Found in India in 1701, this 410 carat stone was originally known as the Pitt. The diamond was sold to Thomas Pitt who sent it to England to have it cut and polished. The result was a brilliant cushion shaped diamond of 140 carats. In 1717 it was sold to the the Duke of Orleans, regent of France, from which it gets the name Regent. The royals used the stone in many ways including being set in the Crown of Louis XV, as a hair ornament of Queen Marie and as an adornment in the hat of Marie Antoinette. After the French Revolution the stone was set in the hilt of Napoleon Bonaparte's sword. Napoleon's wife, Marie Louisa, carried the Regent back to Austria upon his death. Later her father returned it to the French Crown Jewels. Today, it remains in the French Royal Treasury at Louvre.

Discovered at the Premier Mine, in July 1986. The 'Centenary' diamond weighed 599.10 carats in the rough. Together with a small select team, master-cutter Gabi Tolkowsky took almost three years to complete its transformation into the world's largest, most modern-cut, top-colour, flawless diamond.

Possessing 247 facets - 164 on the stone and 83 on its girdle - the aptly-named 'Centenary' diamond weighs 273.85 carats, and is only surpassed in size by the 530.20 carat 'Great Star of Africa' and the 317.40 carat 'Lesser Star of Africa', both of which are set into the British Crown Jewels. The 'Centenary' diamond was unveiled, appropriately at the Tower of London in May,1991
 

Originally a 490-carat rough, this champagne colored stone named after the Kimberly Mine in South Africa, was cut to 70 carats in 1921, and to its current emerald shape in 1958. The Kimberly was widely exhibited until it was sold to an undisclosed collector from Texas in 1971.

Shown in the rough above, this diamond is the third largest ever found, and weighed almost half a pound in the rough. The rough was eventually cut into seventeen exquisite invididual diamonds, six of which are now set in the Star of Sierra Leone Brooch.
 

The largest golden diamond known today is cut in a unique cushion shape. It was given 90 :facets, 32 more than the standard brilliant cut, and these extra facets give the great yellow diamond the effect of smoldering fire. You can see this fabulous stone at Tiffany’s in New York City.

Discovered on a farm near Searcy, Arkansas in 1926, this is the third largest diamond ever found in the United States. Bought by Tiffany & Co. for $8,500, the rough is now valued at over $110,000 and is on display in their Fifth Avenue store, New York City.

This peach colored stone was named after Hortense de Beauharnais, Queen of Holland, who was Josephine’s daughter and the step-daughter of Napoleon Bonaparte. The Hortensia had been part of the French Crown Jewels since Louis XIV bought it. You can see the Hortensia on display in the Louvre, Paris.

Many gemologists believe the Jubilee is the most perfectly cut of all large diamonds. Its facets are so exact that it can be balanced on the culet point, which is less than two millimeters across. You can see this majestic diamond today at the DeBeers Diamond Pavillion in Johannesberg.

More notorious than any other diamond. The Hope was once owned by Louis XIV and was officially designated the ‘blue diamond of the crown.’ Stolen during the French Revolution, it turned up in London in 1830 and was bought by Henry Philip Hope after whom it is currently named. At that time it acquired its gruesome reputation for bad luck: all the Hope family died in poverty. A similar misfortune befell a later owner, Edward McLean. You can see the Blue Hope today at the Smithsonian in Washington.

According to some sources, the Koh-i-noor diamond was found in the Godavari river in central India 4,000 years ago. Tradition associated with it states that its owner will rule the world, but that to possess it is dangerous for any but a woman. This may have been a delicate piece of flattery to Queen Victoria, who once owned the gem.
The authentic history of this jewel begins in the 14 c. when it was reported to be in the possession of the rajas of Malwa. It later fell into the hands of Baber, who founded the Mogul dynasty in 1526. During the next two centuries the diamond was one of the most prized items in the treasure of the Mogul emperors.

