Canary Diamond (The Tiffany)

Weight: 128.54 carats
Color: fancy yellow
Clarity: flawless
Cut: Cushion-shape, 90 facets
Source: Kimberly mine, South Africa

I think the best well-known colored diamonds in the world are Tiffany's Canary Diamond and Hope Blue Diamond at Smithsonian Institute.

Absorption in yellow diamonds is caused by nitrogen rather than one of the usual transition elements. However, vivid yellow diamond is very rare assurance. Tiffany purchased a large diamond that had been extracted from the Kimberly Mines in South Africa. The Tiffany Diamond is the largest flawless and perfectly colored Canary Diamond ever mined.

Canary Diamond was founded in 1877 at the DeBeers Mine, in South Africa. The rough, which weighted 287.42 carats, was cut into a cushion shape, with 90 facets diamond. As you may know, Tiffany, the famous Fifth Avenue jeweler after the stone is bought it and named "Canary Diamond" the following year.

Tiffany had the Canary Diamond cut in Paris under the supervision of Dr. George F. Kunz. It has ninety facets: forty on the crown and forty-eight on the pavilion, plus a table and a culet. As you may already know, Dr. George F. Kunz, the famed American gemologist is work for Tiffany &Co.

The Cullinan (Great Star of Africa)

Weight: 530.20 carats
Color: unrecorded
Clarity: unrecorded
Cut: Pear
Source: Transversal, South Africa

The Cullinan Diamond is the largest diamond ever to be found. When it was uncut, it weighted about 1 and 1/3 pounds, and the largest stone cut from it weighted about 521 metric carats. It was found in 1905, when Frederick Wells, manager of the Premier Mine in South Africa, he received $10,000 as a gift of the discovery from the company.

The diamond stayed in England for a time, it was decided that the diamond would be made into a gift for King Edward VII of England in appreciation of his having drafted a constitution for that colony.

This wad done for a purchase price of about $1,000,000, and the diamond was presented to the King on November 9, 1907. However, the gift did not include the cost of cutting the diamond, and King Edward VII selected Asscher Brothers of Amsterdam to cut it.

J. Asscher was assigned the task to cleave the stone into five parts on February 10, 1908. He placed the big cleavage knife in a previously prepare v-shaped groove. He struck the knife with a large steel rod and the crystal remained intact; the knife had broken.

The second attempt was even more tense than the first. Failure might mean the complete destruction of one million dollars, but luckily there was no failure. Though the goal was to split the diamond into only five crystals, it ended up being broke into nine crystals.

This pear shape is the largest cut diamond in the world. Also called "the Great Star of Africa", it is set in the Imperial Scepter and is on permanent display in the Tower of London.

Link to the British Monarchy to VIEW CULLINAN I

The Cullinan II

Weight: 317.40 carats
Color: unrecorded
Clarity: unrecorded
Cut: Cushion
Source: Transversal, South Africa

The cutting of the Cullinan was so successful that the nine new gems as follows;

1) Cullinan I (pear, 530.20 carats)
2) Cullinan II (cushion, 317.40 carats)
3) Cullinan III (pear, 94.40 carats)
4) Cullinan IV (square cushion, 63.60 carats)
5) Cullinan V (heart, 18.50 carats)
6) Cullinan VI (marquise, 11.50 carats)
7) Cullinan VII (marquise, 8.80 carats)
8) Cullinan VIII (rectangular cushion, 6.80 carats)
9) Cullinan IX (pear, 4.39 carats).

Cullinan I and Cullinan II became part of the Crown Jewels of England.

The royal jewelers of King Edward VII, even went so far as to redesign the setting of the scepter in order to accommodate them. Cullinan II, humbly measuring 1.7 x 1.6 inches, this square cut brilliant is the second largest diamond in the world. It is in the British Imperial State Crown, it was handsomely set in the brow of the British Imperial State Crown.

Link to the British Monarchy to VIEW CULLINAN II

The Great Chrysanthemum

Weight: 104.15 carats
Color: unrecorded
Clarity: unrecorded
Cut: Pear
Source: Supposedly, South Africa

The Great Chrysanthemum supposedly found in South Africa in 1963, and it weighted 192.28 carats.

