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.
Pumpkin Diamond
While it is difficult to tell exactly what status the Pumpkin Diamond currently enjoys, the official GIA web site reports it as "one of the largest Fancy Vivid orange natural color diamonds in the world." The Color Diamond Encyclopedia, on the other hand, terms it "the world's largest fancy vivid orange diamond." In 1997, when it was purchased by The House of Harry Winston, the Gemstone Forecaster referred to it as "the only vivid orange ever graded by the GIA" (which is incorrect as there are several other vivid orange stones graded by GIA and offered for sale on websites, past and present).