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The De Beers diamond
gets its name from the mine where the diamond was discovered in March 1888,
the De Beers mine, one of the two mines that were dug initially on the farm
belonging to Nicolas and Diederick de Beer, near Kimberley, after diamonds
were discovered in this farm in the mid-1860s.
The gem weighed
428.50 old carats (old carats being the pre-1913 non-metric carat) and
measured 47.6 mm through its longest axis and 38.1 mm square. After cut the De Beers diamond turned into a 234.65-carat gem, pale yellow, cushion
cut diamond of unknown clarity grade. It is the 2nd largest faceted yellow
diamond (disregarding the un-cut Oppenheimer) and the largest cushion-cut
yellow diamond in the world. It is also the 7th largest faceted diamond in
the world, not including the Nizam, a now-lost stone which is said to have
been only partially cut.
Even though the
country where the De Beers diamond was cut is not known precisely, it must
have been at Amsterdam in the Netherlands, because around this time Amsterdam was the leading diamond cutting center in the world, and most of the diamonds
mined in South Africa were eventually reaching there.
In 1928 at the
request of the Maharajah of Patiala, the jewelry firm Cartier's of Paris set the De Beers diamond, as the centerpiece of a ceremonial necklace that came to be
known as "Patiala Necklace," which without any doubt was one of the
most spectacular pieces of jewelry ever created. In addition to the De Beers
diamond weighing 234.69 carats, there were seven other big diamonds ranging
from 18 to 73 carats, incorporated into the necklace. Several expensive
Burmese Rubies were also placed in the necklace. In all, the necklace also
contained 2,930, smaller diamonds, weighing about 962.25 carats. Had this
unique jewelry masterpiece existed today, by current market values, in
addition to its great historic significance which also adds to it's value,
the price of this spectacular necklace, would have been beyond estimation.
The De Beers diamond
was purchased by the Maharajah of Patiala, after it was displayed at an
exhibition held in Paris. Patiala was a princely state in Punjab, in
Northwestern India, which at the time of independence, merged with India in 1947. After the end of the Raj, the Patiala Necklace disappeared.
On May 6th, 1982, the
De Beers came up for auction at Sotheby's in Geneva. It was generally thought
that bidding could reach as much as $4.5 million. At the event the stone was
bought when the top bid of $3.16 million remained below its undisclosed
reserve.
Then in 1998, someone
came upon the remnants of it in a second hand jewelry shop in London. All of the big stones were gone: seven stones ranging from 18 to 73 carats, set
above a pendant, and the 234.69-carat De Beers Diamond, seventh largest in
the world.
Cartier acquired the
remains of the necklace and spent four years restoring it. They tried
recreating the original replacing the missing diamonds.The original diamonds
were of course not available including the De Beers Diamond itself. While the
search for replacements continues, Cartier decided to use cubic zirconium to
substitute for the seven diamonds and synthetic rubies to substitute for the
original Burmese marvels. A replica of the De Beers Diamond was created and
set in the necklace, but what type of synthetic material used has not been
released to the press. Therefore, it is more than likely the yellow cubic
zirconium was used, and another clue is that in a number of photos of the
necklace, the De Beers replica casts off a number of different colors,
something a synthetic yellow sapphire wouldn't do to that degree, but which a
yellow cubic zirconium would.)
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famous diamonds
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