This pear-shaped diamond was cut by Julius Cohen, a New York City dealer, bought the rough and had it cut to reveal the diamond's rich golden-brown, chrysanthemum-like color.

In 1971, the diamond was exhibited at the Kimberly Centenary Exhibition in South Africa. The diamond also was shown in the Diamonds-International Academy Collection at the Diamond Pavilion in Johannesburg in 1965. Recently, Julius Cohen sold "the Great Chrysanthemum" to an undisclosed foreign buyer.

The Hope Diamond

Weight: 45.52 carats
Color: dark blue
Clarity: flawless
Cut: Oval Brilliant
Source: India

The Hope Diamond is the world's largest deep blue diamond in public view today. It is renown for its striking the color and its fascinating history of bringing bad luck to its private owners. It has been stolen and recovered, sold and resold, cut and recut. Through it all, the value of diamond increased.

The legend of the Hope Diamond began in 1642, and it weighted about 112 carats. A French diamond merchant named Jean Tavernier found the diamond in India. Tavernier took the diamond out of India to show it for Louis XIV, the King in 1668, after returning from his sixth trip to India. It was first cut Indian style, and weighed 112.50 carats. However, Tavernier was killed by wild dogs during the another trip on business to India.

Five years after Louis XIV bought it, he had the royal goldsmith cut it into 67 carats, the shape of a heart. The dark blue diamond was called "the Royal French Blue" or "Blue Diamond of the Crown". In 1774 Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette inherited the French Blue and wore it, as it was popularly known.

When the revolution broke out the heart cut blue diamond while under guard in the French Treasure House -- Grade Meuble, the Heart Cut Blue Diamond was stolen together with all of the French Crown Jewels. Some of the gems taken in this robbery were recovered, but not the Heart Cut Blue Diamond.

The Heart Cut Blue Diamond was believed to be sold in Spain and there cut into three smaller stones. The Goya portrait of Queen Marie Louisa painted in 1799 shows her wearing a deep blue diamond cut into 44.5 carats of rounded oval. It is said that the stolen Royal French Blue was recut to its present size by Wilhelm Fals, a young Dutch diamond cutter. Fales is said to have died of grief after his son, Hendrick stole the gem from him. Hendrick, in turn, committed suicide.

In 1830, the Royal French Blue Diamond appeared in public again. Henry Phillip Hope a wealthy banker bought the diamond for $90,000. It was after that the diamond took on its now still existing name "the Hope Diamond". It stayed in the Hope family until the turn of the century and the legend of its sinister influence began again. The original Henry Hope died without marrying, leaving the stone to his nephew. The stone was then passed on to a grandson who changed his surname to Hope to inherit it. Unfortunately bad luck plagued him, and his wife ran off with another man.

The last of the Hopes went bankrupt and the stone was sold to a jeweler. It changed hands frequently in the next few years. A Folies star who wore it was killed by a jealous lover. A Greek broker who bought it fell off a cliff with his wife and children. The Turkish Sultan, Selim Habib, was deposed in the 1908 revolution. The seller, Simon Montharides, died in a car crash.

It was put up for auction in Paris in 1909 but no one bought it. Shortly after that, C. H. Rouseau purchased it only to resell it the same year to Cartier, the French jeweler. Somehow, the Hope Diamond, its way back to France in 1910. The next year, Mr. Edward B. McLean and his wife found it at Cartier. He was the son of millionaire publisher John R. McLean. Edward and his new bride each had $100,000 from their respective fathers as a wedding gift. Two hundred thousand dollars was exactly the price Cartier wanted for the Hope . Mrs. McLean was not able to take it at that time, as her husband did not want to put his half of the money. One year later Cartier arrived in Washington with it reset in a necklace, Mrs. McLean raised $154,000 to buy it from him.

She really loved the Hope Diamond, there was no doubt of that. However, their son, Vinson was killed in a car accident, their daughter died of an overdose of sleeping pills and Mr. McLean became mentally unbalanced, and died in a mental hospital.

But while gossip said the Hope was their undoing, Mrs. McLean placed no stock in legends about her diamond. She wore it constantly and stuffed it into a cushion when she didn't. Mrs. McLean hired a detective as a body guard to stand by on all occasions so she would not be robbed. At one point she pawned it to help the Lindbergh Baby, but the man she aided was the impostor Gastor Means. Mrs. McLean died in 1947, a legend in her own time. After Mrs. McLean death, the Hope Diamond was bought by Harry Winston along with other jewels in her estate for more than $1,000,000.

