Interesting Trivia: When found in nature, diamonds do not look much different from the thousands of different stones we find all around us. It takes a discerning eye to recognize a diamond in the rough.

When found deep in the bowels of the earth, or in the alluvial soil left behind by rivers, majority of rough diamonds look extremely ordinary and unattractive. Whether or not there is a high quality gem grade diamond lying inside its heart is tough to know when looking at a freshly mined rough diamond. Before a diamond can be considered as ready to grace your special someone’s jewelry piece, it needs to go through a lengthy and pain staking process.

In this article, we are going to take a glance at the various steps and processes these sparklers go through before their inner fire and brilliance become fully apparent. Broadly, we can segregate the overall process into five sub-processes:

1. Planning
2. Cleaving
3. Bruting
4. Polishing
5. Quality Inspection

Let us take a look at each of these processes in brief to understand them better:

1. Planning: As with any other product, a diamond’s journey from rough to polished starts with planning. Did you know that every rough diamond can be cut in multiple ways to create a polished gem stone? However, only one particular design plan yields best color, clarity and carat weight. Therefore, planning calls for understanding all of these aspects and designing the diamond to get the best possible outcome. This is perhaps the most time consuming step and involves both manual and machine aided planning. Sometimes, rough diamonds are planned, then taken through the cleaving process partially and then re-planned based on the outcome of cleaving. For large high value stones, the planning and partial cleaving process is repeated several times until final plans are decided.

2. Cleaving: So the diamond has been planned. As the name itself suggests, the next step involves cutting or splitting the diamond into two or more parts. This is done along the split lines marked during the planning stage. It throws further light on the inherent beauty and qualities of the stone and get the diamond ready for the actual cutting and polishing stages. Either a diamond lined machine saw or a more modernistic laser machine is used to cleave the diamond precisely.

3. Bruting: A strange sounding name for a process – brutingis where the diamond actually gets its shape. The process normally involves using a second diamond or a diamond impregnated bruting wheel to give the diamond under design its shape. After all, only a diamond can cut a diamond. Of course, this job can only be done by specially trained artisans as even a slight error can permanently destroy the stone or reduce its value significantly.

4. Polishing: This is the stage that gives the entire process its name – diamond polishing. In fact, this process involves two sub-stages – blocking and brillianteering.And we also get to hear a new term here – brillianteering. It’s actually a combination of two words brilliant and engineering. In blocking, the background or base for brillianteering is created. Pavilions, crowns, culets and some of the facets are crafted at this stage.

The final surface polishing is done in the brillianteering sub-stage. During this process, majority of the facets are polished onto the stone and its inherent brilliance and reflective abilities are fully brought to the fore. Only the most skilled and experienced artisans are allowed to handle the diamond at this stage.

5. Quality Inspection: As with any product, diamond processing also ends with a quality inspection. This is where expert craftsmen and inspector check the stone for any manufacturing errors. Every facet, every pavilion and crown is thoroughly inspected. Any minor blemishes or errors are sent back for corrections. Only stones that meet exacting specifications set out at the start of the planning process are accepted as finally polished diamonds ready for the market.

Hard Fact: While the entire process might sound quite simple, it might take a rough diamond anywhere from 20 days to several years to reach its final fully polished state. For example, the world famous Cullinan Diamond took more than 4 years to be completed.

5. The Spirit of de Grisogono: Amongst the rarest of rare diamonds, the Spirit of de Grisogono is the the black beauty found in west Central Africa. Originally weighing 587 carats in its rough form, the world’s largest black diamond was cut and polished down to 312.24 carats in the Mogul cut style. Though an exceptional and rare diamond, the Spirit of de Grisogono has managed to disappear from public eye and its current location and ownership are unknown.

6. The Centenary Diamond: A diamond carrying an insurance policy of $100 million, and with its present location and ownership a secret, the Centenary is one of the most revered diamonds the world has ever known. Mined at 599 carats from the Premier Mine in 1986, it was cut and polished to a finished 273.85 carats. It is a splendid D color diamond. The most unique feature of the Centenary is its 247 facets, the highest number for any known diamond polished up to that time.

Hard Fact: There are many large stones that have been exceptional and that have unfortunately disappeared from the public domain. In most cases, this has happened on account of theft.

7. The Jubilee: Named in commemoration of the 75^th anniversary of the coronation of Queen Victoria of England, the Jubilee is an E colored diamond with outstanding clarity. Mined at 650.80 carat from the Jagersfontein Mine in South Africa in 1895 this magnificent stone was cut into cushion shape yielding a polished diamond of 245.35 carats. Its present valuation is unknown.

Interesting Trivia: The diamond industry employs more than 10 million people worldwide and boasts of roughly $100 billion in annual revenue. If we put together the 50 biggest diamonds in the world their value would easily exceed the current annual revenue amount.

8. The De Beers: Another diamond mined back in 1888 by De Beers from its Kimberley mines, the De Beers was named after the company. Believed to have been cut and polished in Amsterdam, it was put on display in Paris. His Highness Bhupinder Singh, the Maharaja of Patiala acquired it and commissioned Cartier to set it into an exclusive ceremonial necklace in 1928. With 2930 diamonds, the stunning necklace was aptly dubbed the Patiala Necklace. The necklace and the diamond have both gone missing since then.

There are four more outstanding stones that I absolutely cannot leave out of my list of the most famous stones. I will share my complete list of the twelve most famous stones on my next blog.

Interesting Trivia: Diamonds are valued based on their carat, clarity, cut and color. Even among these, color and clarity demand great value – so a colorless and flawless diamond in lesser carats would fetch much higher value than a larger stone of say lower color and clarity.

These magnificent stones have been the objects of wonder, of desire, of jealousy and of course, something to be possessed with a passion.

1. Cullinan I or the Great Star of Africa: It was cut from the Cullinan diamond, which is widely believed to be the largest gemstone diamond ever to be found (it dipped the scales at 3,106 carats when found in Transvaal, South Africa in 1905). It carries the name of the mine owner Sir Thomas Cullinan and was gifted to the then monarch of England King Edward VII in 1907. Asscher of Amsterdam was commissioned to cut and polish this huge stone. The rough stone yielded nine large and ninety six smaller polished diamonds. Among these, the Cullinan I or Great Star of Africa (530 carats) is the largest colorless and flawless diamond presently known. It forms a part of the British Crown Jewels.

2. The Golden Jubilee: A yellowish brown colored beauty discovered in South Africa in 1985, the Golden Jubilee is officially the largest cut diamond in the world at 545.67 carats. It was blessed by Pope John Paul II. Though the largest known cut and polished diamond, it fails to match the Cullinan I diamond in value on account of it’s yellow-brown coloring. It has still found a place of pride in the collection of the Thai Royal Family.

3. The Incomparable: This truly incomparable diamond was presented to the world in 1980 by the Democratic Republic of Congo. An awe-inspiring 890 carats in its rough state, this diamond took nearly four years to reach its final cut size of 407.48 carats. It is the most unique cut of all the largest diamonds in the world – a triangular shape. Just like the Golden Jubilee, the Incomparable is also a yellowish brown colored diamond that is internally flawless.

4. The Cullinan II or Lesser Star of Africa:The smaller sibling of the Cullinan I, this 317.40 carat diamond was cut from the same massive stone that yielded the Great Star of Africa. Polished into a cushion shape, the Cullinan II followed the Cullinan I into the Crown Jewels and forms the center piece of Britain’s Imperial Crown.

This list of most famous stones will be continued on my next blog.

Stay tuned.