What is the biggest diamond?
Petra Diamonds
The Cullinan mine continues to produce large stones. The Cullinan Heritage, a white diamond, was discovered in September 2009. This stone was the 19th biggest uncut diamond ever found and was sold in February 2010 to Chow Tai Fook Jewellery for $35.5m, the highest price ever paid for an uncut diamond. The previous record was held by Gem Diamonds' Leseli La Letšeng, which was bought for $18.4m by Graff Diamonds in December 2008.
Red diamond
A red diamond is a diamond which displays red color and exhibits the same mineral properties as colorless diamonds. Red diamonds are commonly known as the most expensive and the rarest diamond color in the world, even more so than pink diamonds or blue diamonds. Red diamonds, just like pink diamonds are greatly debated as to the source of their color, but the gemological community most commonly attributes both colors to gliding atoms in the diamond’s structure as it undergoes enormous pressure during its formation. 
Red diamonds are among the 12 colors of fancy color diamonds, and are the most expensive price per carat. They will typically run in the hundreds of thousands of dollars per carat range. Since they are the rarest color, it is difficult to find them in large sizes, and they are mostly found in sizes less than 1 carat. Red diamonds only exist with one color intensity, Fancy, although their clarities can range from Flawless to Included, just like white diamonds. The largest and most flawless red diamond is the 5.11 carat Fancy Red Moussaieff Red Diamond, which has internally flawless clarity.
Royal Asscher Diamond Company
In 1903, at , the Excelsior diamond was the largest diamond ever found. The gem required expert handling to be properly carved: inclusions within the rough diamond prevented it from being polished as a single stone. Abraham Asscher was charged with cleaving the Excelsior; to minimize flaws, he carved the stone into ten diamonds which were primarily sold to anonymous purchasers. Rumor and myth abound regarding the location of the diamonds.
Pink Panther jewel
The Darya-ye Noor diamond is believed to be the largest pink diamond in the world. The stone is estimated to weigh 175 and 195 carats and is a light pink color. Its exact weight is unknown because it has been mounted in its brooch setting for over 130 years. The stone is part of the Iranian Crown Jewels and is displayed at the Central Bank of Iran in Tehran.
Cullinan Diamond
Cullinan I, or the Great Star of Africa, is a pendeloque-cut brilliant weighing and has 74 facets. It is set at the top of the Sovereign's Sceptre with Cross which had to be redesigned in 1910 to accommodate it. Cullinan I was surpassed as the world's largest cut diamond of any colour by the Golden Jubilee Diamond in 1992, but is still the largest clear cut diamond in the world. In terms of clarity, it has a few tiny cleavages and a small patch of graining. The diamond is fitted with loops and can be taken out of its setting to be worn as a pendant suspended from Cullinan II to make a brooch. Queen Mary, wife of George V, often wore it like this. In 1908, the stone was valued at US$2.5 million (equivalent to US$ million in )– two and a half times the rough Cullinan's estimated value.
Philippe II, Duke of Orléans
On 6 June 1717, under the influence of Law and the duc de Saint-Simon, the Regent persuaded the Regency Council to purchase from Thomas Pitt for £135,000 the world's then largest known diamond, a 141 carat (28.2 g) cushion brilliant, for the crown jewels of France. The diamond was known from then on as "Le Régent".
Zinaida Yusupova
As the head of one of the most important noble families in Russia, she also inherited a vast fortune, which meant owning the largest collection of historical jewels in Russia, second only to that of the vaults of the Russian Imperial Family. She was in possession of 21 Tiaras, 255 Brooches, 42 Bracelets, 210 kilos of assorted Objet d'art and hundreds of thousands of loose gems.
Some of the famous gems were: The mid-16th century La Pelegrina pearl, "The Polar Star Diamond" (41.28 carat diamond), The "La Regente Pearl" (fifth largest pearl in the world), The 17th century "Ram’s Head Diamond" (a 17.47-carat diamond), The 17th century "Sultan of Morocco Diamond" (35.67 carats, fourth largest Blue diamond in the world), The 17th century "Diamond Earrings of Marie Antoinette" (two 34.59 carat diamonds), The "Blue Venus Statuette Sapphire" (4-inch-tall sapphire statuette of the goddess Venus atop a large Spinel) and also The 15th century "Ruby Buddha" (70+ carat Ruby statue).
Dominion Diamond Mines
Diavik and Ekati combined are estimated to produce over 7 million carats of diamonds in 2014, worth an estimated $1.1 billion. Diavik and Ekati are currently ranked the 9th and 19th largest diamond mines in the world, respectively, according to total carat production.
Red diamond
The majority of red diamonds that are mined each year come from the Argyle diamond mine in Kimberley, Western Australia. However, they have also been discovered in Brazil, Russia, and certain African Countries. The first red diamond known to public record was acquired in 1956 by a Montana rancher named Warren Hancock, who later sold it for a record setting $927,000 at auction in 1987. Other diamonds of note, such as the Moussaieff Red and the Kanzanjian Red, are known to have originated in Brazil and Africa, respectively. Generally speaking, red diamonds are found in the same locations where pink diamonds have also been discovered, and are not found if there are no pink diamonds nearby. Since the majority of the world’s pink diamonds are discovered in the Argyle Mine, it follows that the majority of red diamonds are discovered there as well, although this is not exclusively the case. However, if a red diamond is traced to the Argyle mine in origin, it lends additional value to the diamond’s price as is the case with all Argyle diamonds.
Petra Diamonds
The mine, previously known as Premier Diamond mine, is renowned for producing many of the world's largest and most famous diamonds, including the Cullinan Diamond, the world's largest gem diamond, at rough. Sir Thomas Cullinan, the former chairman of the Premier Diamond Mine, presented the Cullinan to England's King Edward VII in 1905. The Great Star of Africa, which sits in the Sceptre of the Crown Jewels, was produced from the Cullinan Diamond, and was until recently acknowledged to be the largest cut diamond in the world, weighing in at . In 1985 it lost the record to the Golden Jubilee, which was found in the same mine as the Cullinan and weighed in its polished state. More than a quarter of all diamonds weighing more than have originated from Cullinan. It is also the world's only significant source of blue diamonds. One of these famous large blue diamonds was cut into several stones and made into a necklace which subsequently became known as the Cullinan Blue Diamond necklace.
