Condé Pink

The Grand Condé 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 Condé, who had distinguished himself as Commander of the French Army in the Thirty Years' War and who became known as the Grand Condé. Until his death in 1686, the Prince was known as an enthusiastic patron of the arts and an ardent admirer of various charming women, one of whom described him as a much more effective and able general than paramour!

The diamond remained in the Condé family until the Duc d'Aumale bequeathed it to the French Government in 1892. Today, it is on display in the Museé de Condé in Chantilly, France, where according to the terms of the Duc's will, it must always remain. On October 11th, 1926, the diamond was stolen from the museum but later found and returned. It is also known variously as the Condé Pink, the Condé Diamond, or Le Grand Condé.

Transvaal Blue

This blue pear shape was cut from a rough found in the Premier Mine, Transvaal, South Africa. It was once owned by Baumgold Bros., but has been sold since then to an undisclosed buyer.

Heart of Eternity Diamond

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 moment and reflect on the rarity of blue diamonds. Pre-20th century accounts of great blue diamonds reinforce the trade's historical links with India, the only known early source of diamonds. These accounts tell of diamonds such as Tavernier Blue (now known as the Hope Diamond; 45.52 carats) and the 30.82-carat Blue Heart, which today are valued for their history and mystique as much as for their rare color. These diamonds are famous because of their incredible rarity - only red diamonds are rarer - and the De Beers collection of blues is something that will never be seen again.

Sparkle

We know they sparkle and are beautiful and we all know that Diamonds are a girl's best friend but what exactly is it that makes diamonds so valuable?Well for starters Diamonds are the hardest natural substance known to man. Add to that their beauty, brilliance and fire and they have become the gem that is the ulimate symbol of love.
The diamond is the simplest of all gemstones and is made up of 99.95% pure crystallized carbon. Diamonds begin to crystallize way beneath the earth's surface amongst a fiery mix of gases, liquids and crystals and can be as old as 3 billion years old which is almost as old as the planet.

Sell Diamonds

Diamonds are more than shiny stones and exquisite pieces of jewelry, they are also extremely desirable investments, mostly because of their liquidity which makes diamonds sell fairly easy. Here are some tips that will come very handy when selling diamonds. As with many other things too, when selling something it is of most important value to know as much as you can. With diamonds the excellent starting point are of course the famous 4C's . This are really the basic things you should know before starting selling diamonds. Of course do more you know gives you in better negotiating position when selling diamonds.

Rough Diamond Evalution

There are many things that determine the quality of rough diamond evaluation, and lot of these things can be learned on different rough diamond evaluation and grading courses. These courses usually do not last very long but even in this short time you can learn a lot about diamonds that can make the real difference in many cases.

-correct use of a loupe (the starting point that is necessary to proceed further with rough diamond evaluation )-how to tell difference between real and fake diamonds (probably the most important thing in diamond business)-learn to recognize flaws and inclusion on diamond(s) and its influence on final diamond price-learn about all kind of diamond properties (thermal, chemical, mechanical)-how to select rough diamonds that will later be good for fancy shapes-how to determine color of diamond ant the effect color has on diamond price-classification of not only natural but also synthetic diamonds-how good is certain diamond for certain cut, which one is recommended given diamond shape, and number of inclusions.

Archean Diamonds

Diamonds are usually one or two billions years old, but what about world's oldest diamonds, where do they come from, which part of the world is their home? In 2006 scientists discovered diamond fields in Canada’s Northwest Territories and thought they have found the oldest diamonds on Earth as these diamonds were formed 3.5 billion years ago in an era called the Archean, this was time when Earth was forming its first continents. But these diamonds didn't carried title "world's oldest diamonds" for a very long time. In fact their fame lasted just one year when the 4 billion year old diamonds were found trapped inside zircon crystals from the Jack Hills region, few hundreds kilometres north of the Western Australian capital Perth.

