From time immemorial a diamond, either cut or faceted, has been the most precious gem. Diamonds were worshipped in India; they were called invincible by the Ancient Greeks and the hardest of all stones by the Arabs. They say that diamonds possess magical qualities and make people see visions, but you don’t have to be a clairvoyant to confidently predict that both rough and cut diamonds will always remain the safest investment and a draw for jewellers and collectors. Here’s a review of the most famous diamonds that have been auctioned internationally in recent years.
A rough diamond may vary in size from a microscopical grain to a quite large, several hundred or even thousand carat crystal (one carat is a fifth of a gram). The word carat derives from the Greek kerátion (fruit of the carob, scientific name Ceratonia siliqua) via the Arabic kirat. Carob seeds were commonly used as weights. Quite frequent are 0.1-1.0 carat diamonds; crystals weighing more than 100 carats are rare.
Value grows with cutting
Many large diamonds do not retain their natural shape and are turned into cut diamonds in the hands of a skillful cutter. The largest in the world 3106 carat Cullinan diamond was cut into 9 large and several smaller stones that now belong to the British Crown Jewels.
Promesse du Lesotho (Lesotho Promise), discovered in Africa on 22 August 2006, will also be cut, says the owner. The diamond was bought by South African Diamond, representative of Graff Jewellers, a British company. One large (appr. 60 carat) and several smaller stones will be cut from Lesotho Promise. After the cutting the estimated cost of gems will amount to over $20 million. Lesotho Promise was bought for $12.4 million in Antwerp, world diamond capital, on 9 October 2006. "A white 603 carat (120g) diamond called Promesse du Lesotho is by far the largest rough diamond discovered in this century and the 15th largest the world has yet seen”, - declared Lesotho’s government officials. Lesotho’s Natural Resources Minister Mamphono Khaketla said that the name Promesse du Lesotho is symbolic because they hope that similar treasures will be found in the region in the future. These hopes are grounded, for Promesse du Lesotho is not the first large diamond to be found in these parts. There was also the Lesotho Brown, a 601 carat diamond discovered in 1967.
The largest in the world rough diamond was found in South Africa in 1905 and named after Sir Thomas Cullinan, the mine owner. Not only the size of it was amazing, but also the clarity. This precious discovery had a political meaning. After the Second Boer war the Transvaal government bought the stone and presented it to King Edward VII on his birthday. At that time the cost of the diamond was approximately 8 million pounds - today this would be the price of 94 tons of gold. In 1908 the Cullinan diamond was sent to the famous Asscher's Diamond Co. in Amsterdam, where it was to be cut and faceted. Joseph Asscher had studied the diamond for almost half a year, but, having fixed a point of cleavage, couldn’t bring himself to make a cut and asked an apprentice to do that. When the crucial moment came, Mr Asscher fainted with worry, but his calculations turned out right. Almost four years later the jewellers produced 2 large, 7 medium-sized and 96 small diamonds of unbelievable clarity.
The largest gem at 530.2 carats was named the Cullinan I, or the Star of Africa. It was pear-cut and placed into the Sovereign's Royal Sceptre. The Star of Africa is by far the largest cut diamond in the world. The second diamond at 317.4 carats was cushion-cut, named the Cullinan II and placed into the State Crown. Two smaller gems, weighing 94.4 and 63.65 carats became the Cullinan III and the Cullinan IV respectively. The three remaining diamonds were named Little Stars of Africa. Smaller brilliants were allegedly given to the jewellers as a payment from King Edward VII.
Millenium Star
In 1999, when people all over the world looked forward to the millenium, many manufacturers tried to produce the most incredible pieces. On the eve of 2000 in London, the famous De Beers diamond mining company and Steinmetz Diamond Group unveiled the rarest and one of the most expensive diamond collections. Nicky Oppenheimer, chairman of the diamond giant De Beers, introduced De Beers Millennium Star, a flawless 203,04 carat pear-shaped 54-faceted top color (D) diamond, declaring that "centuries come and go, but diamonds are forever". De Beers Millennium Star is the second largest diamond of such quality in the world, the largest being the Centenary Diamond at 273.15 carats, unveiled in 1988.
Millenium Star is the centerpiece of the Limited Edition Millennium Diamonds collection that also includes eleven rare blue diamonds of various shapes weighing from 5.16 to 27.64 carats (a 27,64 carat stone is a heart-shaped diamond named The Heart of Eternity). The cutting took 3 years of work on a 24-hour-basis; a team of cutters was headed by Nir Livnat, executive director of Ascot Diamonds, a member of Steinmetz Diamond Group based in Johannesburg.
The original uncut diamond used for the collection weighed 777 carats. It was cut in three; the largest stone became the Millenium Star. To facet the Star a special surgery room was built, similar to a sterile room in a clinic.
Seven out of ten most expensive colored diamonds are blue (D-colored). Some of these unique gems have been sold for $550,000–580,000 a carat. One of the 20-carat blue diamonds was sold for more than $10 million. As for the Millennium Star, Nicky Oppenheimer refused to price it even approximately. According to Beni Steinmetz, co-chairman of Steinmetz Diamond Group, the highest price ever paid for a diamond was $16,5 million – the stone in question is the flawless 100,10 carat D-colored Star of the Season, sold at Sotheby’s in 1995.
