The Centenary Diamond

In 1986 a large diamond was found in the Premier Mine of South Africa. The diamond yielded 599 carats and was presented to the De Beers company in honour of its 100th anniversary. It was found using x-ray imaging.

The Centenary diamond was cut by Gabi Tolkowsky, great nephew of Marcel Tolkowsky (the creator of the modern brilliant cut). He worked with two other diamond cutters to create the diamond we know today.

When presented, The Centenary diamond weighed 273.85 carats and had 164 facets on the diamond itself and 83 on the girdle. It was cut in a heart-shape and was colourless.

It is the largest modern cut diamond in the world.

According to Gabi Tolkowsky, the Centenary was the ultimate expression of fire and brilliance.

"You usually have to look into a diamond to appreciate its colour, but this just expressed itself from the surface. This is very rare."

Cullinan - From Rough to Polished Diamond

The Cullinan rough cleaved into 2 pieces

The Cullinan rough cleaved into 4 pieces







The Cullinan rough cleaved into the 9 largest pieces

Here is the excerpt from the Royal Asscher website http://www.asscher.nl/:

1907

The Cullinan diamond is discovered. At 3,106 carats it is a legendary find which achieves instant notoriety across the globe. The diamond is presented to Great Britain's King Edward VII, and he invites the Asscher brothers to London to discuss cleaving the diamond. It is decided that Joseph Asscher will cut the Cullinan into three parts, necessary because of the inclusions within the rough diamond.

1908

On a cold February day a noteable audience gathers to watch Joseph Asscher cleave the natural wonder. He needs to hit the Cullinan in exactly the right place... He strikes the diamond , but the blade breaks, not the stone. He dismisses all present and remarks that the largest diamond ever found seems to require significantly larger tools!

The following week, armed with new tools Joseph Asscher resumes his work, allowing nobody but the notary public in the room. Although later, urban legend recounts that Joseph Asscher faints after striking the diamond with a tremendous blow, in truth he remains entirely focused, demonstrating unprecedented expert force as he hits the Cullinan in exactly the right place, the stone, the stone is cleft according to his original calculations. He pauses, crouches to examine his work, then rushes into the next room and lets out a relieved cheer; the champagne corks pop. Later, the Cullinan diamonds are polished, ready to take pride of place in Great Britain's Crown Jewels.

The two largest pieces cut, The Greater and Lesser Star of Africa, were kept by King Edward VII and the rest was left with the Asscher Company as payment for cutting the diamond. Later, the Asscher Company sold the larger pieces to the Transvaal Government who in turn gave them to Queen Mary (the daughter-in-law of King Edward) as a sign of their devotion to the British Crown. She had the diamonds set in her own pieces of jewellery and bequeathed the 7 remaining original Cullinan diamonds to Queen Elizabeth II in 1953.

These are the final polished diamonds as originally cut by Joseph Asscher in 1907.

Photos courtesy of The Royal Collection website www.royalcollection.org.uk/eGallery/searchResults.asp?searchText=Cullinan

Cullinan IX

The last of the large diamonds cut from the Cullinan rough diamond is the pear shaped 4.39 carat colourless diamond. Like the others, it too was given to Queen Mary in 1910 by the South African government and she had it set in a ring.

H.M. Queen Elizabeth II considers this ring to be one of her favourite pieces of her personal jewellery and wears the ring from time to time.

Cullinan VIII

The Cullinan VIII diamond is a 6.8 carat, rectangular cushion cut stone that is currently found in the brooch with the Cullinan VI.


It was given as a gift to Queen Mary from the South African government in 1910. She used this diamond with a dual purpose in mind. This diamond, like the others before it, could be used in the Delhi Durbar stomacher or in the brooch fashion.


This diamond is also in current possession of HM Queen Elizabeth II as part of her personal jewellery collection and is not part of the Crown jewels.

Cullinan VI and VII

The Cullinan VI diamond is marquise cut and weighs 11.5 carats. King Edward VII had given to his queen consort, HM Queen Alexandra, who had it set into her Regal Circlet in 1908.

Currently, it is set into a brooch and suspends from another diamond cut from the Cullinan rough, Cullinan VIII.

This diamond is often confused with Cullinan VII as they are both marquise cut. The difference between the two stones is that Cullinan VI is a longer, more pointed style of marquise cut, and the Cullinan VII is slightly smaller and more rounded marquise cut.

This photo shows the difference in shape and size from the Cullinan VI and VII respectively.