Clarity and Carat

The most common usage of diamonds today is as gemstones used for jewelry. When buying a diamond you should always have four factors (four Cs) in the mind. These four Cs are Cut, Color, Clarity and Carat. Majority of gem diamonds is traded on the wholesale market based on single values for each of these 4 factors. To set expected price range you need to know all four factors and consumers that are purchasing individual diamonds are often advice to use the 4 Cs in order to buy diamond that is just right for them. However although main characteristics of each diamond are described with four Cs you also need to consider some other characteristics, for instance presence of fluorescence of individual diamond and even history of the diamonds.Diamond cutters for instance prefer more princess cut style than the round brilliant because much less material is wasted in princess cut. Some cuts even include extra facets, although their improvement value compared to Tolkowsky's model stays doubtful.

Great Chrysanthemum Diamond

The Great Chrysanthemum Diamond is a diamond measuring 104.15 carats (20.830 g) with a Pear-Shaped Modified Brilliant Cut, rated in colour as Fancy Orange-Brown and I1 clarity by the Gemological Institute of America. The diamond's origins are in South Africa, where it was bought by the jeweler Julius Cohen as a 198.28 carat (39.656 g) rough in 1963. After buying it, Cohen returned to New York where he had it cut into its distinctive pear shape by S&M Kaufman. Because of its colouring similarities to the brown chrysanthemum, it was named after that flower.
The Great Chrysanthemum has been shown in a number of diamond exhibits throughout the United States. In 1965, the Chrysanthemum was named a winner of one of the Diamonds International Awards and was placed on display in the Rand Easter Festival in Johannesburg, South Africa. Julius Cohen later sold the diamond to an unknown and reputedly foreign buyer; it was later purchased by Garrards of London.

The Hope Diamond

The Hope Diamond is a large, 45.52 carats (9.10 g), fancy deep blue diamond, currently housed in the Smithsonian Natural History Museum in Washington, D.C. The Hope Diamond is blue to the naked eye because of trace amounts of boron within its crystal structure, but it exhibits red phosphorescence under ultraviolet light. It is classified as a Type IIb diamond, and is famous for supposedly being cursed.

It turned out that he had in his possession an intriguing steel blue stone which at first look seemed to be a large sapphire, but the well-experienced Tavernier soon realized it was a diamond – the largest deep blue diamond in the world

Nassak Diamond

The Nassak Diamond (also known as the Nassac Diamond and the Eye of the Idol) is a large, 43.38 carats (8.68 g) diamond that originated as a larger diamond in the 15th century in India. Found in the Amaragiri mine located in Mahbubnagar, Andhra Pradesh, India, and originally cut in India, the diamond adorned the statue of Shiva in the Trimbakeshwar Shiva Temple, near Nashik, in the state of Maharashtra, India from at least 1500 to 1817. The British East India Company acquired the diamond through the Third Anglo-Maratha War and sold it to British jewelers Rundell and Bridge, in 1818. Rundell and Bridge recut the diamond in 1818, after which it made its way into the handle of the 1st Marquess of Westminster's dress sword.
The Nassak Diamond was imported into the United States in 1927, and was considered one of the first 24 great diamonds of the world by 1930. American jeweler Harry Winston acquired the Nassak Diamond in 1940 in Paris, France and recut it to its present flawless 43.38 carats (8.68 g) emerald cut shape. Winston sold the diamond to a New York jewelry firm in 1942. Mrs. William B. Leeds of New York received the gem in 1944 as a sixth anniversary present and wore it in a ring. The Nassak Diamond was last sold at an auction in New York in 1970 to Edward J. Hand, a 48-year old trucking firm executive from Greenwich, Connecticut.

Excelsior Diamond

The Excelsior Diamond was found on June 30, 1893 at the Jagersfontein Mine by a worker while loading a truck. The man was able to hide the diamond from the supervisors but delivered it to the manager of the mine himself. Until 1905, when the larger Cullinan diamond was found, the Excelsior was the largest known diamond in the world. It had a blue-white tint and weighed 971¾ carats (194.2 g). It was ultimately cut into ten stones weighing from 13 to 68 carats. (2.6 to 13.6 g). Immediately after its discovery the news spread around the world.
The Excelsior I, the largest gem cut from the crystal, was eventually bought by jeweler Robert Mouawad.