Nadir Shah of Persia invaded India and all of the treasures of the Moguls fell into his hands except the great diamond. Nadir Shah was told by one of the emperor's harem women that the stone was hidden in the emperor's turban. The conqueror then invited the conquered to a feast and offered to exchange turbans as a gesture of friendship. The emperor had no choice but to agree. Later, in the privacy of his tent, Nadir Shah unrolled the turban, the gem fell out, and Nadir is supposed to have exclaimed "Koh-i-noor", mountain of light.

The stone continued in the possession of the Persian dynasty, although many attempts were made to gain ownership of it. The Persian king was assassinated, and his son Shah Rukh, was deposed. In an effort to discover the whereabouts of the diamond Shah Rukh´s eyes were put out, and boiling pitch was poured on his head, but he refused steadfastly to reveal its hiding place. Later, a Persian king fled with it to the Sikh court, and Ranjit Singh, the Lion of the Punjab, took the stone and wore it as a decoration. It was later placed in the Lahore treasury. After the Sikh wars, it was taken by the East India Company as part of the indemnity levied in 1849, and was subsequently presented to Queen Victoria at a sparkling levee marking the company's 250th anniversary.
 

The jewel was displayed at the Great Exhibition of 1851 where it was thought to display insufficient fire. It was decided to recut it from its original Indian form, and a member of the Amsterdam firm of Costar was called to London to cut the stone. A steam-driven cutting wheel was set up, and Prince Albert set the stone on the wheel, while the Duke of Wellington started it. The cutting took 38 days, but did not add much to the stone's brilliance. It was rather believed that the historical value of the diamond was diminished by the cutting. Queen Victoria continued to wear it as an ornament, then left it to Queen Alexandra, who wore it at Edward VII´s coronation. In 1911, the jewel was used in a crown made for Queen Mary, and in 1937, in another made to be worn by Queen Elizabeth at the coronation of her husband, King George VI in 1937. The Queen Mother's crown with the Koh-i-noor is in the Tower of London.

One of the most famous diamonds is the Great Star of Africa, weighing 530.2 carats, which was cut from the world's largest rough diamond, the Cullinan I. The historic Cullinan diamond, found in South Africa in 1905, weighed an astounding 3,106.75 carats. It was cut into the Great Star of Africa (Cullinan I), the Lesser Star of Africa (known as the Cullinan II, weighing 317.40 carats), and 103 other diamonds of nearly flawless clarity. The principal diamonds are mounted in the British crown jewels.

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. As a reward he received £500 and a horse equipped with saddle and bridle.

Diamonds have no mercy. "They will show up the wearer if they can," says one character in The Sandcastle, an early novel by British writer Iris Murdoch. But is it applicable to Elizabeth Taylor? Those well-publicized gifts which she received from her fifth husband, the late Richard Burton, certainly enhance her appearance and do not look out of place on her. A rapport is established between the jewel and its wearer.
Richard Burton's first purchase for Elizabeth Taylor was the 33.19-carats emerald-cut Krupp diamond, in 1968. This had formerly been part of the estate of Vera Krupp, second wife of the steel magnate, Alfred Krupp. Taylor wore this stone in a ring. Next came the magnificent pearl known as La Peregrina for which Burton paid £15,000.
 

For Elizabeth Taylor's fortieth birthday in 1972 Richard Burton gave her a heart-shaped diamond set with rubies in a pendant. "I would have liked to buy her the Taj Mahal," he remarked, "but it would cost too much to transport. This diamond has so many carats, it's almost a turnip." Then he added, "Diamonds are an investment. When people no longer want to see Liz and I on the screen, then we can sell off a few baubles." By far the best known of Richard Burton's purchases was the 69.42-carats pear shape, later to be called the Taylor-Burton diamond. It was cut from a rough stone weighing 240.80 carats found in the Premier mine in 1966 and subsequently bought by Harry Winston.
 

After the rough piece of 240.80 carats had arrived in New York, Winston and his cleaver, Pastor Colon Jr, studied it for six months. Markings were made, erased and redrawn to show where the stone should be cleaved. There came the day appointed for the cleaving. In this instance the usual tension that surrounds such an operation was increased by the heat and the glare of the television lights that had been allowed into the workroom. After he had cleaved the stone, the 50-year-old cleaver said nothing--he reached across the workbench for the piece of diamond that had been separated and looked at it through horn-rimmed glasses for a fraction of a second before exclaiming "Beautiful!"

