Two Famous Diamonds by DeBeers

  April is the perfect month to learn more about two famous diamonds by DeBeers, The Millennium Star and The Centenary Diamond. The Millennium Star appeared on the scene in 1990. The Centenary debuted in 1986.  

Famous Diamonds - The Millennium Star

The Millennium Diamond holds some distinction among the world's most famous diamonds. At the present time, it remains the second-largest known top color, internally and externally flawless, modern-cut diamond in the world. Top color means it grades as D color, essentially colorless. The diamond first appeared in 1990, discovered in a mine in the Buyimai district of Zaire, Africa. In the rough, the diamond weighed an astonishing 777 carats. DeBeers purchased the diamond directly from the mine. They handed it off to the Steinmetz Diamond Group for cutting and polishing. After roughly five months of study, the international cutting team decided to cut the rough into three pieces. They chose the largest of these pieces to fashion into The Millennium Star, for a final weight of 118 carats. In order to cut the stone, a sterile cutting theater was built. During the cutting process, it is essential that no dust touch the stone. The special theater also ensured perfect temperature control, so that the stone would not crack during the process. Overall, the cutting process which resulted in the perfect pear-shaped diamond took three years. Hundreds of practice stones were cut and polished before the cutters made their final cuts into the diamond rough. In the end, the cutters chose to give The Millennium Star 54 facets. While they sacrificed a bit of carat weight to do so, this choice afforded the stone maximum brilliance. While DeBeers executives refrained from assigning a value to the stone, they did admit to ensuring it for 100 million English pounds. DeBeers holds exclusive rights to the photos. Thus, I invite you to click here to see a photo.  

The Centenary Diamond

DeBeers also oversaw the cutting of The Centenary Diamond. Miners discovered the rough stone in 1986 in the Premier Mine in South Africa. In the rough, this famous diamond weighed 599 carats. Now polished and cut into a modified heart shape weighing 273.85 carats, The Centenary Diamond holds the record as the world's largest modern faceted top color diamond in the world. Overall, it is the 3rd-largest top color diamond, topped only by the Cullinan I and Cullinan II. Like The Millennium Star, it is a D-Flawless diamond, meaning it is perfectly colorless and flawless both internally and externally. The discovery was made using the mine's x-ray imaging system. Mine executives immediately offered it to DeBeers. DeBeers hired Gabi Tolkowsky to lead the cutting and polishing team for the diamond. As mentioned before, the cutting of a large diamond requires specialized conditions, as well as special equipment. In the case of The Centenary Diamond, the team designed an underground room for the job. After the first 154 days of cutting, a 500-carat egg-shaped diamond emerged from the original rough. Though the team presented 13 potential designs, they urged the DeBeers executives to choose the modified heart design (a heart without the groove). With the board's approval, the team went to work cutting facets, shaping the stone into the final form, and completing the job with a final polish. In its finished form, the diamond contains 247 facets. The team completed the work in February 1991. At that time, the company insured the diamond for $100 million. The diamond remained on display for a number of years at the Tower of London. Since then, DeBeers sold The Centenary Diamond. Details of this sale are unavailable at this time. Once again, DeBeers retains the rights to the photographs. To view a photo, please click here.