Alexander Pushkin (diamond)
The Alexander Pushkin () is a 320.65 carat colorless raw diamond, the second largest gem diamond ever found in Russia or the territory of the former USSR (after the 26th Congress of the CPSU), and one of the largest in the world as of 2016. It was mined at the Udachnaya kimberlitic pipe (Yakutia, Far Eastern Federal District) in December 1989 and named after the world-famous Russian writer Alexander Pushkin. It is kept in the Russian Diamond Fund (Moscow Kremlin.)
Kazanjian Red Diamond
The Kazanjian Red Diamond is a 5.05-carat emerald-cut red diamond. Red diamonds are the rarest type of colored diamond. The diamond measures on the sides, and in depth. It is the second-largest red diamond ever found, behind only the 5.11-carat Moussaieff Red Diamond.
Princie Diamond
The Princie Diamond is an approximately 34.65 carat cushion-cut fancy intense pink diamond discovered 300 years ago in the Golconda mines. Christie's (who auctioned it on 16 April 2013, when it fetched a price of 39.3 million dollars) say that the Princie Diamond is believed to be the third largest pink diamond in the world after the Daria-i-Noor (c. 175 to 195 carats) the Noor-ol-Ain (c. 60 carats) which are both part of the Iranian Crown Jewels but which were both cut, according to experts, from one single c. 242 carat pink diamond, and the Pink Star (formerly known as the Steinmetz Pink), a diamond weighing 59.60 carats.
Cullinan, Gauteng
On 25 June 1905, the famed Cullinan Diamond, the largest in the world at , was discovered by Frederick George Stanley Wells, surface manager of the Premier Diamond Mining Company. It was bought by the Transvaal government and presented to King Edward VII.
Diamond
Diamond is a solid form of pure carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal. Solid carbon comes in different forms known as allotropes depending on the type of chemical bond. The two most common allotropes of pure carbon are diamond and graphite. In graphite the bonds are sp orbital hybrids and the atoms form in planes with each bound to three nearest neighbors 120 degrees apart. In diamond they are sp and the atoms form tetrahedra with each bound to four nearest neighbors. Tetrahedra are rigid, the bonds are strong, and of all known substances diamond has the greatest number of atoms per unit volume, which is why it is both the hardest and the least compressible. It also has a high density, ranging from 3150 to 3530 kilograms per cubic metre (over three times the density of water) in natural diamonds and 3520 kg/m³ in pure diamond. In graphite, the bonds between nearest neighbors are even stronger but the bonds between planes are weak, so the planes can easily slip past each other. Thus, graphite is much softer than diamond. However, the stronger bonds make graphite less flammable.
Great Chrysanthemum Diamond
The Great Chrysanthemum, considered one of the most famous diamonds in the world is the 2nd largest pear-shaped brown diamond and the 5th largest of all Fancy brown diamonds in the world.
Canadian diamonds
Located approximately 53 miles southeast of the Snap Lake Diamond Mine, the Gahcho Kue Diamond Mine Project is one of the richest diamond mines in Canada with an expected lifespan of 11 years. It is estimated that 54,000,000 carats will be recovered during the mine's lifetime. The mine is a joint venture between Mountain Province Diamonds, who owns 49% and De Beers with the remaining 51%. The first sales of mined diamonds were completed in January 2017. In February 2017, a 68-carat gem quality diamond was mined, the largest in the mines short history.
Tiffany Yellow Diamond
The gem was on loan from Tiffany & Co. to the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington D.C. and was on display from April 18, 2007 until September 23, 2007. At the time, Jeffrey E. Post, the museum`s gem curator, said that this was the largest diamond on display in the U.S. The famous Hope Diamond is only 45.5 carats, which is about one-third the mass of the Tiffany Yellow Diamond.
The Jonker
The Jonker diamond was found at the Elandsfontein mine in South Africa by Johannes Jacobus Jonker on 17 January 1934. The diamond was 726 carats, which at the time was the fourth largest uncut gem ever found. The diamond was found 5 km away from the largest diamond ever found, the Cullinan Diamond. There is speculation that the Jonker may have originally been part of the Cullinan crystal, as both crystals had cleaved faces which seemed to match up perfectly.
Lomonosov diamond mine
The Lomonosov mine is one of the largest diamond mines in Russia and in the world. The mine is located in the north-western part of the country in the Arkhangelsk Oblast. The mine has estimated reserves of 220 million carats of diamonds and an annual production capacity of 2 million carats.
Letseng diamond mine
Previously the largest diamond found at Letseng was the 601 carat (120 g) Lesotho Brown, recovered in 1967.
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).
Centenary Diamond
The Centenary Diamond was discovered in the Premier Mine on 17 July 1986 using their X-ray imaging system. The original rough was and it was presented on 11 May 1988 in the Centennial Celebration of the De Beers Consolidated Mines. As then-chairman Julian Oglivie Thompson said, "We have recovered at the Premier Mine a diamond of which is perfect in color – indeed it is one of the largest top-color diamonds ever found. Naturally it will be called the Centenary Diamond."
Catoca diamond mine
The Catoca diamond mine is the fourth largest diamond mine in the world, and is located in Angola. The mine is owned by a consortium of international mining interests, including Endiama (the state mining company of Angola) (32.8% ownership), Alrosa of Russia (32.8%), Odebrecht of Brazil (16.4%), and the Diamond Finance CY BV Group (16.8%). The mine is located on a kimberlite pipe.
Tiffany Yellow Diamond
The Tiffany Yellow Diamond is one of the largest yellow diamonds ever discovered; its carat weight is 287.42 carats (57.484 g) in the rough when discovered in 1878 in the Kimberley mine in South Africa, and was cut into a cushion shape of 128.54 carats (25.108 g) with 82 facets—24 more than a traditional round brilliant—to maximize its brilliance. The facet pattern features eight needle-like facets pointing outward from the culet (bottom) facet. Jewelry and diamond historian Herbert Tillander refers to this as a 'stellar brilliant cut', and lists the gem in his book "Diamond Cuts in Historic Jewelry - 1381 to 1910" (1995) among other such diamonds: The Koh-I-Noor, the Polar Star, the Wittelsbach, among others.
