A collection of diamond jewelry and various gemsto

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For The Love of God: A Damien Hirst's diamond skull
2007-09-05 22:15:00
Damien Hirst's latest artwork is this life-size platinum skull encrusted with 8,601 fine diamonds. The sculpture, titled "For The Love of God," will likely sell for as much as $100 million, making it the priciest contemporary artwork ever made. White Cube gallery is selling several limited edition silkscreen prints of the work, priced from £900 to £10,000, for one sprinkled with diamond dust. The title of the piece comes from Hirst's mother who asked her son, ?For the love of God, what are you going to do next?? From the New York Times:For Hirst, famous pickler of sharks and bovine bisector, all his art is about death. This piece, which was cast from an 18th-century skull he bought in London, was influenced by Mexican skulls encrusted in turquoise. ?I remember thinking it would be great to do a diamond one ? but just prohibitively expensive,? he recalls. ?Then I started to think ? maybe that?s why it is a good thing to do. Death is such a heavy subject, it would be good to make so...
More About: Skull , Diamond , Damien

Is It Or Isn?t It? The World?s Largest Diamond
2007-09-03 23:21:00
Unconfirmed reports are in from South Africa regarding the discovery of what may be the world?s largest diamond. According to Brett Jolly, a shareholder in the small South African mining company that found the diamond, the stone is around 7,000 carats, twice the size of the world?s largest diamond - the Cullinan Diamond . In 2000 police foiled a plan to steal the 203-ct. flawless pear-shaped Millennium Star diamond and 11 other rare blue diamonds, including the 27.64-ct. blue Heart of Eternity diamond from London?s Millennium Diamond. In a scene right out of the James Bond movie "The World is Not Enough," the robbers planned to make their getaway via a speedboat on the nearby Thames River. But police, acting on a tip given several weeks ago, had prepared for the theft and had officers stationed around the Millennium Dome dressed as members of the cleaning staff carrying weapons in their refuse bags. Some 100 officers lay in wait as a gang attempted to use a mechanical digger to ste...
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Centenary Diamond: the world's largest colorless, flawless diamond
2007-09-01 23:47:00
The Centenary Diamond was discovered in the Premier Mine on July 17, 1986 using their X-ray imaging system. It is the world's third-largest, modern-cut perfect diamond that possesses 599 carats in rough form. The Gemological Institute of America has certified Centenary Diamond with a color grade as D color. This is supposed to be the highest grade of colorless diamond.The original rough was presented on May 11, 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 599 carats (119.8 g) 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."The Centenary is characterized with 75 faces on the pinnacle, 89 on the base and 83 on the girdle that forms a total of 247 facets. In recent times, the diamond has been placed as an element of the British Crown Jewels.The complete version of the C...
More About: Largest , Carats , Flawless

Regent diamond: formerly Pitt Diamond
2007-08-28 22:37:00
Regent diamond, also called Pitt Diamond , a brilliant-cut stone with a slight blue tinge that once was the outstanding gem of the French crown jewels; it is said to have been discovered by a slave in the Parteal Mines (also spelled 'Partial') on the Kistna River of India about 1701 and weighed 410 carats in rough form. The slave stole the enormous rough concealing it in bandages of a self-inflicted leg wound, and fled to the seacoast. There, he divulged his secret to an English sea captain, offering him half the value of the stone in return for safe passage to a free country. But during the voyage to Bombay, temptation overcame this seafaring man and he murdered the slave took th diamond. After selling it to an Indian diamond merchant named Jamchund for about $5000, the captain squandered the proceeds in dissipation and, in a fit of remorse and delirium tremens, hanged himself.In 1702, Jamchund sold the stone for about $100,000 to Sir Thomas Pitt, British governor in Madras, who...
More About: Jewel , Regent , Gemstone

The curse of the Hope Diamond
2007-08-24 22:55:00
The unusual Blue diamond that became the Hope , appeared in Europe in 1669 and is believed to be from Golconda. It is sapphire-blue gemstone and one of the largest blue diamonds known. The 45.52 carat steel blue Hope Diamond was found in India back in remote times as a rough crystal weighing 112 carats.The stone was brought to France by the jewel trader Jean-Baptiste Tavernier and purchased by Louis XIV in 1668 as part of the French crown jewels. This stone, later called the French Blue, was recut into a 67-carat heart in 1673 and disappeared after the crown-jewel robbery of 1792 , possibly reappearing in Spain 7 years later. According to the legend, a curse befell the large, blue diamond when it was stolen from an idol in India - a curse that foretold bad luck and death not only for the owner of the diamond but for all who touched it. Whether or not you believe in the curse, the Hope diamond has intrigued people for centuries. Its perfect quality, its large size, and its rare color ...
More About: Jewel , Curse , Crystal