This piece of 78 carats was expected to yield a gem weighing around 24 carats, while the larger piece, of 162 carats, was destined to produce the pear shape whose weight had originally been expected to be about 75 carats.

In 1967 Winston sold the pear shape to Harriet Annenberg Ames, the sister of Walter Annenberg, the American ambassador in London during the Presidency of Richard Nixon. Two years later, she sent the diamond to Parke-Bernet Galleries in New York for auction.

The diamond was put up for auction on October 23, 1969, on the understanding that it could be named by the buyer. Before the sale speculation was rife as to who was going to bid for the gem, with the usual international names being bandied about by the columnists. The name of Elizabeth Taylor was among them, and she did indeed have a preview of the diamond when it was flown to Switzerland for her to inspect, then back to New York under precautions delicately described as "unusual".

The auctioneer began the bidding by asking if anyone would offer $200,000, at which the crowded room erupted with "Yes". Bidding then continued to climb and with nine bidders active, rushed to $500,000. At $500,000 the individual bids increased in $10,000 steps. At $650,000 only two bidders remained in the fray. When the bidding reached $1,000,000, Al Yugler of Frank Pollack, who was representing Richard Burton, dropped out. Pandemonium broke out when the hammer fell and the entire room stood up, so that the auctioneer could not identify who had won the prize, and he had to call for order. The winner was Robert Kenmore, the Chairman of the Board of Kenmore Corporation, the owners of Cartier Inc., who paid the record price of $1,050,000 for the gem, which he promptly named the "Cartier". The previous record price for a jewel had been $305,000 for a diamond necklace from the Rovensky estate in 1957.

As well as Richard Burton, Harry Winston had also been an under-bidder at the sale. But the former was not finished yet and he was determined to acquire the diamond. So, speaking from the pay-phone of a well-known hotel in the south of England, he spoke to Kenmore's agent. Sandwiched between the lounge bar and the saloon, Burton negotiated for the gem while continually shoving coins into the box.

Patrons quietly putting away their drinks would have heard the actor's ringing tones exclaiming, "I don't care how much it is; go and buy it." In the end Robert Kenmore agreed to sell it, but on condition that Cartier were able to display the stone, by now named the 'Taylor-Burton', in New York and Chicago. He did not deny that Cartier had made a profit: "We're businessmen, and we're happy that Miss Taylor is happy."

More than 6,000 people a day flocked to Cartier's New York store to see the Taylor-Burton, the crowds stretching down the block. Shortly afterwards Taylor wore the Taylor-Burton in public for the first time, when she attended Princess Grace's fortieth birthday party in Monaco. It was flown from New York to Nice in the company of two armed guards hired by Burton and Cartier. In 1978, following her divorce from Richard Burton, Taylor announced she was putting the diamond up for sale and was planning to use part of the proceeds to build a hospital in Botswana. In June of the following year Henry Lambert, the New York jeweller, stated that he had bought the Taylor-Burton for nearly $5,000,000. By December he had sold the Taylor-Burton to its present owner, Robert Mouawad.
 

This 3,106 carat diamond is the largest gem diamond ever found. It was discovered in 1905 at the Premier mines in South Africa by Frederick Wells, a mine superintendent. He was walking through the mine at the end of the day, when he happened to glance up. He noticed a large mass in one side of the mine wall. Thinking it was a big piece of glass embedded by a practical joker he examined what turned out to be a huge diamond. Wells received $10,000 for his find. The diamond was named Cullinan, after the mine's owner Sir Thomas Cullinan.

It was purchased for $800,000 as a present for King Edward VII for his 66th birthday. The stone was sent to the Asscher Brothers in Amsterdam to be cut. They had successfully cut the Excelsior, previously the largest diamond. The huge uncut stone was studied for months. Then on February 10, 1908, Mr. Asscher stuck the steel cleaver's blade to make the first cut. The blade broke while the diamond remained intact. On the second attempt, it split exactly as planned. It was reported that after the second cut, Mr. Asscher fainted. Further cuts produced three principal parts, and these in tern were cut into 9 major gems, 96 smaller brilliants, and 9.5 carats of unpolished pieces.The Cullinan I was the largest gem produced from the rough stone. It is a pear shaped stone of 530.2 carats and is the world's largest cut diamond.

