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These days, it’s a big deal when celebs like Jennifer Lopez and Katie Holmes get six and five-carat diamonds in their engagement rings (respectively). But compared to these 10 gems, those trinkets are nothing. Here are the stories behind some of the largest and rarest diamonds ever found.
1. The Eugénie Blue
This Titanic-esque vivid blue diamond is 30.82 carats. It’s called the Eugénie Blue because of an old legend that the sparkly stunner originally belonged to Empress Eugénie de Montijo, the wife of Napoleon III. There is no evidence to support this tale, though, so many people prefer to simply call it “The Blue Heart” instead. The gem was cut into its distinctive shape in 1909 or so (some accounts say it was 1910) and was bought by Cartier shortly thereafter. Since then it has bounced around from a wealthy Argentinian woman, Van Cleef and Arpels, a European family, Harry Winston, Marjorie Merriweather Post, and, finally, the Smithsonian, where The Blue Heart has resided since 1964. And although it may look like it inspired the fictional Heart of the Ocean from the 1997 Leonardo DiCaprio epic, it didn’t – the Heart of the Ocean was actually based on the infamous Hope Diamond.Photo from DiamondArticles.com.
2. The Centenary Diamond
On March 1, 1988, De Beers was having a big bash to celebrate their 100 years in business. Chairman Julian Oglivie capped off his speech with a little tidbit that stunned the crowd – De Beers’ Premier Mine had recently uncovered a diamond that was perfect in color and weighed 599 carats. It had been found nearly two years before; the company kept it quiet for the sole purpose of flaunting it at their 100th anniversary. It didn’t get to keep all 599 of those carats, though – it had to be cut down to remove some cracks around the edges and it took 154 days to cut 50 carats away. That was just the beginning of the stone’s overhaul – when all was said and done, the Centenary ended up weighing 273.85 carats with 247 facets. It was on loan to the Tower of London for a number of years (have any of you seen it?), but it’s rumored that the stone has since been sold. De Beers remains mum on the subject, saying they respect their clients’ anonymity.
Photo from FamousDiamonds.
3. The Cullinan Diamond
At an insane 3,106.75 carats (that’s about one and a third pounds!), the Cullinan is the largest diamond ever found. It didn’t stay that way, though – it was split into nine big chunks, 96 small ones and 9.5 carats of unpolished pieces. So where are those nine big chunks? They’re all part of the Crown Jewels or belong in the private collection of the royal family:
Photo from DiamondArticles.com.
4. The Golden Eye Diamond
As far as we know, this beauty is the world’s largest flawless Canary Yellow diamond. For quite a few years it remained in its original uncut 124.5-carat state. This particular type of diamond – a fancy intense yellow – accounts for less than 0.1 percent of all natural diamonds, so you can imagine how rare one this size is. The gem was cut to a still-huge 43.51 carats and somehow became entangled in a drug dealing and money laundering ring in Ohio, which was busted in 2006. As a result, the unusual jewel became property of the U.S. government. Just as of May 11, 2009, it was declared that the Golden Eye diamond belonged to the government, and in turn, the government announced that it would be auctioning the diamond off. So if you’re looking for a rare yellow diamond in the neighborhood of $15-$20 million, keep your eyes peeled!
Photo from the Israeli Diamond Industry blog.
5. The Koh-i-noor
6. Spirit of de Grisogono
The largest cut black diamond in the world is also the world’s fifth-largest diamond of any kind, weighing in at 312.24 carats. It was 587 carats before it was cut. The Spirit of de Grisogono is set in a ring that contains 702 white diamonds and is thought to have been sold to a private collector.
Photo from DiamondArticles.com.
7. The Earth Star
When this huge sparkler was found at a South African De Beers mine in 1967, it was a whopping 248.9 carats. As you can imagine, it caused quite the stir in the industry, and not just because of its massive size. It was actually the color everyone was talking about: The Earth Star was brown. The Baumgold Bros. jewelers bought the enormous jewel and cut it into a pear shape that ended up weighing 111.59 carats, which was the largest brown diamond in the world at the time (it’s still the third largest brown diamond… we’ll get to the largest in a minute). It was Baumgold that gave the diamond its name. For more than 15 years, the Earth Star traveled the world in various exhibitions, but it was bought by a private citizen in 1983 for the staggering sum of $900,000.
8. The Golden Jubilee
Sure, the Golden Jubilee is widely celebrated now – it’s the largest faceted diamond in the world. But when it was first discovered in 1985, people in the industry refered to the 755.5 uncut rock as “The Unnamed Brown” and “The Ugly Duckling.” Since it was kind of homely, De Beers decided to let jewel cutter Gabriel Tolkowsky try an experimental method of cutting using some untested tools. They figured if he messed it up, it was no great loss – the thing was going to be unmarketable anyway. Under Tolkowsky’s hands, though, the Ugly Duckling turned into an amazing yellow-brown diamond of epic proportions. It was presented to the King of Thailand for his Golden Jubilee in 1997, which is when it finally received an appropriate name. It’s still a part of the Crown Jewels of Thailand today.