Harry Winston first displayed the Hope Diamond in his Fifth Avenue salon in New York. After putting it on display at various charity shows, he sent it by registered mail in a plain brown wrap, to the Smithsonian Institution in 1958. The stamps cost him $145.00, $2.44 postage and the rest for insurance of $1,000,000. The Hope Diamond has left the Smithsonian but four times since it was donated.

Link to Smithsonian Institution to VIEW HOPE DIAMOND with large photo

The Koh-i-Noor

Weight: 108.93 carats
Color: unrecorded
Clarity: unrecorded
Cut: Round Brilliant
Source: India

The Kooh-i-noor has a longest history for an extant stone. Firstly, in 1304 as a diamond in the possession of the Rajah of Malwa, later, it fell into the hands of the Sultan Baber. This was a time when possession of such a gem symbolized the power of an empire.

Kooh-i-Noor was one of the precious jewels of the Emperor Mohammed Shah. In 1739, Nadir Shah of Persia successfully invaded Delhi. His systematic pillage of the city failed to uncover the huge stone, but then he was told by one of the harem women that the conquered Emperor Mohammed Shah had hidden it inside his turban.

At the victory celebration party, Nadir Shah invited his captive to a feast and suggested they exchange turbans, the emperor partake in a well known oriental custom whereby the two leaders would exchange turbans. Retiring from the feast, he unrolled the turban and released the great gem. Seeing it he exclaimed "Koh-i-Noor", meaning "mount of light".

Then, Nadir Shah brought the gem back and went it back to Persia, but he was assassinated in 1747 and the diamond was fought over by his successors. It was in the jewel chamber of Lahore, capital of Punjab, but when that state was annexed to British India in 1849, the East India Company took it as a partial indemnity for the Sikh Wars. The Koh-i-Noor was presented to Queen Victoria in 1850 to mark the 250th anniversary of the founding of the East India Company.

When the large stone was displayed at the Crystal Palace Exposition, people were disappointed that the diamond did not show more fire. So, Queen Victoria decided to have it recut, which reduced the 186 carats diamond to its present size.

In 1911 a new crown was made for the coronation of Queen Mary with the Koh-i-Noor as the center stone. In 1937, it was transferred to the crown of Queen Elizabeth (now Queen Mother) for her coronation. It is now on display with the British Crown Jewels in the Tower of London.

The Koh-i-Noor is said to have come to earth as a gift from the god in India to faithful worshiper.

The Orlof

Weight: 189.62 carats
Color: slightly bluish green
Clarity: "exceptionally pure"
Cut: Mogul-cut rose
Source: India

There are so many historical episodes involving the Orloff. First, it may have been set at one time as the diamond eye of Vishnu's idol (one of the Hindu Gods) in the innermost sanctuary temple in Sriangam, before being stolen in the 1700s by a French deserter. However, the deserter just dug one eye from its socket, because he was terror-stricken at the thought of retribution, so he couldn't take the other. He went to Madras, and sold the stone quickly to an English sea-captain for 2,000 pounds.

The time passed, the stone arrived at Amsterdam where the Russian count Grigori Orloff, an ex-lover of Empress Catherine the Great was residing. He heard about rumors of the stone, and he bought the diamond for 90,000 pounds and took it back to Russia for Catherine's favor. The stone has been called the Orloff since then. Catherine received his gift and had it mounted in the Imperial Sceptre. She gave a marble palace to Grigori in exchange for the Orloff. However, Grigori couldn't get Catherine's love. Grigori Orloff passed away at the nadir of disappointment in 1783.

In 1812 the Russians, fearing that Napoleon with his Grand Army was about to enter Moscow, hid the Orloff in a priest's tomb. Napoleon supposedly discovered the Orloff's location and went to claim it. However, as a solider of the Army was about to touch the Orloff, a priest's ghost appeared and pronounced a terrible curse upon the Army. The Emperor, Napoleon scampered away without the Orloff.