Dresden Green Diamond

The Dresden Green diamond is a 41 carats (8.2 g) natural green diamond that has a historical record dating to 1722, when a London news-sheet carried an article about it in its 25 October-27th edition.

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 of the first and second types usually lose their greenish color to become white gems or, alternatively, light yellow stones known as "silvery capes". The few truly green faceted diamonds therefore originate from the third type. The famous collection of De Beers Fancy Colored Diamonds, which has been displayed throughtout the world includes some beautiful examples of green diamonds.

Darya-ye Noor Diamond

The Darya-ye Noor "Sea of Light", "River of Light" or "Ocean of Light"; also spelled Darya-i-Noor, Darya-e Noor and Darya-i-Nur is one of the largest diamonds in the world, weighing an estimated 182 carats (36 g). Its colour, pale pink, is one of the rarest to be found in diamonds. The Darya-ye Noor presently forms part of the Iranian Crown Jewels and is on display at the Central Bank of Iran in Tehran.

The Great Table Diamond was one of the many stones shown to the famous jeweler and world traveler Jean-Baptiste Tavernier. In 1642 he documented his observations of this stone, writing that it was one of the “Largest and finest diamonds and rubies seen by him in Europe and Asia”.

Ashberg Diamond

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 Stockholm banker. The Stockholm firm of Bolin, former Crown Jewellers to the Court of St. Petersburg, mounted it as a pendant. In 1949 the Ashberg was displayed, mounted in a necklace containing diamonds and other gemstones, at the Amsterdam Exhibition, the aim of which was to attract new workers to the diamond industry.

Amsterdam Diamond

The Amsterdam Diamond is a black diamond weighing 33.74 carats (6.75 g), and has 42 facets. It is in a pear shape, and cut from a 55.85 carats (11.17 g) rough. It was sold in 2001 for $352,000, thus making it the highest price paid for a black diamond at auction.

Jonker

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 a large company or corporation can offer him both during his active working life and his retirement.

On the other hand diamond digging is generally a very precarious line of work and even the most experienced diggers barely make enough to keep alive. However, hope springs eternal in the human heart and his or her faith alone is enough, it would seem, to spur diggers on to continue to work their claims, in spite of the great odds stacked against them.

Niarchos

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 on a caretaker basis. By January of 1916 it was working again and production continued up to 1932 when mining operations ceased due to the depressed state of the diamond industry.

Working resumed in 1945, but its fourth life really began in 1979 with the opening up of the mine below the 'Gabbro' sill, a 70-meter geologic intrusion of barren rock which cuts right through the pipe some 400 meters below the surface. Production from this new source has not only given the mine its longest life, but one that should enable production to continue for another fifteen years

Tiffany

This fancy yellow diamond helped earn a 19th-century jeweler, Charles Lewis Tiffany, the nickname “King of Diamonds.” Tiffany acquired the South African diamond in 1878 for $18,000. A famous gemologist of the era, George Frederick Kunz, supervised its cutting—a task that took nearly a year.
Today, the Tiffany Diamond is the icon of Tiffany & Co., where it has been on view for nearly 70 years. Tiffany designer Jean Schlumberger designed three jeweled settings for the Tiffany Diamond in 1956. The current setting “Bird on a Rock” was mounted in 1995. This is the first time the Tiffany Diamond has been shown at a U.S. museum outside of New York.
The temporary display of the Tiffany Diamond celebrates the opening in this gallery of our New Acquisitions Case, dedicated to displaying gemstones acquired by a newly established fund, The Tiffany & Co. Foundation Endowment.

Star of the South

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 in the Bagagem Diamond Mines in Brazil for a slave worker who found a stone of mentionable size to be rewarded with his freedom which offered him the opportunity to work for a salary. In addition he might be given clothes, tools and in some cases a procession in his honor and during the ceremony might be crowned with flowers. All depending on the value of the stone found. This was done to encourage honesty amoung the workers. There were also several punishments established for those who were caught smuggling diamonds out.