Black, Starr &amp; Frost
2012: Black, Starr & Frost sold the Archduke Joseph Diamond, a 76-carat, D-color, internally flawless diamond, the largest D color internally flawless Golconda diamond in the world for $21.5 million at Christie’s Geneva Magnificent Jewels auction, setting three world records for the sale of a colorless diamond.
The Creator
The Creator () is a 298.48 carat colored raw diamond, the third largest gem diamond ever found in Russia or the territory of the former USSR (after the 26th Congress of the CPSU and the Alexander Pushkin), and one of the largest in the world as of 2016. It was found at a placer mining factory in the area of the Lower Lena River (Yakutia, Far Eastern Federal District) in 2004 and is owned by the Government of the Sakha Republic, but kept in the Russian Diamond Fund (Moscow Kremlin.)
The Great Dome Robbery
A group of international jewel thieves is planning to steal the worldest largest diamond from its show display at the Millennium Dome, unaware that they have been under police surveillance from the moment they had begun planning their caper.
Nizam Diamond
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Nizam Diamond is believed to have been the most famous diamond in the 1800s. It is named after its original owner HEH Mir Osman Ali Khan, the last Nizam of Hyderabad. There are tales about its size, around . The story goes back to the rulers of Golconda, and is believed to have been found at Kollur Mine. The precious stone gets its name from the Prince Nizam of Hyderabad.
Petra Diamonds
Koffiefontein mine is one of the world’s top diamond mines by average value per carat and produces exceptional white and coloured diamonds, a regular proportion of which are of between 5 and 30 carats. In 1994, a 232.34 carat diamond was recovered at Koffiefontein, being the largest rough diamond ever produced by the mine.
Kelsey Lake Diamond Mine
In 1996 the largest diamond found at the mine was discovered. Named the "Colorado Diamond," it was a yellow stone and the fifth-largest diamond found in North America. The gem was cut and polished by legendary New York diamond cutter Bill Goldberg which yielded a faceted stone that sold for $87,500.
Material properties of diamond
Diamond is the allotrope of carbon in which the carbon atoms are arranged in the specific type of cubic lattice called diamond cubic. Diamond is an optically isotropic crystal that is transparent to opaque. Diamond is the hardest naturally occurring material known. Yet, due to important structural weaknesses, diamond's toughness is only fair to good. The precise tensile strength of diamond is unknown, however strength up to 60 GPa has been observed, and it could be as high as 90–225 GPa depending on the crystal orientation. The anisotropy of diamond hardness is carefully considered during diamond cutting. Diamond has a high refractive index (2.417) and moderate dispersion (0.044) properties which give cut diamonds their brilliance. Scientists classify diamonds into four main types according to the nature of crystallographic defects present. Trace impurities substitutionally replacing carbon atoms in a diamond's crystal structure, and in some cases structural defects, are responsible for the wide range of colors seen in diamond. Most diamonds are electrical insulators but extremely efficient thermal conductors. Unlike many other minerals, the specific gravity of diamond crystals (3.52) has rather small variation from diamond to diamond.
Letseng diamond mine
On 13 September 2007 Gem Diamonds, Ltd. announced that it had found a diamond, making it the 18th largest diamond ever found. It was sold to the Graff-SAFDICO partnership for $10.4 million.
Golconda Diamonds
Some of the most famous diamonds from Golconda are:Out of 38 diamond mines of India, 23 were located in the Golconda Sultanate, making it the 'Diamond Capital' of the past. It was considered a point of pride by any ruler to be the owner of one of the Golconda Diamonds. The top four pink diamonds of the world are from Golconda.
Orapa diamond mine
The Orapa diamond mine is the world's largest diamond mine by area. The mine is located in Orapa, a town in the Central District of Botswana about west of the city of Francistown. Orapa ("resting place for lions") is owned by Debswana, a partnership between the De Beers company and the government of Botswana. It is the oldest of four mines operated by the company, having begun operations in July 1971.
Aurora Green Diamond
The Aurora Green Diamond is a vivid green diamond with VS2 clarity. In May 2016, the Aurora Green became the largest vivid green diamond to ever sell at auction. The record was previous held by a 2.54 carat Fancy Vivid Green VS1 diamond that was sold by Sotheby’s on November 17, 2009 for $1.22 million per carat according to the Diamond Investment & Intelligence Center. On May 31, 2016, the diamond, which was originally owned by Scarselli Diamonds was sold by Christie's for a record price per carat of $3.3 million to Chinese jewelry company Chow Tai Fook, totaling $16.8 million.
Petra Diamonds
Petra Diamonds Ltd is a diamond mining group headquartered in Jersey. It has a diversified portfolio, with interests in eight producing mines in South Africa and Tanzania and an exploration programme in Botswana. Petra Diamonds' focus has shifted from exploration to production, becoming one of the largest independent producers of diamonds in Africa. In June 2012, Petra owns 5 of the world's most productive mines historically. These mines include the Cullinan Diamond Mine famed for having produced the world's largest rough and polished diamond. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange.
Kimberlite Diamond (brand)
Kimberlite Diamond's diamond industrial park in Pudong, Shanghai covers an area of 22,000 square meters, covering the embryo import sorting, cutting, diamond designing, gold production mosaic, and all aspects of the diamond supply chain with design processing capacity up to 150,000 carats. The Kimberlite Diamond Industrial Park which was completed on October 9, 2008, is the first diamond industrial park in Shanghai built by Kimberlite Diamond and is also the biggest in China.
Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom
The regalia contain 23,578 stones, among them Cullinan I, the largest clear cut diamond in the world at , set in the Sovereign's Sceptre with Cross. It was cut from the largest gem-quality rough diamond ever found, the Cullinan Diamond, discovered in South Africa in 1905 and presented to Edward VII. On the Imperial State Crown are Cullinan II (second-largest of the Cullinan diamonds), the Stuart Sapphire, St Edward's Sapphire, and the Black Prince's Ruby – a large spinel given to Edward the Black Prince by a Spanish king in 1367. The Koh-i-Noor diamond, originally from India, has featured on three consort crowns. A small number of historical objects at the Tower are either empty or set with glass and crystals.
Lucara Diamond
Lucara Diamond Corp. () is a diamond exploration and mining company, operating in southern Africa but established in Canada. In November 2015, Lesedi La Rona, the world's second largest gem-quality diamond ever found, was found at the Karowe mine in Botswana.On 18November 2015, the company announced the discovery of the Lesedi La Rona, the world's second largest gem-quality diamond ever (second only to the 3,106 carat Cullinan). The type IIa diamond was found in the company's Karowe mine in north-central Botswana. The diamond weighs 1,111 carat and measures . A day later, two more diamonds weighing 813 and 374 carat, were also found. All the stones came from the AK6 pipe opened 18 months earlier, it has since yielded over 1 million carats of diamonds. The company has sold the 813 carat Constellation in May 2016 for $63.1 million and a 341.9 carat diamond in July 2015 for $20.6 million. The Lesedi has since sold for $53 million.
Oppenheimer Blue
The diamond was named for its previous owner Philip Oppenheimer. It is cut into a rectangle (emerald cut). The Oppenheimer Blue is the largest fancy vivid blue diamond classified by the Gemological Institute of America ever sold at auction; it sold at Christie's in Geneva in May 2016 for US$50.6 million (GBP 34.7m; 56.83m SFr). Two telephone bidders had competed for the diamond; the identity of the purchaser is not publicly known.
Tereshchenko diamond
The Tereshchenko Diamond, sometimes known as the Tereshchenko Blue, is a 42.92 carat diamond of blue colour that is cut in the pear shape. The diamond is rare, belonging to the Type IIb diamond, and believed to originate from India. The Tereshchenko diamond is the second biggest blue diamond in the world. Shaped by Cartier for a private order by the Tereshchenko family, the diamond is in the rare Type IIb diamond.
Millennium Star
The Millennium Star is a diamond owned by De Beers. At 203.04 carats (40.608 g), it is the world's second largest known top-color (grade D, i.e. colourless), internally and externally flawless, pear-shaped diamond.
Mouawad
Mouawad is the owner of the Jubilee Diamond. The Jubilee Diamond was known as the Reitz Diamond and is a colourless, cushion-shaped diamond weighing 245.35 carats (49.07 grams). It is the sixth largest diamond in the world and originally named after Francis William Reitz who was the president of the Orange Free State at the time the diamond was discovered in the area. The Jubilee is the largest diamond in the Mouawad collection.
Gemesis
Gemesis created the world's largest lab-created diamond in April 2013, broke that record in November 2013, and then broke the record again in July 2014. The first was a 1.29 carat emerald cut, the second was a princess cut at 1.78 carat, and the third was a 3 carat round brilliant white Type IIa diamond.
Koh-i-Noor Hardtmuth
At the 1889 World Fair in Paris, the Hardtmuth's displayed their pencils rebranded as "Koh-I-Noor Hardtmuth". Each pencil was encased in a yellow cedar-wood barrel. The inspiration for the name was the famous Koh-i-Noor diamond (Persian for "Mountain of Light"), part of the Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom, and the largest diamond in the world at the time.
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.
Sweet Josephine Diamond
The diamond, which had been owned by an American family for 15 years prior to its 2015 sale, is the largest cushion-shaped diamond classified by the Gemological Institute of America as "fancy vivid" ever to be sold at auction, regardless of color, and it is one of only three "fancy" pink diamonds weighing more than 10 carats to be sold in the previous 250 years.
Jewels of the Nizams
There are 173 jewels, which includes emeralds weighing nearly , and pearls exceeding 40,000 chows. The collection includes gemstones, turban ornaments, necklaces and pendants, belts and buckles, earrings, armbands, bangles and bracelets, anklets, cufflinks and buttons, watch chains, and rings, toe rings, and nose rings. Among them is the seven-stringed Basrah pearl necklace, known as Satlada, which has 465 pearls embedded in it. One of the prized possessions in the collection is the Jacob Diamond, the fifth largest diamond in the world weighing 184.75 carats, which was found by the last Nizam, Osman Ali Khan, in the toe of his father’s shoe at Chowmahalla Palace and he himself used it as a paper weight for a long time.
Rolls-Royce Cullinan
The name "Cullinan" was confirmed by Rolls Royce on 13 February 2018. It is named after the Cullinan diamond, the largest diamond ever found at 3100 carats.
Extraterrestrial diamonds
If most nanodiamonds did form in the Solar System, that raises the question of how this is possible. On the surface of Earth, graphite is the stable carbon mineral while larger diamonds can only be formed in the kind of temperatures and pressures that are found deep in the mantle. However, nanodiamonds are close to molecular size: one with a diameter of 2.8 nm, the median size, contains about 1800 carbon atoms. In very small minerals, surface energy is important and diamonds are more stable than graphite because the diamond structure is more compact. The crossover in stability is between 1 and 5 nm. At even smaller sizes, a variety of other forms of carbon such as fullerenes can be found as well as diamond cores wrapped in fullerenes.
Sergio (carbonado)
Sergio (Portuguese: Carbonado do Sérgio) is the largest carbonado and the largest rough diamond ever found. It weighed and was found above ground in Lençóis (State of Bahia, Brazil) in 1895 by Sérgio Borges de Carvalho. Like other carbonados it is believed to be of meteoritic origin.
National Museum of Natural History
The National Gem and Mineral Collection is one of the most significant collections of its kind in the world. The collection includes some of the most famous pieces of gems and minerals including the Hope Diamond and the Star of Asia Sapphire, one of the largest sapphires in the world. There are currently over 15,000 individual gems in the collection, as well as 350,000 minerals and 300,000 samples of rock and ore specimens. Additionally, the Smithsonian's National Gem and Mineral Collection houses approximately 35,000 meteorites, which is considered to be one of the most comprehensive collections of its kind in the world.
