Posted on 05/10/2016 12:36:52 AM PDT by nickcarraway
Uncut diamond weighs in at 404 carats compared with Kohinoor’s 105.602 carats
Even as the governments of India, Pakistan and even Afghanistan have all laid a claim on the world-famous Kohinoor diamond that is set in the front of UK’s Queen Mother’s Crown, it is Dubai that can be called home to one of the world’s rarest and largest rough diamonds even discovered.
The astonishing rough diamond in Dubai is characterised not only by its sheer size – an impressive 404 carats – but also uniquely by its colourlessness and flawless clarity. The cut-down Kohinoor, on the other hand, weighs 105.6 carats.
Ahmed Bin Sulayem, Executive Chairman of DMCC and Chair of the Kimberley Process, hosted a press conference in Dubai along with Fawaz Gruosi, Founder and Executive Board Member of diamond jewellers de Grisogono, to announce the latter’s acquisition of the rights to one of the world’s largest and rarest rough diamonds ever discovered.
“Dubai and DMCC have become the global epicentre for the diamond trade and we are delighted to have been part of facilitating the access to one of the world’s largest and rarest diamonds by de Grisogono here at Almas – the world’s tallest diamond tower,” said bin Sulayem.
“Not only does this further cement Dubai’s role as a leading diamond trading hub globally, it also highlights how DMCC connects the industry and the producing and consuming countries along the Silk Road,” he added.
One of the 30 largest top quality rough diamonds ever found, and the largest ever found in Angola, the diamond weighing 404 carats will now be cut and polished by de Grisogono’s cutters.
While Kohinoor was much bigger at 793 carats when it was first found, it was repeatedly cut and polished over the years to achieve its dazzling oval-cut brilliance. Even now, at 105.6 carats (21.12 g) and measuring 3.6cm x 3.2cm x 1.3cm, the Kohinoor’s cut is far from perfect by modern standards. Its culet is unusually broad, giving the impression of a black hole when the stone is viewed head-on.
On the other hand, DMCC along with jewellery-makers de Grisogono have the perfect opportunity to craft the recently discovered diamond into “one of the most beautiful jewellery pieces ever created”.
Contrary to the traditional process, where jewellers are restricted to the polished stones that already exist in the market, with this partnership, de Grisogono will have the opportunity to bring a jeweller’s perspective into the cutting process, maximising the beauty of the final jewellery pieces.
de Grisogono has partnered with Nemesis International, a leading rough diamond trading company based at the DMCC, which works on a day-to-day basis with the best diamond mines in world to identify, select and acquire the most precious diamonds in existence.
DMCC’s Almas Tower, purpose-built for the diamond industry and one of the most influential diamond trading centres in the world, provides a leading platform for such a significant acquisition.
“This diamond marks one of the most important milestones in my career both as a jeweller and a designer. Words cannot express how grateful my team and I are to DMCC and Nemesis International for such a unique collaboration,” said Fawaz Gruosi.
Oil, oil, money, money.
Funny. Today’s democrat party liberals don’t seem to mind excessively rich Muslim sheiks.
But let an American white capitalist conservative make money with his oil production, and let the dogs of war be released! But athletes? Rap stars? Hollywood liberals make a billion dollar movie?
flawless and colorless? created in the lab
It’s beautiful! I wouldn’t even cut it!
What would you do with it? That’s one expensive paper weight.
...that was along my first thoughts as well.
My understanding, and please correct my ignorance if I’m wrong, is that diamonds are not as rare as we’re made to believe. Their price is artificially inflated by diamond miners/merchants like the de Beers family. I could just be spewing Internet/liberal talking points, but I have to believe this is true. What we pay for a hunk of pressurized carbon is outlandish, IMO.
Hang it on a chain.
My first thought—faked.
That’s a very odd shape for a “natural” diamond. Granted that the larger ones do tend to be kind of irregular, but that one, particularly in the left photo, looks almost columnar. The cynic in me is in the “grown in a lab” camp.
Pretty much what I’ve heard. One clue is to see what the really, really rich folk buy for engagement rings: Rubies.
DeBeers Consolidated has lost much of its monopoly on the diamond market. The Russians uncovered a huge trove a few decades ago and refused to play the DeBeers game, and the Ashton Joint Venture in Australia also circumvented much of the DeBeers machine. And now, with lab diamonds virtually indistinguishable from their naturally occurring counterparts, the market is a lot less monopolistic.
The world diamond market is indeed manipulated to keep prices high.
Supposedly DeBeers possess and keeps tons of diamonds off the market to maintain prices.
All the middlemen don’t help the price, either. They are unnecessary.
When I bought a diamond for my wife’s wedding ring I went over to some (friend of a friend’s) lady’s house and she almost dropped it down her sink!
It is 1.05 carats. I will use it to buy a bag of Doritos after our coming economic implosion.
Burn it! It’s just glorified coal anyway ... Haha. J/k
I’ll bet it would burn a long time. I’ve often wondered if a diamond could burn since it is just carbon in a different configuration.
Apples and oranges here. Thee Kohinoor was just a tad larger when it was rough. This thing in Dubai would not be 400 carats if it is cut. From its shape I would guess that perhaps two finished diamonds of a fourth the weight of the uncut piece might be obtained.
Almost 30 years ago Hubby bought me a loose 1 carat diamond. My jeweler says it is a very very nice diamond. He paid a little over $1k for it. About 10 years ago the original setting I had it in finally fell apart and I found a jeweler on ebay from NY that sold me a very nice setting with 2 carats of smaller diamonds for it. I also found an estate ring on ebay with 2 carats of diamonds for almost nothing since no one else bid on it. So all in all about 5 carats in the set. It’s a very nice ring set that overall cost almost nothing.
A couple of years ago I was packing to visit family back east and looked down and my ring with the 1 carat was gone. I flipped out, looked everywhere and couldn’t find it. Thought it was gone. Weather made me cancel my trip but I had already shipped my box of clothing and it was at cousin’s house. I started looking for another ring since mine apparently was gone. Everything even close to it was about $15,000! So I gave up. Had decided I’d just buy a replacement at a pawn shop and had already started looking.
Eventually cousin sent my box home and when I opened it my ring was almost right on top. It had travelled to Arkansas and back. lol Anyway, took it to another jeweler to have the 2 rings welded together and he told me the set was worth at least $20,000! We paid less than $3k for the set.
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