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World´s Famous Diamonds
The Gurious
- Weight:115.34 carats
- Color: D- color
- Source: India
The famous Swiss jeweller Fawaz Gruosi is credited for starting the current enthusiasm for black diamond jewelry, launching the current fashion for black diamond in 1996 by creating some eye-catching collections of jewelry and watches set with black diamonds.
He is now exhibiting a heart-shaped black diamond, the largest black diamond of such cut in the world, weighing 115.34 carats. This heart is the centrepiece of a necklace made of 58.77 carats of smaller black diamonds, 378 white diamonds and 14.10 carats of tsavorite garnets, set in white gold.
It took three years to cut the Gruosi Diamond. Received rough in 1998 from India and weighing 300.12 carats, it was originally planned to have an oval shape, but as cutting progressed, the material of the stone proved extremely fragile and very difficult to work.
The Spirit of de Grisogono
- Weight:312.24 carats
- Color: Black
- Source: India
The Spirit of de Grisogono at 312.24 carats is the world's largest cut black diamond, and the world's 5th largest diamond, period. In a white gold mouting, it is set with 702 white diamonds totalling 36.69 carats.
There are not many black stones in the world of famous diamonds, mainly the Black Orlof and the Amsterdam Diamond, which weigh 67 and 33 carats, respectively. (A 205-carat black diamond called the 'Black Star of Africa' is rumored to exist, being sold to a buyer in Asia during the 1980's, but this has never been substantiated.)
The man behind this fascination is famous Swiss jeweler de Grisogono. He was the first major jeweler to create eye-catching collections of black diamond jewelry and watches. He is also responsible for cutting the Gruosi Diamond, the largest heart-shaped black diamond in the world. The diamond weighs 312.24 carats.
The Portuguese
- Weight:127.01 carats
- Source: South Africa
This stone was difficult to find information on. There's really only been a couple major owners of the Portuguese. This is what the Smithsonian Institute had to say about it, and they had more information than any other source I found. The stone resides in the Smithsonian Institute on permanent display, Washington DC.
In the 12th century, Eleanor of Aquitaine, the first Queen of France and later England, brought the stone to England. Her son, Richard the Lionhearted, is said to have taken it on the Third Crusade.
The Portuguese Diamond at 127.01 carats is the largest faceted diamond in the Nation Gem Collection. It's near flawless clarity and unusual octagonal emerald cut make it one of the world's most magnificent diamond gems. It is perhaps more than a little surprising, then, that so little documented information exists about it's origin and early history.
The lack of an authoritative provenance, however, has given rise to considerable conjecture and legend. The diamond owes its current name to one such legend, according to which the diamond was found in Brazil in the eighteenth century and became part of the Portuguese Crown Jewels.
There is no documentation, however, that substantiates a Brazilian origin or connection to Portuguese royalty, nor is it clear where or from whom this story originated. As it is discussed below, the diamond most likely was found at the Premier Mine in Kimberly, South Africa, early in the 20th century.
The Sheapard Diamond
- Weight: 18.30 carats
- Source: South Africa
The 18.30-carat Shepard Diamond is from South Africa, it was acquired by the Smithsonian Museum by exchange for a collection of small diamonds that had been seized as smuggled goods by the United States Customs Service and is named for the Smithsonian employee who helped facilitate the transaction.
The Shepard Diamond amoung other diamonds in the Smithsonian's collection. The round yellow diamond in the back weighs about 12 carats. The blue heart-shaped stone is the Blue Heart Diamond, weighing 30.82 carats. The round brilliant white diamond is the Pearson Diamond, weighing 16.72 carats. The pink pear shape, named the De Young Pink, weighs 2.86 carats, and the two uncut green diamonds weigh 2.05 and 0.97 carats.
81.21-Carat
- Weight:103 carats
- Color:D color
- Clarity: VS1
- Cut: Emerland Cut
This large emerald cut diamond is coming up for sale at Christie's St. Moritz location on February 19th, 2004. It is part of sale #1314, and it is lot #388 -- the final lot in the sale. The stone is D-color and VS1 in clarity. One of the largest white diamonds I have seen come up for auction in some time, along with the 103-carat D-IF cushion shape that failed to sell back in October of 2003.
The estimate for this diamond is 1,950,000 to 3,900,000 Swiss francs, which equates to about $1,577,860 to $3,155,720 US (exchange rate for February 13th). I will update this section of the site when the sale is over.
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