The giants of the Old and New World
On 24 November 2005 an anonymous bidder at Drouot bought the largest diamond ever sold at an open auction in France. It was a flawless 43.82 carat pear-cut diamond. The deal was closed at €2,025,000. Previously the stone was in the possession of Simone del Duca, a famous philanthropist.
Later Sotheby’s sold a flawless 34.21 carat pear-shaped D-colored diamond at a regular auction in Geneva. The treasure cost the bidder $2,717,993. The auction house went further, introducing a one-off project for the jewellery connoisseurs. Sotheby’s Diamonds was a result of a unique partnership between Sotheby’s, world’s oldest auction house, and Steinmetz Diamond Group, an expert diamond mining and cutting company.
In the realm of colorless stones rough diamonds of color take up a very special place. This rare natural wonder could be witnessed by the public at the New York Christie’s auction on 11 April 2006. The centerpiece of an auction was a ring of unusual color featuring a dark blue-gray pear-cut diamond surrounded by pink diamonds (sold for $1,472,000). At appr. 14.43 carats, this diamond has a rare midnight-blue hue that formed due to the unique process of crystallization that had been going on for several million years deep inside the earth core. Its blue-gray color appeared due to the tiniest particles of boron that occured in the structure of a crystal during its formation. Also sold at this auction: a 50,53 carat pear-cut diamond that went for $4,216,000, and a 50,67 carat pear-shaped gemstone bought for $2,592,000.
In November 2006 Christie’s unveiled an impressive diamond collection of whimsical yellow. A 19.04 carat yellow diamond ring was priced at $860,000–1,125,000. Another giant sold at the auction was the marquis-cut Golkonda (10.86 carats, color D, flawless) priced at $800,000–1,200,000. Golkonda is one of India’s most ancient diamond mines where mining began before 400 bc. Antique-cut, this diamond is a rarity among the world’s gemstones.
The history of diamonds in Russia
Russia is a world leader in diamond mining, and a place for many great discoveries and deals. Major auctions are held by the Alrosa distributor company and the Diamond Chamber of Russia. These are frequented by highly reputable foreign and Russian corporations that deal with large rough and cut diamonds. The experts of Alrosa define the original sale price of extremely large and peculiar-sized diamonds according to the system that takes into consideration the estimated price of diamonds that are yet to be produced by cutting. The weight of the largest diamonds sold by far ranged from 80.99 to 343.62 carats (all in all 19 auctions have been held). One of the biggest stones (283.94 carats) was bought by an Israeli company for $21,899 at the 17th auction on 22 September 2006.
Russian Diamonds and Gold reports that in December 2005 a unique 363 carat diamond was bought by S.D.Diamond at an auction in Moscow. The stone will be cut in Moscow, at the S.D.Diamond & RDK factory, and then sent to Antwerp, Belgium, where the work will be taken over by Vitraag BVBA. The stone will allegedly be cut into 5-6 smaller diamonds, the largest of them at 50 carats. It is one of the biggest diamonds yet sold through a tender by Alrosa, a distributor company.
In November 2006 a one-of-a-kind 33.64 gemstone was auctioned by the Crystal manufacturing company. Priced at $1,300,000, it became the most precious gem in the history of Crystal, the largest cutting factory in Russia. The diamond of exceptional quality is white with a subtle and extremely clear yellow hue. Emerald (cushion) cut was chosen by the experts as the most suitable for this very stone. A magnificent diamond was faceted by Maxim Slonchakov. The original 68.28 carat crystal had been discovered at a mine in the Sakha (Yakutia) Republic and bought by the Crystal manufacturing company at the 13th international Alrosa auction.
Russian laws allow individuals to own, buy, sell and otherwise use gemstones that have been previously certified or turned into jewellery. Gems bought abroad should be declared at the customs. The customs officer will then issue a special form that later can be brought to the gemmological laboratory that issues certificates.
Russia’s largest diamonds
The largest diamond in Russia is the 342.5 carat 26th Congress of C.P.S.U. (Communist Party of the Soviet Union) discovered at the Mir pipe in 1980. Next comes Alexander Pushkin, a 320.65 diamond found at the Udachnaya pipe in 1989. Tvorets (The Creator) at 298.48 carats comes third. It was found at the gravel deposit developed by the public corporation Nizhne-Lenskoe and bought by Gokhran (state precious metals and gems reserve) for the Diamond Fund of Russia on 11 September 2006.
Jewellery experts recommend choosing diamonds with four Cs in mind. These are carat, clarity, color, and cut.
Carat weight is the basic quality. It directly affects the price.
As for the color, a perfect diamond is colorless, invisible if put into water. Color D is the highest rating for a diamond.
Clarity of a stone is defined by a number of internal defects (cracks or inclusions). Flawless diamonds are the priciest. Defects in imperfect diamonds can be viewed through a regular magnifying glass.
Although the cut of a diamond serves purely decorative purposes, it often becomes a defining characteristics when a customer makes up his or her mind. Traditional shape is round, but there are also fancy cuts: oval, pear, marquis, heart, baguette, emerald and princess. A number of facets should be stated.
A non-expert won’t be able to detect a false gemstone. When it comes to authenticity, the jeweller’s reputation is better than any certificate. You can also hire an independent gemologist.
Lubov Pozhalostina
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