Red diamond
Red diamonds are known for their small sizes. The majority of red diamonds on the market are less than 1 carat in weight. Only 5 red diamonds are known to exceed 5 carats in weight, the largest being 5.11 carats. Only a handful of red diamonds are discovered on an annual basis throughout the world, and most of them do not exceed 1 carat. Red diamonds are priced per carat, as all diamonds, and their per carat price is 300–400% higher than the per carat prices of the next most expensive diamonds, pink diamonds and blue diamonds.
Lichtenburg, North West
The theme of the museum is the alluvial diamant diggings of this region 1925–1935, then the richest public diggings in the world. The biggest pure red diamond (flawless) ("pigeon blood red") in the world was found here in 1927. The stone was of . It was sold for 66 pounds and was later valued at $150,000. The stone would be worth more than $6 million today and is the purest red diamond in the world.
The biggest diamond rush in history took place in March 1927 on the farm Grasfontein near Lichtenburg, when 25,000 runners took part to peg their claims.
The town accommodates a Social-historical museum and an Agricultural museum with a big collection of antique tractors and many other interesting objects, and the new Digging Museum.
Diamond mining in India
The town of Karwan, near the fortress city of Golkonda, now a suburb of Hyderabad, became the world's largest diamond-cutting and diamond-trading center. Golconda was not close to diamond mines, but owed its status as a diamond center to its location on a major trade route from the mines to the south and east. The diamonds became known as Golconda Diamonds, and in Europe, the word Golconda came to mean a place of great wealth.
Pink Star (diamond)
The Pink Star was displayed (as the Steinmetz Pink) as part of the Smithsonian's "The Splendor of Diamonds" exhibit, alongside the De Beers Millennium Star, the world’s second largest (the Cullinan I The Star of Africa is the largest) top colour (D) internally and externally flawless pear-shaped diamond at 203.04 carat (40.608 g), the Heart of Eternity Diamond, a 27.64 carat (5.582 g) heart-cut blue diamond and the Moussaieff Red Diamond, the world's largest known Fancy Red diamond at 5.11 carat (1.022 g).
Korloff Noir
The Korloff Noir is one of the world's largest known black diamonds. It is an 88-carat diamond, with 57 edges. Before it was cut and polished, it had 421 carats. It is named for the Korloff -Sapojnikoff family, members of the Russian nobility, who once owned it. In 1978, Daniel Paillasseur, a French jeweller, purchased it. The Korloff Noir is currently owned by the Korloff Company, which was founded by Paillasseur. It is insured for $37 million.
Jewellery
The British crown jewels contain the Cullinan Diamond, part of the largest gem-quality rough diamond ever found (1905), at 3,106.75 carats (621.35 g).
Lesotho Promise
The Lesotho Promise, a 603 carat (121 g) diamond stone of exceptional colour was unearthed on 22 August 2006 at the Letseng diamond mine in the mountain kingdom of Lesotho. Announced on 4 October 2006, it was the largest reported find this century and the 15th largest diamond ever found. The stone is rated 'D', the top colour band for diamonds.
Jubilee Diamond
Dorabji Tata acquired it around 1900 and gave it to his wife Meherbai. She used to wear it during her visits to the royal courts and public functions. The Jubilee Diamond was the largest in the world until 1905 when a bigger diamond was exhibited. It was sold only after his death in 1932 and the money went to the formation of the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust.
Cora Sun-Drop Diamond
The Cora Sun-Drop Diamond is the largest known yellow pear-shaped diamond, weighing . It was sold for $10.9 million at Sotheby's auction in Geneva and set a world record price for a yellow diamond.
DeYoung Red Diamond
The DeYoung Red Diamond is a 5.03-carat unmounted rare red diamond. It is the third-largest red diamond in the world, and the only one on public display. Sydney DeYoung (for whom the diamond is named) obtained the diamond, which was mistaken for a garnet, at a flea market. The diamond was given to the Smithsonian Institution after DeYoung's death in 1986.
Thomas Gernon
Thomas Gernon studied geology at University College Dublin graduating with First Class Honours in 2004. From September 2004 to September 2007, Gernon conducted a De Beers-funded Ph.D. on the volcanic eruption mechanisms of diamond-bearing rocks at the Department of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol. The dissertation, "The dynamics of degassing and explosive volcanism in kimberlite pipes", involved experimental work on the gas-fluidization of particles and fieldwork at Jwaneng Diamond Mine in the Kalahari Desert, Botswana, and the De Beers Venetia Mine on the South Africa - Zimbabwe border. His work on the internal structure of volcanoes also takes him to many active volcanoes around the world, including those of Iceland, Italy, Greece, and the Kamchatka Peninsula in the Russian Far East. Owner of the largest diamond mine in Africa, Dr T. Gernon is most well known for discovering the largest diamond ever found in the history of the world ever at 5.93m. Found in the Palomar Formation near the Molino Alto Hotel which recently suffered from flash flooding. Gernon is currently a lecturer in geology at the University of Southampton.
Canadian diamonds
Located approximately 190 miles north of Yellowknife, the Diavik Diamond Mine is one of the largest open pit diamond mines in the world (according to production) and currently produces around 8 million carats annually. The mine is currently in a transitional shift from open pit to underground mining, and the life span of the mine is expected to be 16 to 22 years from its opening in 2003.
Marange diamond fields
The Marange diamond fields are an area of widespread small-scale diamond production in Chiadzwa, Mutare West, Zimbabwe. 'Although estimates of the reserves contained in this area vary wildly, some have suggested that it could be home to one of the world's richest diamond deposits'. The hugely prolific fields are regarded by some experts as the world's biggest diamond (in carats, not by value) find in more than a century. Production from Marange is controversial due to ongoing legal wrangles and government crackdowns on illegal miners and allegations of forced labour. In terms of carats produced, the Marange field is the largest diamond producing project in the world, estimated to have produced 16.9 million carats in 2013, or 13% of global rough diamond supply. Marange is estimated to have produced 12.0 million carats in 2012, 8.7 million carats in 2011, and 8.2 million carats in 2010. While some diamond mines produce rough valued at over $1000 per carat, average production at Marange is estimated at under $50 per carat.