The Regent

Weight: 140.50 carats
Color: unrecorded
Clarity: unrecorded
Cut: Cushion shaped brilliant
Source: India

A truly historic diamond discovered in 1701 by the Partial Mines, an Indian slave near Golconda. It once weighed 410 carats in the rough. It was one of the largest diamonds found in India.

Once owned by William Pitt, the English Prime Minister, for a reported $100,000. It was sent to England where it was cut into a cushion shaped brilliant of 140.50 carats. Of all the larger diamonds known throughout the world the Regent Diamond is considered the finest and most brilliant.

The diamond was sold $500,000 to the Duke of Orleans, Regent of France when Louis XV was a boy in 1717, it was called "the Pitt". It was then renamed "the Regent" and set in the crown Louis XV wore at his coronation.

Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette wore the diamond separately. He wore it on his crown and she wore it on her hat. However, the clouds of revolution were gathering; prophetically, a month before the monarchy was abolished, all of the French Crown Jewels were also stolen.

After the French revolution, it was owned by Napoleon Bonaparte who set it in the hilt of his sword when he went to exile, Marie Louis, his second wife, gave it to her father. Her father was the Emperor of Austria, he returned it to French Crown Jewels. When the Germans invaded Paris in 1940 the diamond was sent out of the country, when the war ended it was returned.

During World War II, the Regent was hidden from Hitler's armies behind a stone fireplace in the Chateau Chambord. It is now on display in the Louvre.

The Sancy

Weight: 55 carats
Color: unrecorded
Clarity: unrecorded
Cut: Pear-shape double rose
Source: India

The Sancy, it weighed 55 carats and was cut in a pear shape. It was one of the first diamonds ever cut with symmetrical facets. The stone is apparently of Indian origin. It was first owned by Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, who lost it in a battle in 1477.

The stone is in fact named "the Sancy" after a late owner, Seigneur de Sancy, a French Ambassador to Turkey, in Constantinople around 1570. Sancy was not only a prominent figure in the French court, but also an eager collector of gems then.

Sancy loaned it to the French King, Henry III who wore it in the cap with which he concealed his baldness. Sancy became the French Finance Minister later. Henry IV of France also asked to borrow the diamond as collateral for a loan to hire mercenary soldiers from Sancy.

Therefore, a messenger was sent to Paris with the diamond, but he never arrived. Sancy followed the route and found the messenger dead. Although the messenger was killed by robbers, Sancy knew the messenger was loyal. After an extensive body search, Sancy discovered the messenger had swallowed the stone, and Sancy recovered the diamond.

Later, Sancy was assigned the French Ambassador to England and he sold the Diamond in 1664 to James I, of England. In 1688, James II, last of the Stewart Kings of England, fled with it to Paris. It was stolen during the French Revolution in 1792.

The Sancy was disappeared until 1828, when it resurfaced in the hands of Russian Prince Demidoff. His family owned it until 1865, then sold it to a wealthy Indian, Sir Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy, of Bombay.

The next public appearance was at the Paris Exhibition of 1867. Lady Astor loaned the Sancy to the Louvre, as a centerpiece for its Ten Centuries of French Jewelry exhibition in 1962. However, after her death in 1964, the British government declare the stone a national treasure, but it reportedly has since been sold to the French government.

The Taylor-Burton

Weight: 68.09 Carat
Color: F-G
Clarity: IF
Cut: Pear-shape
Source: Premier Mine, Transversal, South Africa

It was founded in 1966 in the Premier Mine in South Africa. The rough, which weighted 240.80 carats, was cut into a 69.42 pear shape diamond. It was Harry Winston who cut and polished the rough stone.

When the Pear shaped diamond went up at auction in 1969, with the understanding it would be named after the buyer. It was Cartier who first obtained the diamond and successfully named it "Cartier". However, Richard Burton bought the diamond $1,100,000, the next day to give it for Elizabeth Taylor. He also renamed it the "the Taylor-Burton", as an engagement.

Elizabeth Taylor wore it as a pendant at the charity ball in Monaco, it was its debut as "the Taylor-Burton".

After Burton's passed away in 1979, Taylor sold the stone to an anonymous buyer in Saudi Arabia, for charity and reportedly received $2.8 million. She donated in his memory to a hospital in Botswana

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