THE WORLDS SECOND BIGGEST DIAMOND
Since the discovery of the the words largest diamond in 1905 at Premier Mine in Pretoria, South Africa, millions of carats of gem quality diamonds were uncovered globally, the majority of them though relatively small. Most weighed in at less than 10 carats, with a clarity less than flawless, with a colour less-than brilliant white and had to be cut to smaller sizes before polishing to get the best out of each diamond. One hundred and ten years later the worlds second biggest diamond was discovered at Karowe mine north of the capital Gaborone in Botswana. The worlds largest diamond weighed in at 3,106-carat, a good 1.33 pounds whereas the worlds second largest weighed in at 1,111-carat. The 3,106-carat diamond was known as the Cullinan Diamond or the Great Star of Africa, but was subsequently split into 9 unequal pieces, and about 100 small stones. The largest 3 pieces became known as the Cullinan 1, II and III or the Star of Africa I, II and III. Thus far the world's largest diamonds all came from diamond mines in South Africa. |
| The Cullinan Nine without the 100 tiny cuttings. |
It will be quite some time before an exact value can be attached to the 1,111-carat diamond below, especially if the entire diamond can be retained as a single stone, its value could be twice that of the Cullinan diamond which is currently valued at over $400 million. Can you image a diamond as big as a tennis ball? and what its value would be?
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| The World's second largest diamond that could the value of Cullinan I. |
There are also several other prized diamonds most of them colour diamonds amongst which are the Moussaieff Red Diamond wighing in at 5. 11 carats (1. 022 grams), the Heart of Eternity Blue Diamond weighing in at 27. 64 carats (5.528 grams), the Wittelsbach Der Blaue Diamond weighing in at 35. 56 carat (7.11 grams), the Steinmetz Pink Diamond weighing in at 59.60 carat (11. 92 grams), the De Beers Centenary Diamond weighing in at 273. 85 carat (54. 77 grams), The Hope Diamond weighing in at 45. 52 carat with 9. 10 grams, the Cullinan Diamond weighing in at \530.2 carats (106.0 g) and lastly the Golden Jubilee Diamond is the largest cut and faceted diamond in the world and weighs in at 545.67 carats (109.13 grams). These diamonds are listed by size and not their value.
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| Fake glass replicas of the Cullinan Nine. |
Suffice to say the worlds second largerst diamond is the Jewel in the Crown of Canadian mining company Lucara because it is the biggest diamond ever to be discovered in Botswana and the also the largest find in more than a century. However to crown it all, they found two additional gem quality white diamonds weighing in at 813-carat and 374-carat from the same min in the same week. Consequently Lucara’s stock price rose by 32%, adding and additional $150 million to its market value.
The Diamond business can be categorized into four divisions.
1) The fist of which are the Miners and producers, who mine rough diamonds, then sort and sell them.
2) The second of which are the Cutters and polishers who buy these rough diamonds then cut and polish them.
3) The third of which are the Jewelry manufacturers who create finished pieces from the polished stones
4) The fourth of which are the Retailers who sell the finished jewelry to consumers.
Among the consumers are collectors of fine jewelry who invest millions of dollars into these highly prized stones. But the majority of consumers are men, buying diamond jewelry for the girlfriends, fiances, wives and daughters. It is therefore every woman's duty to give their husbands to be and education in diamonds, so that they can know all about diamonds.