Pearl
The largest known pearl (also from a giant clam) is the Pearl of Puerto, also found in the Philippines by a fisherman from Puerto Princesa, Palawan Island. The enormous pearl is 30 cm wide (1 ft), 67 cm long (2.2 ft) and weighs 75 lb (34 kg).
Great Chrysanthemum Diamond
The Great Chrysanthemum Diamond was discovered in 1963 at the Kimberley Mines in the Northern Cape province of South Africa. Weighing in at 198 carats, the rough diamond is one of about only 300 diamonds in the entire world which weigh in excess of a hundred carats. Julius Cohen, one-time protégé of Harry Winston and custodian of the Hope Diamond, purchased the rough stone from its original owners, saving it from the fate of being cut in two. It was Cohen who christened the stone the Great Chrysanthemum, after attending the Chrysanthemum Ball in San Antonio, Texas. When Cohen later learned through Ms. Craggett, his assistant, that the word Chrysanthemum meant "gold flower" in Greek, Cohen made it official.
Thomas Cullinan (diamond magnate)
Sir Thomas Cullinan (12 February 186223 August 1936) was a South African diamond magnate. He is renowned for giving his name to the Cullinan Diamond, the largest diamond ever discovered, and as owner of the Premier Mine, now renamed the Cullinan Mine, from which the famous gem was extracted on 26 January 1905. He also gave his name to the nearby South African town of Cullinan. He was honored by the African Methodist Episcopal Church in Tembisa which named their church after him (Sir Thomas Cullinan AME Church). This was after he played a very big role towards building the church.
Jwaneng diamond mine
The Jwaneng diamond mine is the richest diamond mine in the world and is located in south-central Botswana about west of the city of Gaborone, in the Naledi river valley of the Kalahari. Jwaneng, meaning "a place of small stones", is owned by Debswana, a partnership between the De Beers company and the government of Botswana. It is the second newest of four mines operated by the company, having begun operations in 1982.
Diamond (gemstone)
A diamond (from the "adámas", meaning "unbreakable", "proper", or "unalterable") is one of the best-known and most sought-after gemstones. Diamonds have been used as decorative items since ancient times; some of the earliest references can be traced to 25,000 - 30,000 B.C.
Khwaja Alimullah
The 26-carat (5.2 g) oblong table-shaped diamond is largest and most precious jewel stone in Bangladesh. It is believed to be quarried in a south Indian mine, like the Koh-i-Noor. It is set in the centre of a gold armlet, with ten 5-carat (1 g) oval shaped smaller diamonds around it, used by the Nawabs of Dhaka, who also used as it an ornament on the turban. It is now preserved in a vault of Sonali Bank.
Shlomo Moussaieff (businessman)
Moussaieff's collection included rare stones such as the Moussaieff Blue Diamond, a flawless 6.04 carat stone that Alisa purchased at a 2007 Sotheby's auction in Hong Kong for $7.98 million, setting a world record in price per carat, with a final bid of $1.32 million per carat. The Moussaieff Red Diamond, a trilliant cut, 5.11 carat red diamond purchased in 2001 or 2002, is the world's largest known red diamond.
Oppenheimer Diamond
The Oppenheimer Diamond, a nearly perfectly formed yellow diamond crystal, is one of the largest uncut diamonds in the world, and measures approximately 20 × 20 millimeters. It was discovered in the Dutoitspan Mine, Kimberley, South Africa, in 1964. Harry Winston acquired the stone and presented it to the Smithsonian Institution in memory of Sir Ernest Oppenheimer.
Diamond enhancement
It should be noted that some irradiated diamonds are completely natural. One famous example is the Dresden Green Diamond. In these natural stones the color is imparted by "radiation burns" in the form of small patches, usually only skin deep, as is the case in radium-treated diamonds. Naturally irradiated diamonds also possess the GR1 line. The largest known irradiated diamond is the Deepdene.
Ocean Dream Diamond
The Ocean Dream is a diamond measuring 5.51 carats (1.102 g), rated in color as Fancy Deep Blue-Green by the Gemological Institute of America. The Ocean Dream is the first and one of the only natural diamonds known to the GIA to possess a blue-green hue (besides the Ocean Paradise Diamond owned by the Nahshonov Group, found in Brazil in 2012), making it one of the rarest diamonds in the world. (A blue-green colour is commonly seen in artificially enhanced diamonds, whose colour is imparted by various irradiation methods. The Ocean Dream originated in Central Africa, and is currently owned by the Cora Diamond Corporation.
Princie Diamond
The Gemological Institute of America characterizes the Princie Diamond as fancy intense pink, natural color, VS2 clarity, Type IIa. The Princie diamond is at this time the largest Golconda-type fancy intense pink diamond ever to be graded at the Gemological Institute of America. The Princie also has the property that when exposed to ultraviolet light it displays bright orangey-red fluorescence. According to the Gemological Institute of America this kind of reaction to ultraviolet light is typical of diamonds of Indian origin. Of more than 7 million diamonds that have gone through the Gemological Institute of America's laboratory, no more than 40 exhibited this phenomenon and the Princie is the largest pink diamond that possesses it.
Economy of Botswana
Since the early 1980s, the country has been one of the world's largest producers of gem diamonds. Four large diamond mines have opened since independence. De Beers prospectors discovered diamonds in northern Botswana in the early 1970s. The first mine began production at Orapa in 1972, followed by a smaller mine at Letlhakane. What has become the single richest diamond mine in the world opened in Jwaneng in 1982. The mine was discovered when termites looking for water brought grains of diamond to the surface. Botswana produced a total over 30 million carats (6,000 kg) of diamonds (about 25% of worldwide production) from the three Debswana mines in 1999, and is the highest producer of diamonds by value in the world. According to Debswana, the Orapa 2000 Expansion project increased the Orapa's mine annual output from 6 million carats to 12 million carats and raised total production to 26 million carats. In 2003, Debswana opened the Damtshaa diamond mine about 220 kilometres (140 mi) west of the city of Francistown. The mine was placed into care and maintenance in December 2015 due to weak global demand but was scheduled to reopen in January 2018.
