞ carats. [...]

When you see the term ‘a blue-white Golconda diamond’, this the type of stone being refered to. The Regent Diamond is another example of a large Golconda stone. The various published accounts of the early history of the Idol’s Eye are worth of being included in A Thousand and One Nights, unfortunately, for the most [...]

The Incomparable was found in its rough state weighing 890 carats, and was found in the town of Mbuji Mayi in the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire) in the 1980s. It was found by a young young girl playing in a pile of rubble outside her uncle’s house. This rubble had been legitimately collected [...]

The Indore Pears set as a pair of earrings. These two diamonds are linked to the Malabar Hill Murder: One evening in January of 1925 at an hour when the hanging gardens of Malabar Hill, one of the most salubrious parts of Bombay, were crowded with people, an official of the Bombay Corporation was driving [...]

These African diamonds were acquired by Nasseridin Shah on his third trip to Europe in 1889, and are collectively known as the Iranian Yellows. There are a number of collections of large diamonds on display in the Iranian Treasury, however due to security concerns, the largest diamond in this collection, which is a 152.16-carat stone, [...]

Photo © Debeers Archives The job of a diamond digger is very different from that of a diamond miner. Whereas a miner may be exposed to a greater degree of physical risk – although the safety records of diamond mines is second to none – he or she will also enjoy all the benefits that [...]

This glorious colorless, cushion-shaped diamond with a weight of 245.35 carats ranks as the sixth largest diamond in the world. The original rough stone, an irregular octahedron without definite faces or shape weighed 650.80 (metric) carats; it was found in the Jagersfontein Mine towards the end of 1895. A consortium of London diamond merchants comprising [...]

Discovered in Crater of Diamonds State Park, near Murfreesboro, Arkansas in 1977, the Kahn Canary is considered to be an unnofficial symbol of the state. Bought and named by Stan Kahn of Kahn Jewlers in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, the Kahn Canary has been lent to Hillary Rodham Clinton to wear at her husband’s inaugurals, both [...]

A Flawless, 70-carat, step cut, champagne-colored diamond that was found in the Kimberley Mine, South Africa. It was recut into this modern shape in in 1921 from a large, flat stone that was once in the Russian Crown Jewels. In 1958, the stone was again recut by it’s owners, Baumgold Bros., New York City, to [...]

It has been said that whoever owned the Koh-I-Noor ruled the world, a suitable statement for this, the most famous of all diamonds and a veritable household name in many parts of the world. Legend has suggested that the stone may date from before the time of Christ; theory indicates the possibility of its appearance [...]

The Krupp last sold at Sotheby’s on May 16th, 1968, for $305,000, to Elizabeth Taylor. The stone weighs 33.19 carats and is mounted in a ring. She wears it nearly every day and in every film since acquiring it; it was even animated into her special guest appearance on The Simpsons. Taylor is seen polishing [...]

The La Favorite, a 50.15-carat D-color, VVS-2 clarity, with the potential for being flawless if it were to be slightly recut. It is set in a ring by Bulgari. The La Favorite was mined in South Africa and made its debut at the Chicago World’s Fair in 1933, when it was owned by a Persian [...]