The Centennial: Third largest diamond in the world after Cullinam I and II that are in the British Crown jewelery collection .
Summary
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- 1 Story
- 2 Destination of the jewel
- 3 See also
- 4 Sources
History
The diamond was found in Mina Premier in July of 1986 . The Centennial Diamond weighed 599.10 carats rough, and it took nearly three years for master cutter Gabi Tolkowsky , together with a small and select team, to make it the most modern, perfect and largest diamond in the world. It has 247 facets, 164 of them in stone and 83 in its belt. The appropriately named Centennial weighs 273.85 carats and is only smaller in size than the “Great Star of Africa” of 580.20 carats and the Lesser Star of Africa ” of317.40 carats, both set in the British Crown . The Centennial Diamond was first shown at the Tower of London in May 1991
Jewel destination
DeBeers hires one of the best diamond cutters in the world, Gabi Tolkowsky , and is tasked with cutting and polishing the Centennial diamond. The work itself was carried out in a specially constructed room at the DeBeers Diamond Research Laboratory and took three years alongside the team of experts.
The first step consisted of polishing the Centennial Diamond by hand removing the 20-carat diamond to give it the first shape, this part of the delicate process took 154 days. After this first stage, Tolkowsky and his assistants created 13 sketches of possible cuts and were presented to the DeBeers board , which finally selected a modified heart shape for the Centennial Diamond. The final cut of the Centennial Diamond, lasted about a year, and was heart shaped at 273.85 carats and with a record of 247 facets and two additional diamonds that came out of the cuts, pear shaped respectively.