In 2008, Australia's Kimberley Diamond Company opened a mine in Lerala, Botswana's fifth mine and the first not operated by Debswana. However, Kimberley shut down the mine in May 2017, citing weak market conditions.
Fantasia Diamond
The game takes place in no specific setting, combining some elements of fantasy such as elves and other magical creatures with more modern elements such as a prominent robot NPC. The story is that many years ago, an ancestor of the player embarked on a courageous journey to a faraway kingdom where they discovered what is considered to be the largest diamond in the world, the "Fantasia Diamond". This priceless heirloom was passed down from generation to generation, despite all manner of thieves that attempted to steal it for themselves. Although it was safe for generations, thieves were finally successful in taking the diamond from the player's home and whisking it away to a large castle on the other side of a river. To retrieve it, the master spy Boris was dispatched, but he was captured and is being held prisoner. Now, the only way to recover the diamond is for the player go into the castle themselves, attempt to retrieve the diamond, free Boris the master spy from his prison, and safely return home.
Amarillo Starlight
The Amarillo Starlight is the largest diamond found by a park visitor in the Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas since 1972, when it was established as a state park. The Amarillo Starlight was found by W. W. Johnson of Amarillo, Texas in 1975 while he was vacationing at the park with his family. When unearthed, it was a white diamond, but it has since been cut into a marquise shape. Its value has been estimated between $150,000 and $175,000.
Premier Mine
The Cullinan Diamond is the largest rough gem-quality diamond ever found, at . It was found by Frederick Wells, surface manager of the Premier Diamond Mining Company in Cullinan, Gauteng, South Africa, on 25 January 1905. The stone was named after Sir Thomas Cullinan, the owner of the diamond mine.
Petra Diamonds
Kimberley Underground comprises three kimberlite pipe mines in close proximity: Bultfontein, Dutoitspan and Wesselton. These mines were integral to the economic development of South Africa as their output effectively financed development of the nascent gold industry. They are currently mining at depths of between 845 and 995 metres below surface. The mines have a history of producing large diamonds and fancy yellows, such as the Oppenheimer Diamond (253 carats rough). The largest diamond ever recovered at Kimberley Underground was +800 carats and the mine is also the source of the Kimberley Octahedral, at 616 carats, one of the largest uncut diamonds in the world.
Mining in Sierra Leone
The largest diamond found in Sierra Leone, and the third largest diamond in the world, was a 969.8 carat (194 g) rough diamond. It was found in 1972 and named the An-al of Sierra Leone.
Hope Diamond
The Hope Diamond is one of the most famous jewels in the world, with ownership records dating back almost four centuries. Its much-admired rare blue color is due to trace amounts of boron atoms. Weighing 45.52 carats, its exceptional size has revealed new findings about the formation of gemstones.
The jewel is believed to have originated in India, where the original (larger) stone was purchased in 1666 by French gem merchant Jean-Baptiste Tavernier as the Tavernier Blue. The Tavernier Blue was cut and yielded the French Blue (Le bleu de France), which Tavernier sold to King Louis XIV in 1668. Stolen in 1791, it was recut, with the largest section acquiring its "Hope" name when it appeared in the catalogue of a gem collection owned by a London banking family called Hope in 1839. After going through numerous owners, it was sold to Washington socialite Evalyn Walsh McLean, who was often seen wearing it. It was purchased in 1949 by New York gem merchant Harry Winston, who toured it for a number of years before giving it to the National Museum of Natural History in 1958, where it has since remained on permanent exhibition.
Excelsior Diamond
Finally, after the diamond sat in the vault waiting for a buyer for many years, the owners made the decision to cut the stone into several smaller stones. This decision meant that the Excelsior would never be a single large spectacular faceted stone. At the time, the manager of the De Beers diamond syndicate said that the dividing of the stone into many small pieces was "the greatest tragedy of modern times in the history of famous diamonds". In retrospect, diamond experts feel that it should have been cut to yield a single large diamond. Why it was not, remains a mystery. By contrast, the owners of the Cullinan Diamond cut that stone in such a way that the largest faceted diamond in the world came from it. The fate of the Excelsior kept it out of the Smithsonian or other historical museums. It was cut without regard to its historical significance, divided into small, easily sold assorted stones. The named pieces were:
Star of Sierra Leone
The stone was initially cut into an emerald shaped stone weighing but was later re-cut due to an internal flaw, eventually resulting in 17 separate finished diamonds, of which 13 were deemed to be flawless. The largest single finished gem was a flawless pear-shaped diamond of . Six of the diamonds cut from the original rough were later set by Harry Winston into the "Star of Sierra Leone" brooch.
Koh-i-Noor
The Koh-i-Noor (; ), also spelt Kohinoor and Koh-i-Nur, is one of the largest cut diamonds in the world, weighing , and part of the British Crown Jewels.
Material properties of diamond
Known to the ancient Greeks as ἀδάμας – "adámas" ("proper", "unalterable", "unbreakable") and sometimes called adamant, diamond is the hardest known naturally occurring material, scoring 10 on the Mohs scale of mineral hardness. Diamond is extremely strong owing to the structure of its carbon atoms, where each carbon atom has four neighbors joined to it with covalent bonds. The material boron nitride, when in a form structurally identical to diamond (zincblende structure), is nearly as hard as diamond; a currently hypothetical material, beta carbon nitride, may also be as hard or harder in one form. It has been shown that some diamond aggregates having nanometer grain size are harder and tougher than conventional large diamond crystals, thus they perform better as abrasive material. Owing to the use of those new ultra-hard materials for diamond testing, more accurate values are now known for diamond hardness. A surface perpendicular to the [111] crystallographic direction (that is the longest diagonal of a cube) of a pure (i.e., type IIa) diamond has a hardness value of 167 GPa when scratched with an nanodiamond tip, while the nanodiamond sample itself has a value of 310 GPa when tested with another nanodiamond tip. Because the test only works properly with a tip made of harder material than the sample being tested, the true value for nanodiamond is likely somewhat lower than 310 GPa.
