Origin of name
The De Beers diamond gets its name from the mine where
the diamond was discovered in 1888, the De Beers mine, one of the two mines
that were dug initially on the farm belonging to Nicolas and Diederick de
Beer, near Kimberley, after diamonds were discovered in this farm in the
mid-1860s.
Characteristics of the
diamond
The De Beers diamond is a 234.65-carat, pale yellow,
cushion cut diamond of unknown clarity grade. It is the 2nd largest faceted
yellow diamond (disregarding the un-cut Oppenheimer) and the largest
cushion-cut yellow diamond in the world. It is also the 7th largest faceted
diamond in the world. See table below and the famous diamonds rank order
list.
List of famous yellow
diamonds greater than 100 carats in weight
|
S/N |
Name |
Carat Weight |
Shape/Cut |
Color |
|
1 |
Incomparable |
407.48 |
shield shaped |
fancy brownish yellow |
|
2 |
Oppenheimer-uncut |
253.70 |
natural octahedral |
yellow |
|
3 |
De Beers |
234.65 |
cushion |
light yellow |
|
4 |
Red Cross |
205.07 |
cushion |
canary yellow |
|
5 |
unnamed |
200.87 |
pear |
yellow |
|
6 |
Moon |
183.00 |
round |
pale yellow |
|
7 |
unnamed |
180.85 |
briolette |
yellow |
|
8 |
Star of Peace |
170.49 |
pear |
brownish yellow |
|
9 |
Hope of Africa |
151.91 |
cushion |
fancy yellow |
|
10 |
Unnamed |
150.00 |
emerald |
yellow |
|
11 |
Florentine |
137.27 |
double rose cut |
light yellow |
|
12 |
Algeiba Star |
135.03 |
square brilliant |
yellow |
|
13 |
Sarah |
132.43 |
cushion |
fancy vivid yellow |
|
14 |
Golden Hue |
132.42 |
cushion |
yellow |
|
15 |
Tiffany Yellow |
128.54 |
cushion |
canary yellow |
|
16 |
Stewart |
123.00 |
brilliant |
yellow |
|
17 |
Meister |
118.00 |
cushion |
yellow |
|
18 |
Vainer Briolette |
116.60 |
briolette |
fancy light yellow |
|
19 |
Unnamed |
114.64 |
briolette |
yellow |
|
20 |
Unnamed |
114.03 |
cushion |
yellow |
|
21 |
Mouna |
112.50 |
cushion |
fancy intense yellow |
|
22 |
African Yellow |
112.00 |
- |
yellow |
|
23 |
Anon |
108.04 |
emerald |
yellow |
|
24 |
Rojtman |
107.46 |
cushion |
yellow |
|
25 |
Golden Sun |
105.54 |
emerald |
yellow |
|
26 |
Golden Door |
104.95 |
pear |
yellow |
|
27 |
Alnatt |
101.29 |
cushion |
fancy vivid yellow |
|
28 |
Sunrise |
100.52 |
emerald |
yellow |
The diamond is most probably a Type IaAB diamond, being a
pale yellow diamond, in which the yellow color is caused by groups of
3-atoms of nitrogen, known as N3 centers, which absorb visible light in the
blue region of the spectrum, causing it's complementary color yellow color
to manifest. The diamond also has A-aggregates (Groups of 2-atoms), and
B-aggregates (groups of 4-atoms), but these do not affect the color of the
diamond.
History
After the discovery of diamonds in South Africa in the
mid-1860s on the farm belonging to Nicholas and Diederick de Beer, two
diamond mines were dug on the farm, one known as the Kimberley and the other
De Beers. In the year 1871, the English entrepreneur Cecil Rhodes, made an
investment on these mines, and eventually after the expansion of his
investment bought up most of the diamond mines in Southern Africa. In the
month of March, year 1888, Rhodes incorporated the De beers Consolidated
Mines Ltd.
Not long after the formation of this new company, a very
large, naturally formed, octahedral, light yellow diamond crystal was
discovered in the De Beers mine, weighing 428.50 carats. The octahedral
crystal had dimensions of 38 mm square at the center and 47.6 mm along it's
long axis. It was the second largest gem-quality rough diamond to be
discovered, after the 787 carat Great Mogul diamond. However after the
discovery of the 995-carat Excelsior in 1893 and the 650.80-carat Jubilee in
1895, the De Beers diamond was pushed to the 4th place by the end of the
19th century. Today, the De Beers diamond occupies the 14th place in this
list of largest gem-quality rough diamonds ever discovered. See table below.