Photo from DiamondArticles.com.
9. The Ocean Dream Diamond
The Ocean Dream may be small – a mere 5.51 carats – but it’s the only diamond in the world of its kind. No other diamond is known to naturally possess a blue-green hue like this one. The color is thought to have come from being exposed to natural radiation in Central Africa for thousands of years. It’s currently owned by the Cora Diamond Corporation, but you might have seen it at the Smithsonian as part of “The Splendor of Diamonds” exhibit a few years back.
Photo from the Smithsonian Institute.
10. The Hope Diamond
Photos from the Smithsonian Institute.
The following is reprinted from Uncle John's Bathroom Reader Plunges Into History Again
Smithsonian Castle in Washington Mall, in HDR by jculverhouse
[Flickr]
 You
haven't experienced American history until you've experienced the wonders
of the Smithsonian Institution.
Ironically, the Smithsonian came into being as a bequest to the United
States by British scientist James Smithson, who had never visited the
United States himself (while alive, anyhow - see below).
Here's a glimpse of this All-American institution, courtesy of Uncle
John's Bathroom Reader:
0 - Number of bag lunches you're allowed to take into
the Smithsonian. Collectively, there are more than 20 sit-down restaurants
among the Smithsonian museums, not counting outdoor courtyard grub.
2 - Percentage of the Smithsonian Institution's holdings
on display at any given time.
3 - Number of one-cent stamps affixed to the first piece
of mail flown across the Atlantic, which is housed in the Smithsonian's
National Postal Museum.
4.5 - Millions of botanical specimens housed by the
Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History; this represents around
8 percent of all plants collected in the United States.
17 - Number of museums that make up the Smithsonian.
Among others, these include the American Art Museum and its Renwick Gallery,
the National Museum of the American Indian, the Freer Gallery of Art and
Arthur M. Sackler Gallery (Asian art), the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture
Gallery (modern and contemporary art), and - whew! - the National Museum
of Natural History.
24 - Number of 2004 Smithsonian visitors, in millions.
25 - The number, in thousands, of Africana books in
the institution's Warren M. Robbins Library at the National Museum of
African Art.
32 - The number of huge, metal buildings dedicated just
to restoring and storing aircraft on display at the Smithsonian's National
Air and Space Museum and related centers. Smithsonian airplanes include
the Enola Gay, the Wright 1903 Flyer, the Ryan NYP Spirit
of St. Louis, the Space Shuttle Enterprise, the Lockheed
SR-71 Blackbird, and the Concorde.
37.2 - Weight, in tons, of a section of Route 66 delivered
to the Hall of Transportation in the National Museum of American History
for a recent exhibit.
40 - Number, in thousands, of three-dimensional objects
housed in the Smithsonian's Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, including
Irish cut glass, Soviet porcelains, and Japanese sword fittings. The museum
has more than 250,000 objects - drawings, prints, books, and textiles
- all dedicated to the study of design.
 45.52
- Number of carats in the Hope Diamond at the Smithsonian Institution's
National Museum of Natural History. It glows in the dark after exposure
to UV rays and is semiconductive, too! If it truly belongs to the people
of America to enjoy, Mrs. Uncle John wants to know when it'll be her turn
to wear it out to dinner.
75 - Number of years after the institution's namesake,
James Smithson, died that Smithsonian regent, Alexander Graham Bell, brought
Smithson's body from his place of death in Italy to a tomb at the Smithsonian
Institution.
100,000 - Amount of money, in British pound sterling,
that James Smithson originally willed to the United States upon his death
in 1826. This eventually became the financial start of the Smithsonian.
7,635,245 - That same willed amount adjusted to reflect
2002 U.S. dollars.
78,000,000 - Visitors that the website,
www.smithsonian.org [now www.si.edu -
Ed], hosted in 2004.
143,500,000 - Approximate number of objects, works of
art, and specimens in the Smithsonian Institution. |
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The article above is reprinted with permission from Uncle John's Bathroom Reader Plunges Into History Again.
The book is a compendium of entertaining information chock-full of facts on a plethora of history topics. Uncle John's first plunge into history was a smash hit - over half a million copies sold! And this sequel gives you more colorful characters, cultural milestones, historical hindsight, groundbreaking events, and scintillating sagas.
Since 1988, the Bathroom Reader Institute had published a series of popular books containing irresistible bits of trivia and obscure yet fascinating facts. Check out their website here: Bathroom Reader Institute
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