Merlin diamond mine
The Merlin mine has an unusually high proportion of gem-quality diamonds: 65% of production is gem-quality, and only 35% is classified as near-gem or industrial quality. This compares to a worldwide average of just 20% gem-quality diamond production at diamond mines worldwide, and a mere 5% gem-quality production at Australia's largest diamond mine, Argyle diamond mine. The high ratio of gem-quality diamonds is responsible for a relatively high value of $108 USD per carat (540 $/g). The known ore grade at Merlin is about 0.2 carats (40 mg) per tonne, although exploration continues under the mine's new owner. The largest diamond produced at the Merlin mine measured 104.73 carats (20.946 g), the largest ever found in Australia, and has been valued at over US$525,000 .
The Pink Panther (1963 film)
As a child in Lugash, Princess Dala receives a gift from her father, the Maharajah: the "Pink Panther", the largest diamond in the world. This huge pink gem has an unusual flaw: looking deeply into the stone, one perceives a tiny discoloration resembling a leaping panther. Twenty years later, Dala (now played by Claudia Cardinale) has been forced into exile following her father's death and the subsequent military takeover of her country. The new government declares her precious diamond the property of the people and petitions the World Court to determine ownership. However, Dala refuses to relinquish it.
Mmadikola
On 9February 2016, Thembani Moitlhobogi from Mmadikola, won the competition of naming the second-largest gem-quality diamond ever found. He named the stone Lesedi La Rona which means "Our Light". He stated that his reason for the name was that "the diamond is a pride, light and hope of Batswana". During the competition Lucara Diamond Corporation received 11,000 emails and 1,000 SMSs with name suggestions. In addition to naming the diamond, Moitlhobogi also received P25,000 (about $2,170).
De Grisogono
In 2017 the company set a new record at Christie's Magnificent Jewels sale in Geneva when it sold the world's biggest-ever emerald cut diamond offered at auction. The 163.41-carat D Flawless stone, which was cut from a 404 carat rough, was incorporated into a necklace designed by Fawaz Gruosi. It fetched 33.5 million Swiss francs, beating the previous record for a D Flawless diamond by nearly five million Swiss francs.
Alexander Malcolm Jacob
He is best known for having sold the Jacob Diamond, which is the seventh largest diamond known in the world (previously known as the Victoria Diamond, Imperial Diamond, or Great White Diamond). It was owned by the Nizam of Hyderabad and is currently owned by the Government of India.
Yair Shimansky
The Brilliant 10 diamond design is a 71 facet round brilliant cut diamond design developed and patented by Shimansky. It's been stated as being the most brilliant diamond in the world. The diamond is currently the only diamond that has no light leakage, in which all of the light that enters through the table and the crown is reflected back. In contrast, a regular round brilliant diamond with 57 facets loses around 8%-12% of light even if cut to ideal proportions, in which the light loss is around the girdle area of the diamond.
Pearl of Puerto
Pearl of Puerto, also referred to as Pearl of Puerto Princesa () is the largest known natural pearl in the world. It was found in the Philippines sea by a Filipino fisherman. It measures 2.2 feet (67 cm) long, 1 foot (30 cm) wide and weighs 34 kilograms (75 lb).
Uncle Sam (diamond)
Uncle Sam is the nickname for the largest diamond ever discovered in the United States. It was found in 1924 in Murfreesboro, Arkansas at the Prairie Creek pipe mine, which later became known as the Crater of Diamonds State Park. The diamond was named "Uncle Sam" after the nickname of its finder, Wesley Oley Basham, a worker at the Arkansas Diamond Corporation.
Excelsior Diamond
The Excelsior Diamond is a gem-quality diamond, and was the largest known diamond in the world from the time of its discovery in 1893 until 1905, when the larger Cullinan Diamond was found. It was found on June 30, 1893 at the Jagersfontein Mine in South Africa, south east of Kimberley whose fame as a diamond mining center always overshadowed that of Jagersfontein. It had a blue-white tint and weighed 971 old carats or 995.2 metric carats (or 194 g). The Excelsior rates as the third largest rough diamond of gem quality ever found. It was ultimately cut into ten stones weighing from 13 to 68 carats. (2.6 to 13.6 g).
Pigot Diamond
The Pigot Diamond, also sometimes called the Pigott Diamond, the Lottery Diamond, or the Great Lottery Diamond, was a large diamond that originated in India in the 18th century and was brought to England where at the time it was the largest diamond in Europe. It remained in Europe for half a century, changing hands several times until it was sold to the ruler of Egypt in the 1820s. What happened to it after that is unknown, inspiring a two-century mystery.
Spirit of de Grisogono Diamond
The Spirit of de Grisogono is the world's largest cut black diamond and the world's fifth largest diamond overall. Starting at an uncut weight of , it was taken from its origin in western Central African Republic and cut by Swiss jeweler De Grisogono. The resulting mogul-cut diamond weighs and is set in a white gold ring with 702 smaller white diamonds totaling . The ring is said to have been sold.
Letseng diamond mine
In January 2018 Gem Diamonds announced the largest diamond yet discovered at Letseng,a Type IIa D color stone measured at 910 carats.. The same year a light brown diamond of 357.61 carats was discovered.
McPherson College
In 1926, J Willard Hershey synthesized one of the world's earliest synthetic (man-made) diamonds on the McPherson College campus. Reporting on his experiments, Hershey wrote, "Since we first began our experiments in their manufacture more than 50 diamonds have been made synthetically at McPherson College, ranging in size from the smallest, one millimeter (about 1/25 inch) in diameter, to the largest, which, is two millimeters by one and one half millimeters by one millimeter, weighing 1/30 carat." One of the diamonds is on display at the McPherson Museum in McPherson, Kansas. There is some debate about the success of Hershey's experiments, with some researchers concluding that the diamonds were not true diamonds and others concluding that some of them were.