List of largest
gem-quality rough diamonds ever discovered
|
Name |
Year of discovery |
Carat Weight |
Position |
|
Cullinan |
1905 |
3,106 |
1 |
|
Excelsior |
1893 |
995 |
2 |
|
Incomparable |
1980s |
890 |
3 |
|
Great Mogul |
1650 |
787 |
4 |
|
Millennium Star |
1990 |
777 |
5 |
|
Golden Jubilee |
1985 |
755 |
6 |
|
President Vargas |
1938 |
726.6 |
7 |
|
Jonker |
1934 |
726 |
8 |
|
Jubilee |
1895 |
650.80 |
9 |
|
Kimberley Octahedral |
|
616 |
10 |
|
Lesotho Promise |
2006 |
603 |
11 |
|
Centenary |
1986 |
599 |
12 |
|
De Grisogono |
|
587 |
13 |
|
De Beers |
1888 |
428.50 |
14 |
|
Niarchos |
1954 |
426.50 |
15 |
The discovery of the largest rough diamond in the four
mines at Kimberley around this period, provided an added incentive for
further mining activity.
Even though the country where the De Beers diamond was
cut is not known precisely, it must have been at Amsterdam in the
Netherlands, because around this time Amsterdam was the leading diamond
cutting center in the world, and most of the diamonds mined in South Africa
were eventually reaching there. The rough diamond was transformed by the
cutters, into a 234.65-carat, cushion-cut, pale yellow stone.
The De Beers diamond was purchased by the Maharajah of
Patiala, after it was displayed at an exhibition held in Paris. Patiala was
a princely state in Punjab, in Northwestern India, which at the time of
independence, merged with India in 1947. The Princes and Princesses of the
former princely states of India, were granted special privileges even after
independent India came into existence in 1947. These privileges were
subsequently withdrawn during the period of Mrs. Indira Gandhi, as Prime
Minister, by a constitutional amendment passed in 1970.
In 1928 at the request of the Maharajah of Patiala, the
jewelry firm Cartier's of Paris set the De Beers diamond, as the centerpiece
of a ceremonial necklace that came to be known as "Patiala Necklace,"
which without any doubt was one of the most spectacular pieces of jewelry
ever created. In addition to the De Beers diamond weighing
234.69 carats, there were seven other big diamonds ranging from 18 to 73
carats, incorporated into the necklace. Several expensive Burmese Rubies
were also placed in the necklace. In all, the necklace also contained 2,930,
smaller diamonds, weighing about 962.25 carats. Had this unique jewelry
masterpiece existed today, by current market values, in addition to it's
great historic significance which also adds to it's value, the price of this
spectacular necklace, would have been beyond estimation.
But unfortunately after the abolition of the Patiala Raj
with India's independence in 1947, the Patiala necklace too disappeared.
Perhaps, it was disposed of by the royal family fearing it's confiscation by
the new Indian Government. Then in 1998, the remnants of the Patiala
necklace were accidentally discovered in a second hand jewelry shop in
London, by a curious customer. All the big stones in the necklace, which
included the De Beers diamond and the seven other big diamonds ranging
from 18 to 73 carats, and the rubies had all been disposed of. Cartier's
acquired the remains of the necklace from the London jewelry store, and
embarked upon the most difficult task of trying to restore the necklace to
it's former pristine glory. It took them four long years to complete the
job. At first they tried to replace the missing diamonds with natural white
sapphire or white topaz, but the results were very disappointing.
Subsequently, they decided to use cubic zirconium to replace the seven large
diamonds. The resulting effect was encouraging, though not as good as the
original diamonds. Colorless zirconium resemble diamond in it's luster and
brilliance. The missing De beers diamond was replaced with an exact replica
made either of yellow cubic zirconium or synthetic yellow sapphire.
The original Burma rubies were substituted with synthetic rubies.
The De beers diamond suddenly surfaced again on May 6th,
1982, when it's anonymous owner put it up for auction at Sotheby's in
Geneva. The speculation in the diamond trade was that the bidding for the
stone could reach as much as $ 4.5 million, but eventually the stone was
purchased at the top bid of $ 3.16 million, by an anonymous buyer, still
much below it's undisclosed reserve.
Please submit
your contributions ,comments and questions (See below)
-When you submit a question/comment we will build a
page exclusively for you. You can add more contributions, or let visitors
add comments and ratings
-The idea is Ask one or Answer one!
This way, you save yourself and others the trouble of asking the same
questions on famous diamonds, famous gemstones etc. or become my co-expert on this subject by
rating and submitting comments. I'd appreciate a
little help here! Absolutely!!!
