The Splendor of Diamonds By Allison Ryan At Isnare.com Ezine Articles

The Diamonds in the Smithsonian's Exhibit

The Smithsonian's Splendor of Diamonds was a display of seven of the rarest diamonds in the world. The diamonds ranged in size from 5.11 carats to 203.04 carats. The exhibit ran from June 27, 2003 to September 15, 2003. The seven diamonds displayed were the Allnatt, the Millennium Star, the Ocean Dream, the Moussaieff Red, the Heart of Eternity, the Steinmetz Pink, and the Pumpkin Diamond.

The Allnatt is a cushion-cut, Fancy Vivid Yellow diamond, as rated by the Gemological Institute of America (GIA.) It is currently owned by the SIBA Corporation and has a mass of 101.29 carats. Its yellow color is due to a certain concentration of Nitrogen impurities within the carbon structure. The Allnatt's rarity comes from its size and its color- few diamonds with a mass greater than 100 carats can retain such a vivid color, which makes these diamonds perfect for money back guarantee diamonds, since nobody would want to return such a unique diamond.

The Allnatt Diamond

The De Beers Millennium Star is the sixth largest known colorless diamond of gemstone quality that has ever been found. It is the second largest flawless, colorless pear cut diamond. The lack of color in the Millennium Star means that it is made entirely from crystallized carbon. There are no impurities from other elements, no defects in its structure, no irradiation during the growth process.

The Millennium Star is owned by the De beers company. It originated from the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the early 1990s. The original diamond was 777 carats (155.4 g.) It went to the Steinmetz group three years to laser-cut and polish the rough crystal to its 203.04 carat pear shape. There was some debate concerning whether the diamond was a "blood diamond" or a "non conflict diamond" since it was from an area rich in war diamonds, but this truth was never proven and cleared the Kimberley Process.

The Ocean Dream is a 5.51 carat (1.102 g), Fancy Deep Blue-Green diamond, as rated by the GIA. It is one of the rarest diamonds in the world, for it is the only natural diamond known to the GIA to be of a blue-green color. Blue green is normally seen in synthetic or artificially altered diamonds. In order to achieve such a hue, the diamond color must be altered via irradiation. The Ocean Dream was exposed to millions of years of the earth's natural radiation- causing its blue-green color.

The Moussaieff Red is a 5.11 carat (1.022 g), trilliant cut, fancy red diamond, as rated by the GIA. Red, especially a deep red, is one of the rarest hues found in a diamond. The Moussaieff is the largest Fancy Red diamond that the GIA have ever seen. It was found by a farmer in Brazil in the mid 1990s, where it was purchased as a rough crystal of 13.9 carats (2.78 g) by William Goldberg Diamond Corp. The crystal was cut, polished, and named the Red Shield. It was bought by the Moussaieff Jewelers Ltd and renamed.

The Heart of Eternity is a 27.64 carat (5.528 g), heart cut, Fancy Vivid Blue diamond, rated by the GIA. This diamond originates from South Africa. It was cut by the Steinmetz Company, who sold it to the De Beers Company. The blue color is due to boron impurities in the carbon structure of the diamond. Very few "blue" diamonds are of such vivid color, for often the boron is only located in certain sections of the stone, or the color is extremely desaturated and mixed with shades of gray.

Like many diamonds, the Steinmetz Pink originates from South Africa. It is owned by Steinmetz Company, has a mass of 59.60 carats, and is internally flawless. The GIA diamond rings Institute (the world's foremost authority on diamonds) confirmed it to be the largest Fancy Vivid Pink diamond that they had ever seen. It took twenty months to prepare, cut, and polish.

At 5.54 carats (1.108g), the Pumpkin Diamond is one of the largest Fancy Vivid Orange diamonds that the GIA have ever rated. It originated from the Central African Republic, where it was cut and polished by William Goldberg. The Pumpkin Diamond was bought by Ronald Winston for 1.3 million dollars, though it is currently valued at three million dollars. It was set in a ring between two white diamonds for actress Halle Berry to wear to the 2002 Oscars.

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