The Gaekwar gave the commission for this transaction to E.H. Dresden, who made the original purchase of the well-known English Dresden Diamond. In 1934, the potentate's son told Robert M. Shipley, the American gemologist, that both the Star of the South and the English Dresden were mounted in a necklace amoung his family's jewels.

Golden Hue

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 being Fancy Dark Orange-Brown, having VS2 clarity, and a slightly modified cutting style: Its crown and pavilion main facets are horizontally divided, an extra facet pattern sometimes applied when cutting larger diamonds. While its early history isn't known, its almost certainly a South African diamond. On April 25th, 2006 it was offered for sale at Sotheby's New York in a Magnificent Jewels sale, figuring as lot 434 and had an estimate of $400,000 to $600,000. It realized a sale price of $1,382,400, including the buyer's premium.

The Queen of Holland

There are differening opinions concerning the history of of this 135.92-carat cushion-cut diamond. The Dutch firm of F. Friedman & Co. cut it into its present shape in 1904. They onwned it for a number of years, exhibiting it at the 1925 Paris Exhibition of Arts & Industry. The Dutch sovereign for whom this stone is named was Queen Wilhelmina, who reigned from 1890 to 1948

This suggests the possibility that the Queen of Holland was mined in South Africa. Nothing is known of the diamond's earlier history until it arrived in Amsterdam at a time when numberous South African diamonds were finding their way there. Yet there are experts that think the Queen of Holland is a typical Golconda stone. Although it is a white diamond it does possess a definite blue tint. The Gemological Institute of America has graded the stone as Internally Flawless and D color, one of the largest of that quality known.

Premier Rose

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 the Premier, the Niarchos, this one too travelled right through the various stages of mining recovery only to emerge at the final one, the grease table in the recovery plant.

The Mouws then contacted their American partner, William Goldberg, who promptly purchased a share in the diamond. When he set eyes upon it, Mr. Goldberg exclaimed, "A lot of people are going to be interested -- this is an unusually exciting diamond."

Florentine Diamond

This cubic zirconium replica was designed and cut by Scott Sucher. Sucher said he had to use mathmatics 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 to 1921 when the stone disappeared) exist.

Once the great yellow diamond of the Medici Family, this historic Indian stone is actually light yellow in color with a very slight green overtone and is fashioned in the form of an irregular, nine-sided, one 126-facet double rose cut. It weighed 137.27 carats.
Legends surrounding the stone date as far back as 1467, when Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, is said to have been wearing it when he fell in battle. A peasant or foot soldier found it on the Duke's person and sold it for a florin, thinking it was glass, after which it changed hands innumerable times for small sums of money. Pope Julius II is named as one of the owners.

Regent

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 large diamonds to be found in India. It is said to have been discovered by a slave in the Parteal Mines (also spelled 'Partial') on the Kistna River about 1701. The slave stole the enormous rough concealing it in bandages of a self-inflicted leg wound, and fled to the seacoast. There, he divulged his secret to an English sea captain, offering him half the value of the stone in return for safe passage to a free country. But during the voyage to Bombay, temptation overcame this seafaring man and he murdered the slave took th diamond. After selling it to an Indian diamond merchant named Jamchund for about $5000, the captain squandered the proceeds in dissipation and, in a fit of remorse and delirium tremens, hanged himself

Many of the French Crown Jewels were sold at auction in 1887, but the Regent was reserved from the sale and exhibited at the Louvre amoung the national treasures. In 1940, when the Germans invaded Paris, it was sent to the chateau country, this time to Chambord, where it was secreted behind a stone panel. After the War, it was returned to Paris and put on display in the Apollon Gallery of the Louvre Museum. It was one of the features of the Ten Centuries of French Jewelry exhibition at the Museum in 1962. An alternate name sometimes used is the Millionaire Diamond. Source: DIAMONDS - Famous, Notable and Unique (GIA)

Darya-i-Nur

This stone measuring 41.40 × 29.50 × 12.15mm. The name means Sea of Light, River of Light, or Ocean of Light. The stone is estimated to weigh somewhere between 175 and 195 carats, and it is a light pink color. The reason the exact weight is not known is because the stone cannot be removed from its setting without major risk of destroying the setting. It is more than likely that the stone was cut from the Great Table Diamond, and stone that was described by Jean Baptiste Tavernier as being over 400 carats, pink, and very flat.

