Cullinan Diamond
The Cullinan diamond was found below the surface at Premier Mine in Cullinan, Transvaal Colony, by Frederick Wells, surface manager at the mine, on 26 January 1905. It was approximately long, wide, deep, and weighed . Newspapers called it the "Cullinan Diamond", a reference to Sir Thomas Cullinan, who opened the mine in 1902. It was three times the size of the Excelsior Diamond, found in 1893 at Jagersfontein Mine, weighing . Four of its eight surfaces were smooth, indicating that it once had been part of a much larger stone broken up by natural forces. It had a blue-white hue and contained a small pocket of air, which at certain angles produced a rainbow, or Newton's rings.
Mega-Gem
"Mega-Gem" was fabricated in 1989 with the resources of Cincinnati art dealer Carl Solway. It was presented at the Chicago International Art Exposition, where it was located on the Navy Pier in Chicago, Illinois. The presentation of "Mega-Gem" was promoted through posters and buttons proclaiming the sculpture to be the largest diamond in the world, weighing over 360 million carats. "Mega-Gem" was considered by Torreano to be one of a series of "oxy-gem" sculptures, playing on the oxymoron of combining precious gems with materials of lesser value, such as a "plywood gem," "gold gem," and "Mega-Gem" as "aluminum gem." "Mega-Gem" is one of Torreano's oversized and exaggerated jewel sculptures.