The Cullinan VII weighs 8.8 carats and was placed in a necklace along with cabochon emeralds and presented to HM Queen Mary by the Maharanee of Patiala on behalf of the ladies of India to mark the first visit to India by a British Queen-Empress. Queen Mary had the necklace altered to match her Delhi Durbar Parure. Both the emerald and diamond drops are detachable.

Cullinan V

The fifth stone cut from the Cullinan rough diamond is a heart shaped diamond weighing 18.8 carats. It was given to Queen Mary by the government of South Africa in 1910. She had it set in a platinum and diamond brooch, but also gave it a dual purpose.

The diamond was detachable from the brooch and could be placed as the centre diamond in the Delhi Durbar Emerald and Diamond Stomacher, made in 1911.

The brooch is now personally owned by HM Queen Elizabeth II and does not belong to the Crown Jewels.

This photograph shows Queen Mary wearing the Delhi Durbar Parure (the set including the necklace, earrings and stomacher) including the Cullinan V.

Look closely at the picture and you will see the Cullinan IV in the centre of the Queen's coronet.

The Cullinan III and IV - aka The Cullinan Brooch

The third and fourth stones cut from the Cullinan diamond were fondly known as ‘Granny’s Chips’. Granny was Queen Mary, queen consort to George V and the grandmother of HM Queen Elizabeth II. She had the Cullinan III and IV set into the finial and band of her crown temporarily, for her husband's coronation on June 22, 1911.

Queen Mary's coronation Crown

These two stones could be removed from the crown and worn in unison as a brooch with the 63.6 carat, cushion cut Cullinan IV on the top and the 94.4 carat, pear shape Cullinan III on the bottom. Queen Mary wore this brooch quite often and usually to important functions, including the marriage of her granddaughter Princess Elizabeth in 1947. This brooch is now part of the personal jewellery collection of HM Queen Elizabeth and is not part of the Crown Jewels. Due to the weight of the stones when worn in the brooch style, it is not worn very often.

The current value of this pair of diamonds is £ 50,000,000 or $100,000,000.

Cullinan II - The Lesser Star of Africa

The Cullinan II, also known as The Lesser Star of Africa, was the second largest stone cut from the Cullinan Rough diamond. It weighs 317 carats and is cushion cut.








It is currently mounted in the Imperial State Crown of Great Britain along with 2,867 other diamonds, 273 pearls, 17 sapphires, 11 emeralds and 5 rubies. The Cullinan II holds one of the places of honour, located in the front of the crown, at the centre just above the ermine band.

Cullinan I - The Star of Africa

The largest diamond cut from the Cullinan rough was the Cullinan I, also known as The Star of Africa. It is a pear shaped diamond weighing 530.2 carats with 74 facets. It was known as the largest cut diamond in the world until the 1985 discovery of the Golden Jubilee Diamond (545 carats), also from the Premier Mine in South Africa.

The Cullinan I is mounted in the Sovreign's Sceptre and housed in the Tower of London with the other Crown Jewels. It is the largest colourless cut diamond with no inclusions (flawless) in the world today.

It measures approximately 2" long, 1.7" wide is similar in size to a hen's egg.

It is valued today at £200 million or $400 million.

Famous Gem Stones

The greatest diamond find of the 20th century had to be the Cullinan diamond.

It was discovered at the Premier Mine in Transvaal, South Africa on January 25, 1905 by the surface manager, 'Daddy' Wells. This find was happenstance as he saw a glint in the yellow ground of the side wall of the mine and went to remove it with his pen knife.

The rough diamond weighed 3,106 carats and measured approximately 4" long and 3" high with a total weight of just over 1.33 lbs.

The Cullinan diamond was named after Sir Thomas Cullinan, who was the chairman of the mining company. He had sent the diamond to Johannesburg with the rest of the week's production, and it remained on the London market for nearly 2 years because nobody wanted to buy it.

The Transvaal government bought the rough diamond at the suggestion of General Louis Botha, the Prime Minister, and presented it to King Edward VII on his 66th birthday on November 9, 1907.

The King decided to entrust the diamond cutting to Joseph Asscher and Company of Amsterdam, who had previously cut the Excelsior. Joseph transported the diamond rough in his pocket over the English Channel on a steamboat, while the reporters were being told that the diamond was being sent via post.

The division of the Cullinan stone yielded 9 major stones and 96 small brilliant stones yielding 1,063 carats - recovering 34.25% of the original weight.

Asscher retained the numbered stones III - V and VII to XI along with the 96 smaller diamonds as a fee for cutting and polishing the Cullinan. All of these diamonds were purchased by the South African government and given to Queen Mary in 1910.