The Great Chrysanthemum

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 Fancy Orange-Brown 104.16-carat pear shape. The stone has a total of 189 facets (67 on the crown, 65 vertical facetrs along the girdle, and 57 on the pavilion) and measures 24.98 mm wide, 39.10 mm long, and 16.00 mm deep. It has a depth of 64.1% and a table of 44%. It was mounted as the central stone in a yellow gold necklace of 410 oval and marquise-shaped diamonds.
In the rought state, the diamond appeared to be a light honey color; after cutting, however, it proved to be a rich golden brown, with overtones of sienna and burnt orange, the warm colors of the brown chrysanthemum after which the stone was named.

A replica of the Great Chrysanthemum Diamond cut from cubic zirconium. The stone was cut by Hubert Rackets of the Texas Faceters Guild. Photo © Hubert Rackets and respective guild.

The De Beers

The De Beers Collections express our most profound emotion: love. Flawless, timeless, and astonishingly beautiful, diamonds have been associated with romance throughout human history. They are the ultimate gift of love. De Beers selects only diamonds that display the perfect combination of fire, life, and brilliance.

The Jubilee Diamond

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 the firms of Wernher, Beit & Co., Barnato Bros. and Mosenthal Sons & Co. acquired the Jubilee together with the Excelsior. At first the stone was named the Reitz in honor of Francis William Reitz, then president of the Orange Free State in which Jagersfontein is located.

In 1896 the consortium sent the diamond to Amsterdam where it was polished by M.B. Barends, under the supervision of Messieurs Metz. First, a piece weighing 40 carats or so was cleaved; this yielded a fine clean pear shape of 13.34 carats which was bought by Dom Carlos I of Portugal as a present for his wife. The present whereabouts of this gem are unknown. The remaining large piece was then polished into the Jubilee. When during the cutting it became evident that a superb diamond of exceptional purity and size was being produced, it was planned to present it to Queen Victoria. In the end this did not happen and the diamond remained with its owners. The following year marked the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria (the 60th anniversary of her coronation) so the gem was renamed the Jubilee to commemorate the occasion. In the world of diamonds the event was also marked by the introduction of of the Jubilee cut; this has the characteristics of both the brilliant and rose cuts in that the table is replaced by eight facets, meeting in the center, the total number of facets being increased to 88. This cut was short-lived and is not often encountered today.

The Centenary Diamond

Discovered at the Premier Mine, in July 1986. The 'Centenary' diamond weighed 599.10 carats in the rough. Together with a small select team, master-cutter Gabi Tolkowsky took almost three years to complete its transformation into the world's largest, most modern-cut, top-colour, flawless diamond.
Possessing 247 facets - 164 on the stone and 83 on its girdle - the aptly-named 'Centenary' diamond weighs 273.85 carats, and is only surpassed in size by the 530.20 carat 'Great Star of Africa' and the 317.40 carat 'Lesser Star of Africa', both of which are set into the British Crown Jewels. The 'Centenary' diamond was unveiled, appropriately at the Tower of London in May,1991.

The Cullinan II

The Cullinan II is the second largest diamond cut from the Culinan diamond, the largest rough diamond ever found. It is also called the Lesser Star of Africa and it weights 317.4 carats (63.48 g). The cutting shape of this Cullian diamond is cushion and is the forth largest polished diamond in the world.

The massive Cullinan II is the center-front of the Imperial Stat Crown of Great Britain. Both gems, Cullinan II and also Cullinan I, are on display at the Tower of London, as parts of the Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom. The transport of Cullinan diamond from South Africa to England was a little problematic and raised security issues. Due to its great value it was arranged a fake transport of the diamond on a ship and was spread the rumor of the departure in order to attract the attention of possible thieves. The real Cullinan was actually send in a plain box via parcel post.