Famous diamonds

The history of diamonds is a long one, filled with incredible finds like the Cullinan, the Golden Jubilee, the Lesotho Promise, the Koh-i-Noor, the Blue Hope… each with his proper story, mystique and symbolization.

The Cullinan

The Cullinan diamond, also known as ‘ star of Africa’, is the largest uncut diamond ever found so far. It is a diamond of no less than 3,106 carats and was discovered in the Premier mine in South-Africa in 1905. The stone was named after the owner of the mine, Sir Thomas Cullinan. This diamond was cut in 105 pieces, out of which 9 big and 96 small diamonds were polished. The largest diamond is the Cullinan I, a diamond of 530.2 carats. This diamond was placed into the royal scepter of the British monarchy. You can admire this scepter in the Tower of London.

The Golden Jubilee

For about a century, the Cullinan I was the largest polished diamond worldwide. Now this title belongs to the Golden Jubilee, a diamond of 545.67 carats, cut by a Russian master polisher.  This diamond was also found in the Premier mine in South-Africa. Since 1997, the Thai King Rama IX, who received it for his 50-year coronation anniversary, owns the diamond. The Golden Jubilee was mounted into his Royal scepter.

The Lesotho Promise

The Lesotho Promise is the largest diamond mined in this century. It is a diamond of 603 carats, which is about the size of a hand. The colour of the stone is very exceptional which makes it a unique stone. Therefore the diamond is classified in Class D, the most exceptional colour a diamond can have. The Lesotho Promise was discovered in the Letseng mine in Lesotho. In 2006, the diamond was sold in Antwerp for 12.36 million U.S. dollar. In 2007, the 26 polished stones were revealed. The largest is a pear-shaped diamond of 75 carats and the smallest is a brilliant of 0.55 carats.

The Koh-i-Noor

The diamond with the richest history is undoubtedly the Koh-i-Noor. It is a rough diamond of 186 carats and was found in India. In 1304, Radja Van Malwa owned the diamond. Back then, people claimed that the owner of the Koh-I-Noor was the most powerful man in the world, which made it a hard fought stone. In 1739, general Nadir Sjah took the stone in a very vicious way to Persia. In 1849, when the British conquered Persia, the stone was given to their Queen Victoria. The diamond was cut into an oval shape and by doing so, reduced to 109 carats. It was mounted in the crown of Queen Mary, wife of George V, and later into the crown of Queen Elizabeth II.