Excelsior Diamond : named after the Jubilee in honor of Queen Victoria
2007-08-22 23:17:00
On the evening of June 30, 1893, an African mine worker picked up an immense diamond in a shovelful of gravel which he was loading into a truck; he hid it from his overseer and delivered it directly into the hands of the mine manager. The diamond was discovered in the Jagersfontein mine in the Orange River Colony. The lucky Kaffir was rewarded he received $2500 and a horse equipped with saddle and bridle. The diamond had a blue-white tint and weighed 971 3/4 carats (194.2 g) or equivalent to 995.2 metric caratsThe shape the diamond stone was flat on one side and rose to a peak on the other, rather like a loaf of rye bread. Apparently it was this fact which caused the diamond to be given the name of Excelsior, meaning higher. The stone was ultimately named the Jubilee in honour of the celebration of the sixtieth anniversary of the accession of the late Queen Victoria .Until 1905, when the larger Cullinan diamond was found, the Excelsior was the largest known diamond in the world. The...
More About: Honor , Diamond , Queen Victoria

Cullinan Diamond : The largest gem diamond ever found
2007-08-15 22:35:00
This 3,106.75 carat diamond is the largest gem diamond ever found. It was discovered on January 26, 1905 at the Premier Diamond Mining Company in Cullinan, Gauteng, South Africa, by Frederick Wells, a mine superintendent. Although a carbonado found in Brazil weighed more than 3,600 carats (720 g), no gem-quality material could be extracted from it. The stone was named after Sir Thomas Cullinan, the owner of the diamond mine. The stone was bought by the Transvaal government for $800,000 and presented to King Edward VII. It was cut into three large parts by Asscher Brothers of Amsterdam, and eventually into some 11 large gem-quality stones, 96 smaller brilliants, and 9.5 carats of unpolished pieces. At the time, technology had not yet evolved to guarantee quality of the modern standard, and cutting the diamond was considered difficult and risky. In order to enable Asscher to cut the diamond in one blow an incision was made, half an inch deep. Then a specifically designed knife was pl...
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Jubilee Diamond: A colourless, flawless, clear white, cushion-shaped diamon
2007-08-14 22:35:00
The Jubilee Diamond , originally known as the Reitz Diamond is a colourless, flawless, clear white cushion-shaped diamond weighing almost 651 carats in rough form. It was found in the Jaegersfontein mine in South Africa in 1895. It was originally named after Francis William Reitz, the then president of the Orange Free State where the stone was discovered A consortium of diamond merchants from London purchased it along with its even larger sister, the Excelsior, in 1896, and sent it to Amsterdam where it was polished by M.B. Barends. A 40 carat chunk was removed, which itself yielded a 13.34 pear-shaped gem eventually purchased by Dom Carlos I of Portugal. Later on, it was faceted into a cushion brilliant of about 245 carats in 1897, the year of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee, from which it takes its name. ?Excelsior diamond?, until the discovery of the Cullinan diamond in 1905, the world's largest-known uncut diamond. When found by a worker loading a truck in the De Beers mine ...
More About: White , Clear , Carats , Flawless

Sunstone : The stone of luck and romance
2007-08-13 22:20:00
Sunstone is a gemstone in the feldspar group that exhibits schiller or sheen. It is exhibiting in certain directions a brilliant spangled appearance, which has led to its use as an ornamental stone. The effect appears to be due to reflections from enclosures of red haematite, in the form of minute scales, which are hexagonal, rhombic or irregular in shape, and are disposed parallel to the principal cleavage-plane. These enclosures give the stone an appearance something like that of aventurine, whence sunstone is known also as "aventurine-feldspar." Sunstone is a rich golden or reddish brown colour, with plays of red yellow and orange light, sometimes also with green, caused by the inclusion of microscopically thin plates of goethite or hematite. On Mohs? scale of hardness, sunstone ranks 6 to 6.5. While it is found in India, Canada, Madagascar, Russia (Siberia), and the United States, sources for the best sunstone include Tvedestrand and Hitero on the south coast of Norway. Sunston...
More About: Romance , Stone , Luck , Gemstone , Tone

A well cut ciamond
2007-08-07 23:34:00
In defining the best cut, personal preference will always be an issue. So the listed category Well Cut, Very Good, Excellent & Ideal assists you in selecting the right diamond. Ideal cut has the narrowest range, with Excellent and Very Good following later. The lowest score becomes the overall cut grade. The lowest assigned grade for any individual characteristic is always used. For e.g. If the table percentage falls within excellent and yet the depth percentage is in the very good range, the diamond is classified as Very Good. Every shape of diamonds does not have the same proportions. Every diamond shape requires its own guidelines in order to achieve maximum beauty. Due to mathematical differences, inherent in different shapes, the table and depth guidelines are formulated to maximize fire & brilliance. This is done to have a magnificent display that highlights the individuality and character of each shape. Girdle:The girdle is the outer edge of a diamond. It usually has a f...