Cutting down diamonds: To share out the wealth of sparkling glory.

Cutting down diamonds: To share out the wealth of sparkling glory.

From the largest diamond ever discovered to the tiniest of little gems for your jewellery pieces, every last grain of diamond is pure, precious and remarkable.

The Cullinan diamond is the largest gem-quality diamond ever found, at 3106.75 carat. Cullinan I or Great Star of Africa, at 530.4 carats held title as the world’s largest cut faceted diamond. It wasn’t until 1985 that a new record was set, with discovery of another South African diamond gemstone of 755.5 carats. The stone of a darker, browner colour, , would later be cut into the 545.67 carats  

 Golden Jubilee.

The Crown Jewels, the Tower of London, are quite a collection; the 7 major stones cut from the Cullinan diamond and 96 smaller pieces are all kept within these vaults. Of the stones, 7 were cut for Edward VII by Messers I. J. Asscher of Amsterdam, with the following 96 purchased and presented to Queen Mary as a gift of South Africa. 

·          Cullinan I of 530.2 carats is a pear cut diamond, and set within the head of the Royal Sceptre with the Cross. It may also be hung as the pendant from the Cullinan II in a brooch.

·          Cullinan II, a 317.4 carats rectangular cushion is set into the front of The Imperial State Crown.  The crown consists of precious gems, including 2,868 diamonds, 273 pearls, 17 sapphires, 11 emeralds, and 5 rubies.  

If you would ever need proof that your gemstone rings were worth more together, then rather breaking into fragments from that antique, then think again.

There is always the worry however of what diamonds will be worth in the future, and if there are any diamonds left undiscovered?

Russia is home to what gemstone experts and scientists claim could be the largest deposit of gemstones known to mankind.  A deposit of industrial diamonds in a huge Siberian meteorite crater found during Soviet times and kept under wraps for decades could revolutionise industry.

The Siberian branch of Russian Academy of Sciences said of the Popigai crater in eastern Siberia genuinley contains “many trillions of carats” of what are known as “impact diamonds” that are used in industrial equipment and not for jewellery.  The deposits of Siberia are far exceeding the currently known global deposits of conventional diamond. Gems experts it seems will have to hold out until there is a gemstone find far greater then the Cullinan diamond yet.

Written by Xena Sadovsky