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Famous Diamonds in the World The Centanary Diamond
The Centenary Diamond
Origin of name
The Centenary diamond obtains its name from the centenary of the De Beers Consolidated Mines Ltd. renowned on March 11, 1988. The Centenary rough diamond was really discovered on July 17, 1986, at the Premier diamond mines, but all those mixed up in the discovery were confirmed to silence. The strongly protected secret of the De Beers Mining Company was revealed to the world only on March 11, 1988, at a special feast held to scratch the centenary, by the Chairman Mr. Julian Oglivie Thompson, who named the stone the "Centenary Diamond".
Characteristics of the stone
The Centenary diamond is a D-color, 273.85-carat diamond with a customized heart-shaped diamond. The exclusive characteristic of the stone is its excellent clarity and the stone has been marked as internally flawless (IF). The magnitude of the diamond are 50.50 x 39.90 x 24.55 mm. The stone has a sum of 247 facets, 164 on the coronet and the pavilion, and 83 just about the girdle. The Centenary diamond is supposed to be the major, D-color, faceted, flawless diamond in the world. Moreover it is the 3rd largest, faceted, D-color diamond in the world and generally the 5th major faceted diamond in the world.
History of the diamond
The important diamond mine that was revealed in South Africa in 1902 by Sir Thomas Cullinan, was the Premier mine, located in Transvaal, South Africa. In this mine the world's largest diamond weighing 3,106 carats in the bumpy state, was discovered in 1905, and was properly named the Cullinan Diamond. This huge colorless diamond was acquired by the Transvaal Government and offered in 1907 to the supremacy British Monarch, King Edward VII. Since the Premier diamond mines has created some excellent diamonds such as the Niarchos in 1954, the Taylor-Burton in 1966 and the Premier Rose in 1978.
The ownership of the Premier mines was then obtained by the De Beers Consolidated Mines Ltd. and below its organization developed into one of the most creative mines in the world. The Premier mine is also the basis of some high quality colored diamonds, together with the very rare blue diamonds. The eleven excellent quality blue diamonds that comprised the De Beers Company's limited version Millennium Diamonds Collection that was showed at the Millennium Dome, throughout the year 2000 were all caused from the Premier diamond mines.
On July 17, 1986, an additional significant discovery was made at the Premier diamond mines, by their most modern electric X-ray imaging system. This was the innovation of the 599-carat, top color, rough diamond, which finally came to be known as the Centenary diamond. The detection was kept a top secret and only a handful of people knew about it, and all were confirmed to silence. In its irregular form the Centenary diamond be similar to an uneven match box with bony planes, a famous horn like structure extended out at one corner and a bottomless concave on the main flat surface. Therefore the form of the stone itself offered some severe problems to any skilled cutter who would challenge to cut it.
On March 11, 1988, the strongly protected secret of De Beers Mining Company, since July 17, 1986, was exposed to the whole world, at the Centenary Celebrations of the De Beers Consolidated Mines Ltd, detained at Kimberley. In his greeting speech the chairman of De Beers Consolidate Mines Ltd. Mr. Julian Oglivie Thompson stated "We have improved at the Premier Mine a diamond of 599 carats, which is wonderful in color - really it is one of the largest top-color diamonds ever found. Obviously it will be called the "Centenary Diamond." Not only was this a suitable moment to expose the long kept top secret of the Company, but the name selected for the new innovation was also the most proper.
The next significant step was the complicated task of cutting the irregular centenary diamond to construct either a single faceted diamond or some smaller diamonds, keeping in mind the three basic principles of diamond cutting, viz. maximizing for brightness, maximizing for color and maximizing for give up.
Following a careful and widespread examination of the irregular centenary by the most difficult electronic and other tools at their disposal, the team suggested that the Centenary be kept together to create one single large modern-cut diamond. But, prior to the genuine shape and plan of the stone could be suggested, the team determined to removed the protruding horn, the huge breaks at the edge of the stone, and other superficial faults.
The team determined not to use laser or saw for the original steps of the cutting, to take away broken material and other superficial faults. This was done to avoid the heating and vibrating of the diamond. As an alternative they assumed the traditional method of kerfing by hand, a method that is slow and time unbearable. It took the team 154 days, to cut and eliminate 50 carats of cracked material. After this was finished they were missing with about egg-shaped stone considering about 520 carats.
Having effectively gifted the primary steps in the cutting procedure, the team go aboard on the hard task of taking exact measurements and drawing suitable designs, that may probably suit the egg-shaped stone. The team as a final point offered 13 different designs to the De beers board, with a tough suggestion in high opinion of one design, viz. the customized heart-shape. The Board established the modified heart-shape as its option, and then the ending process of faceting the Centenary commenced in March 1990. The faceting was lastly finished after nearly 10 months of careful work in February 1991. After the conclusion of the cutting, the centenary diamond had a weight of 273.85 carats. The diamond with the customized heart-shape had 247 facets, 164 on the circlet and pavilion and 83 about its strap.
Gabi Tolkowsky was also concerned in the cutting of the 755-carat Golden Jubilee rough diamond, the huge yellow brown diamond, also exposed in the Premier diamond mines in 1985, just one year previous to the innovation of the Centenary diamond. In detail it has been said that the Golden Jubilee irregular was used by the De Beers Company, to test a series of modern tools and equipment developed by the company for the processing of larger diamonds. Not only did the experienced tools pass all the rigorous circumstances of the test, but the massive rough diamond also metamorphosed into a good-looking, 545.67-carat, yellow brown, cushion-cut brilliant, captivating the unique place held by the 530.20-carat Cullinan I diamond, as the major faceted diamond in the world, a place which it detained for over 80 years. After the achievement of the wounding of the Golden Jubilee, Gabi Tolkowsky and his team go on board on the more difficult task of cutting the Centenary diamond.
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