WHAT IS THE LARGEST DIAMOND IN THE WORLD?
WHAT IS THE LARGEST DIAMOND IN THE WORLD?
“The Largest uncut rough diamond crystal was found in the Premier Mine of South Africa in 1905 and still remains today the largest single crystal ever found at 3,106.75cts and labeled "The Cullinan". The largest cut and faceted Diamond in the World is the "Golden Jubilee Diamond" given to the King of Thailand on his Diamond Jubilee as King. It weighs 545.67cts., #2 is the "Cullinan I" at 530.20cts and #3 the "Incomparable", which I had the privilege of appraising, at 407.48cts. and is the only privately owned diamond of this size. Thanks for asking and Good Luck, Peter”
This was a short answer to the question of “What is the largest diamond in the world?” The whole story is much longer and a lot more fun.
LARGEST ROUGH DIAMONDS
Since diamonds were found and treasured about 3000 years ago in India there is always a contest for the biggest. The list of rough diamonds over 200cts is at 27 right now and can go higher as more are discovered. The top ten are:
- The Cullinan 3,106.75cts
- Excelsior Diamond 995.20cts
- Star of Sierra Leone 969.0cts
- The Incomparable 890.0cts
- Millennium Star 777.0cts
- The Woyie River 770.0cts
- The Golden Jubilee 755.0cts
- The Vargas 726.6cts
- The Jonkar 726.0cts
- The Jubilee 650.8cts
CULLINAN PIECES
 | Amazon Price: $1,840.00 List Price: $300.00 |
 | Amazon Price: $175.00 |
 | Amazon Price: $18.61 List Price: $21.99 |
 | Amazon Price: $4.99 List Price: $11.95 |
LARGEST CUT DIAMONDS
The list of the top ten + 1 cut and faceted diamonds are:
- The Golden Jubilee 545.67cts
- Cullinan I, 530.20cts
- The Incomparable 407.48cts
- Cullinan II, 317.4cts
- The Great Mogul 280.0cts (Lost, may be Orlov recut)
- Centenary Diamond 273.85cts (Largest D FL)
- Jubilee Diamond 245.3cts
- The De Beers Diamond 234.65cts (whereabouts unknown)
- Red Cross 205.07cts (Fancy Yellow)
- Millennium Star 203.04cts (#2 D FL)
- The Orlov 190.0cts
- Jacob Diamond 184.50cts (also known as Victoria or Imperial)
I added the Jacob Diamond because the Orlov and the Great Mogul may be the same stone and The DeBeers Diamonds’ location is unknown.
- DE BEERS?
The story of how diamonds got to be so popular and who did it. - GIA GRADUATE GEMOLOGIST
- BUYING A DIAMOND?
- BUYING A DIAMOND PART II
- INVESTING(?) IN A DIAMOND
BIGGEST IS NOT MOST EXPENSIVE
We have a littoral deluge of very large and beautiful diamonds scattered all over the world. Diamond is one of the most prolific gems found in the world. There are probably more diamonds, both industrial and gem quality, than any other gemstone.
The Largest doesn’t also mean the most expensive. One of the rarest gems on the planet is the red diamond and the largest red is from Brazil, “The Moussaieff Red Diamond” originally called The Red Shield weighs 5.11cts and is most likely the most expensive gem per carat in the world. The fancy color Diamonds are the most expensive stones, much more than the colorless white diamonds. The most notable is the “Hope Diamond”, in the Smithsonian, it is a 45.52ct Intense fancy blue-grey and it is estimated to be valued at a very conservative $250 Million USD (5.5 million per carat).
There are many more records to break and many more diamonds to find. The largest diamond find of recent times is the Canadian finds in the Northwest Territories. These could be the biggest ever, even more than South Africa. They are diamond bearing volcanic pipes found under the tundra and frozen lakes just like the ones found in South Africa 130 years ago. Unfortunately the production methods employed today for modern diamond mining are geared to production not exploration. The Cullinan was found in the Premier Mine as a broken crystal still in the ceiling of the mine shaft after the power diggers went through crushing the rock. It may have been twice the size or more. So the chances of finding another Cullinan are slim. But we can always hope. The biggest ones are still coming out of Africa for now but who knows what the future holds.
Comments
Hi RunAbstract, Thanks for the interesting comments. The Cullinan rough has been completely cut into 12 major stones and a few smaller ones. The photo I included was taken before they were cut. Heat will not cause diamond to turn red but radiation will. The problem with radiation is they cannot control what color it will turn. Irradiated colored diamonds are a little more than the untreated ones but they are usually low clarity since no one wants to take achance on higher quality diamonds. Thanks again, Peter
Hi Peter...
Great Hub! I had no idea that a diamond with over 3,000 carats had been found. Wow! Too bad it was already ruined by machines before it was discovered. I kinda like 'em rough better than cut though. I'm not at all into wearing jewelry of any kind and wouldn't know what to do with it if somebody gave me a cut diamond...especially one of that size (as if). I've always preferred the natural state of things. But...these are gorgeous and you have enlightened me to the world of diamonds. Thank you for such an informative Hub!
By the way...it's a good thing the Hope diamond is in the Smithsonian. The history on that little beauty is very dark, with something tragic happening to everyone who has had the misfortune of owning it. Coincidence or ...??? I love a good mystery.
Hey, since you're the gem connoisseur and you make your Hubs easy to read and understand for the rest of us, maybe you should write a Hub about the Hope? I'd love to read your take on the subject. Just a suggestion. (:
Voted UP, useful, awesome and beautiful
Take care and stay safe, dear friend,
Diana
Diana, what a great suggestion. I will work it up. I intentionally have stayed away from that stuff with my gems because a lot of folks get weird about healing and the powers of gems and astrology and that nonsense so I try not to encourage it. I'm glad you enjoyed the big sparklers, there are only a few of them that are on dispay all the time so we tend to forget about them. I amnot that big a fan of diamonds because they are a very common gem and everybodys got one. I like the rare and exotic gem materials, they're fun. Thanks for coming by and see you at the ranch! Peter
Hello to a fellow gemstone lover :-) Very interesting article - enjoyed it!!
Thanks bloggering, glad you came by and hope you come by more. Peter
Hey Peter
Are diamonds always cut with saws? I seem to recall seeing a cutter cleaving a diamond with a chisel. (Probably in a bad movie)
Hey Chefsref,
What you saw was how they used to do it on the first cut. Ir is called cleaving, diamonds have 4 directions of perfect cleavage that they will "break" along. Kind of like fault lines. There was a famous Ford Commercial that showed a cutter cleaving a big diamond to show how smooth the ride was. Then they used very thin copper saws coated with diamond powder to cut the diamonds until now when they use lasers to conserve weight. They still use blades but very little. Until lasers only diamond would cut diamond. Good One, thanks my friend,
Peter
Amazing information shared here!
Thank You nikipa, glad you came by and thanks for the follow.I'm returning the favor.
Peter
RunAbstract 11 months ago
Very nice article.
Do you happen to know why the Cullinan collection of roughs have not been cut?
Can heat or other treatments bring out the red color in diamonds? If so would that increase their value?
I had no idea a large abundance of diamonds had been found in Canada. How wonderful!
Voted up.