The Cullinan I is now in the head of the royal scepter in the British crown jewels. The second largest cut diamond, the Cullinan II, is a cushion-shaped stone weighing 317.4 carats, and is set in the British imperial state crown.

As one of the first major diamonds found in South Africa, this stone had been appropriately named. In 1867, a boy found a pebble near the banks of the Orange River. A month later a neighbor a neighbor offered to buy it; his mother refused payment and gave the stone to him. Later the 21 carat rough was cut into this 10.73 brilliant.

A flattened pear shaped stone the size of a bantam’s egg. another famous diamond that was once set in the eye of an idol before it was stolen. Legend also had it that it was given as a ransom for Princess Rasheetah by the Sheik of Kashmir to the Sultan of Turkey who had abducted her.

This almost perfect yellow crystal was found in the Dutoitspan Mine, Kimberly, South Africa in 1964. It was acquired by Harry Winston, who presented it to the Smithsonian Institution in memory of the late Sir Ernest Oppenheimer of DeBeers Consolidated Mines.
 

Very little is known about this diamond. In 1969, Cartier’s lent this blue-grey diamond to the New York State Museum for their World of Gems exposition. In 1972 it was sold to a private American collector.

Unearthed in Crater of Diamonds State Park, near Murfreesboro, Arkansas in 1977, the Kahn Canary is considered to be an unofficial symbol of the state. Bought and named by Stan Kahn of Love Story® jeweler Kahn Jewelers of Pine Bluff, Arkansas, the Kahn Canary has been lent to Hillary Rodham Clinton to wear at all of her husband’s inaugurals, both as Governor of Arkansas, and as President of the United States.

The Kahn Canary is very rare in comparison to other diamonds. Because of its flawless condition and pleasing natural triangular pillow shape, the Kahn Canary has remained uncut. Its intense yellow color and brilliance impress all those who see it. Because of its natural, uncut form, the Kahn Canary is a perfect example to represent Arkansas, nicknamed “The Natural State.” The diamond is presently mounted in a ring custom-designed for Mrs. Clinton for the 1993 Inaugural.

The diamond was discovered by George Stepp of Carthage, Arkansas. He later sold the stone to Kahn. Crater of Diamonds State Park is the world’s only publicly-owned diamond site where visitors may search for diamonds and other gems and keep what they find, regardless of the value of the stone. The park’s 36½ acre search area is the eroded surface of an ancient gem-bearing volcanic pipe. Besides diamonds, other precious and semi-precious stones found within the volcanic matrix include amethyst, garnet, jasper, agate and quartz.

This pear-shaped diamond was cut from a 198.28 carat brown rough supposedly found in South Africa in 1963. Julius Cohen, a New York City dealer, bought the rough and had it cut to reveal the diamond's rich golden-brown, chrysanthemum-like color. In 1971, the diamond was exhibited at the Kimberly Centenary Exhibition in South Africa. The diamond also was shown in the Diamonds-International Academy Collection at the Diamond Pavilion in Johanesburg in 1965. Recently, Julius Cohen sold the GREAT CHRYSANTHEMUM to an undisclosed foreign buyer.

This almond-shaped stone is the largest apple-green diamond known.

Although of Indian origin, nothing was known of it until Frederick Augustus II of Saxony purchased the diamond at the Leipzig Fair in 1743 for about $150,000.

Set in an elaborate shoulder knot, the stone was exhibited with the other Crown Jewels of Saxony in the famous Green Vaults under the Dresden Palace. After World War II, these gems were confiscated by the Russians, but they were returned to Dresden in 1958, and are again on display in the palace.

This blue pear shape was cut from a rough found in the Premier Mine, Transvaal, South Africa. It was once owned by Baumgold Bros., but has been sold since then to an undisclosed buyer.