Famous Diamonds

What are the Most Famous Diamonds?

There are many well known diamonds that became famous for different reasons. Most of the famous diamonds are coloured diamonds. Here are some interesting facts about the most famous diamonds.

The Hope Diamond

One of the most well known diamonds is the Hope Diamond. This 45.52 carat steel blue diamond is currently on display at the Smithsonian. The legends of the ill-fortune and curse bestowed on the possessor of the Hope Diamond are many. This diamond was donated to the Smithsonian in 1958. The Hope was originally a rather flat, blocky 110-carat rough.

Other Famous Diamonds

The Dresden Green stands out among the natural colored diamonds. It is the largest green diamond in the world weighing 40.70 carats. This diamond is historic, large and has a natural green color with a slight blue overtone. These facts make it virtually priceless.

The Conde Pink diamond is a pear shaped and weighs 9.01 carats. This pink diamond was once owned by Louis XIII.

The Tiffany Yellow diamond a beautiful canary-yellow octahedron weighing 287.42 in the rough (metric) carats discovered in either 1877 or 1878 in South Africa. The gem after cutting boasts the extraordinary weight of 128.54 carats. And until recently, was the largest golden-yellow in the world.

The Koh-I-Noor diamond (Mountain of Light) is now among the British Crown Jewels. This diamond weighs 105.60 carats. First mentioned in 1304, it is believed to have been once set in Shah Jehan‘s famous peacock throne as one of the peacocks eyes.

The Agra diamond is graded as a naturally colored Fancy Light Pink and weighs 32.34 carats. It was sold for about 6.9 million in 1990. Since this sale, it has been modified to a cushion shape weighing about 28.15 carats.

The Transvaal Blue diamond is pear cut. This blue diamond weighs 25 carats. It was found in the Premier Diamond Mine in Transvaal, South Africa.

The Great Chrysanthemum was discovered in the summer of 1963, in a South African diamond field. This 198.28-carat fancy brown diamond appeared to be a light honey color in its rough state. However, after cutting, it proved to be a rich golden brown, with overtones of sienna and burnt orange.

Taylor Burton Diamond

This is perhaps one of the best known famous diamonds. The Taylor-Burton Diamond is a pear-shaped 69.42 carat diamond. Cartier of New York purchased this diamond at an auction in 1969 and christened it "Cartier." The next day Richard Burton bought the diamond for Elizabeth Taylor. He renamed it the "Taylor-Burton”.

In 1978, Elizabeth Taylor put the diamond up for sale. Prospective buyers had to pay $2,500 each to view the diamond to cover the costs of showing it. Finally, in June of 1979, the Taylor Burton diamond was sold for nearly $3 million dollars.

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Diamond Articles

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• Buying Diamonds - A lot of thought and consideration must go into purchasing a diamond.
• Fancy Colored Diamonds - Gemologists treat less desirable diamonds, resulting in much sought-after colored diamonds.
• Diamond Brands - Being natural products, diamonds cannot be branded other than on who owns them.
• Diamond Certificate - Known as Diamond Grading Report, it is issue by GIA - Gemological Institute of America.
• Diamond Cuts - Learn about more popular diamond cuts, which makes them a thing of beauty.
• Diamond Grading - Know the basics of diamond grading scale and colour grading scale.
• Diamond History - Diamonds have had fascinating history, from mythical and health purposes, to beauty and value of today.
• Diamond Mining - Two methods are used to mine diamonds - pipe mining and alluvial mining.
• Diamond Scams - Find out what are some of the more common diamond scams and how to avoid them.
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• Diamonds Clarity - Learn about diamonds clarity scale, based on presence or absence of diamond's flaws.
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• Diamonds Online - Diamonds can be purchased online without any problems, as long as you are careful.
• Fake Diamond - How do you really know a fake diamond from a real one?
• Grading Diamonds - Known as the "Four C's", grading criteria is based on: colour, cut, clarity, and carat grade.
• Selling Diamonds - There are several ways to go about selling your diamonds, after appraising them.
• Synthetic Diamonds - General Electric started with it, now Gemesis Corporation produces best synthetic diamonds.