Famous Diamonds

The Hope Diamond is among the most popular diamonds. This diamond that weights 45.52 carats is of a steel blue hue and is showcased at the Smithsonian. The legends of curse and ill-fortune bestowed on the owner of the Hope Diamond are several. In 1958, this diamond was donated to the Smithsonian. Originally the Hope was a blocky, flat 110-carat rough piece.

Among the natural colored diamonds, the most popular is The Dresden Green. It is the biggest green diamond in the world weighing up to 40.70 carats. This diamond is large, historic and has a natural green hue with a slight blue shade. These factors make the diamond truly priceless.

The Conde Pink diamond is pear shaped and weighs 9.01-carats. Earlier this pink diamond was owned by Louis XIII.

Weighing 287.42 in the rough (metric) carats, the Tiffany Yellow diamond is a beautiful canary-yellow octahedron. It was discovered in either 1877 or 1878 in South Africa. After cutting, the gem has an extraordinary weight of 128.54 carats and was until recently the biggest golden-yellow gem in the world.

The Koh-I-Noor, otherwise called the Mountain of Light, is now among the British Crown Jewels. This gem weighs 105.60 carats. In 1304, it is said to have adorned Emperor Shah Jahan‘s famous peacock throne.

The Agra is a naturally colored fancy light pink shaded diamond which weighs 32.34 carats. In 1990, it was sold for about $6.9 million. It has been modified to a cushion shape and weighs over 28.15 carats.

The Transvaal Blue diamond has a pear cut and weighs 25 carats. It was originally discovered in the Premier Diamond Mine in Transvaal, South Africa.

In the summer of 1963, The Great Chrysanthemum was discovered in a South African diamond field. In its rough state, this 198.28-carat fancy brown diamond had a light honey color. It got its rich golden brown hue after cutting with shades of sienna and burnt orange.

The Taylor-Burton Diamond is pear-shaped and weighs 69.42 carats. In 1969, Cartier of New York bought this diamond at an auction and named it “Cartier.” Richard Burton bought the diamond for Elizabeth Taylor the next day and renamed it “Taylor-Burton.” The diamond was put up for sale by Elizabeth Taylor in 1978. To cover the costs of showing it, prospective buyers had to pay $2,500 each. Finally, the diamond was sold for nearly $3 million dollars in June 1979.