Are you ready to rock?

Opinion

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This article was published 19/09/2020 (1823 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Prepare to be dazzled by the brilliance of Canada’s newest rock star.

A rare 102-carat diamond discovered in Canada two years ago is making headlines around the world because it is expected to be among the most expensive of its kind when it goes under the auction hammer next month.

The flawless D-colour diamond, about the size of a small egg, was found at DeBeers’ now-closed Victor mine in northern Ontario in 2018 and is expected to fetch between US$12 million and US$30 million at auction.

According to news reports, the spectacular gem was cut from a larger 271-carat rough stone, and then cut and polished for more than a year. Sotheby’s auction house started the bidding for the stone online last Tuesday, and the process will finish off with an in-person auction in Hong Kong on Oct. 5.

As a testament to its rarity, the diamond is being auctioned without a reserve price, meaning there is no minimum bid, and no figure to theoretically limit what a buyer may think it is worth. Sotheby’s says it’s the second-largest oval diamond to ever come up for auction, only slightly smaller than the 118-carat diamond that sold for US$30 million in 2013.

The current record price for a diamond at auction was US$83 million for the so-called Pink Star, a 59-carat diamond that sold in 2013.

The Canuck stone stirs patriotic pride but may not be in the same class as those on today’s sparkling list of Five of the Most Famous Diamonds of All Time:

5) The rock star: The Koh-i-Noor (“Mountain of Light”) Diamond

The estimated value: Unknown, but pegged at more than US$1 billion

Romancing the stone: The Koh-i-Noor has arguably the most storied and turbulent past of all the world’s famous diamonds, and that is saying something. One of the largest cut diamonds in the world at 105.6 carats, it is potentially the most valuable diamond on the planet, considered priceless because of its size and the fact it is now part of the British Crown Jewels and will never go up for sale.

Like most famous diamonds, its past is shrouded in mystery and legend, though it was believed to have been mined in India in the 1300s. It has passed through many hands, often in bloody battles. Also, like many diamonds, it is said to carry a curse — that its owner is granted the power to rule the world, but will meet with death and misfortune, though the curse of Koh-I-Noor includes protection for any female who wears it.

In its modern history, only the women of the British monarchy have sported the gem. Under terms of a treaty following the Anglo-Sikh War, it became the property of the British in 1849. In 1851, it went on display at the Great Exhibition in London, but its lacklustre cut failed to impress viewers, prompting Prince Albert to have it re-cut from 186 carats to its smaller oval shape to increase its sparkle and brilliance.

“In 1937, the stone was set in the Royal British Crown, along with 2,800 other diamonds. The Koh-i-Noor currently resides in the Tower of London, where it is on public display along with other famous stones,” according to worthy.com. It has been the subject off a Britain-India ownership dispute for nearly 70 years. The British insist it was obtained legally.

 

4) The rock star: Cullinan I (“The Star of Africa”)

The estimated value: More than US$2 billion

Romancing the stone: On Jan. 26, 1905, Capt. Frederick Wells, superintendent of Premier Mine in South Africa, was doing his daily rounds when he found what he thought was a shard of glass embedded in the mine wall as a practical joke. Some joke — it turned out to be the largest gem-quality rough diamond ever found.

Weighing in at just over a half-kilogram, it was two times the size of any diamond previously discovered. The discovery was presented that same afternoon to Sir Thomas Cullinan, who owned the mine. Cullinan then sold the diamond to the Transvaal provincial government, which presented the stone to Britain’s King Edward VII.

“It was a symbolic gesture intended to heal the rift between Britain and South Africa following the Boer War,” according to the website of the Royal Collection Trust. “The stone was dispatched to the leading diamond cutters of the day, Asschers of Amsterdam, where experts spent weeks considering the best method for splitting it. It took four days to prepare the groove for the cleaving knife, and the very first blow broke the knife rather than the diamond.” When Abraham Asscher collected the uncut gem, he returned to the Netherlands with the diamond stuffed in his pocket, while a Royal Navy ship carried an empty box across the North Sea as a decoy.

The original stone yielded gems of various sizes, the largest and most famous being Cullinan I, or the Great Star of Africa, the largest clear-cut diamond in the world at 530 carats; the second-largest being Cullinan II, or the Second Star of Africa, weighing in at 317 carats. Both of these stones are on display in the Tower of London with Britain’s other Crown Jewels — Cullinan I is mounted in the head of the British Sovereign’s Royal Sceptre with Cross, while Cullinan II rests in the circlet portion of the Imperial State Crown. “Altogether, the polished gems that once made up the Cullinan diamond are worth billions of dollars,” notes worthy.com.

 

3) The rock star: The Orlov (or “Orloff”) Diamond

The estimated value: Unknown, but easily many millions

Romancing the stone: Every famous diamond comes with an equally wild story of its origins. What we do know is the slightly blueish-green Orlov Diamond, roughly the shape and size of half a chicken’s egg, currently resides atop the Imperial Sceptre — used by Emperors of Russia until the revolution in 1918 — at the Kremlin Diamond Fund in Moscow. The 189-carat beauty was uncovered in India’s famed Golconda Mine some time in the 17th century.

How did it get to Russia? Great question. Our favourite legend — which is most likely untrue — states the diamond was one of two brilliant gems set as the eyes in a giant statue of Brahma in a temple in Srirangam, an island in South India. “But in the 1700s, a French deserter stole it. In fear of retribution, the deserter only dared to dig out one eye. Therefore, the other eye remained in the statue. When he finally got the diamond out, the deserter travelled to Madras. Here he sold it for 2,000 pounds to an English sea captain,” according to costerdiamonds.com.

The story was likely spun by a jeweller seeking a higher price. More plausible is that the stone was once part of the so-called “Great Mughal” Diamond, a massive ancient stone that was cut into multiple gems. It slowly made its way to Europe — passing through the hands of many greedy merchants — before finally settling in Amsterdam, where, around 1768, it landed in the hands of Count Grigory Grigoryevich Orlov, the Russian nobleman and officer who helped his lover Catherine the Great overthrow Peter III and ascend the throne.

Orlov named the stone after himself, and Catherine mounted it in the sceptre. Supposedly, Orlov hoped the diamond would rekindle a flagging romance, but researchers now suggest Catherine herself bought it and only used Orlov’s help with the deal and delivery to avoid criticism for using state funds on lavish jewelry. Another legend says it was hidden in a tomb in 1812 to protect it from Napoleon, who was scared off by a priest’s ghost. That could happen, right?

 

2) The rock star: The Regent Diamond

The estimated value: Experts say US$74 million

Romancing the stone: As origin legends go, The Regent Diamond — sometimes called The Pitt Diamond — has a doozy. As the story goes, the original 410-carat diamond was found in 1698 by a slave in the Kollur Mine in the Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh, India. “Upon discovery, the slave hid the diamond in a large wound on his leg. Later, an English sea captain found out about the diamond’s existence, stole it from the slave and killed him. It was then sold to an

Indian merchant named Jamchand,” according to worthy.com. In 1701, Jamchand reportedly sold the diamond to Thomas Pitt, the governor of Madras, who dispatched the stone to London hidden in the heel of his son Robert’s shoe. It was cut in London — becoming what is widely considered the most beautiful and the purest diamond in the world — and rumours began to circulate that Pitt had acquired the now 141-carat stone fraudulently.

In 1717, Pitt and his sons brought the diamond to Calais and sold it to the French regent, Philippe II, Duke of Orleans and it became known as “Le Regent., Notes worthy.com: “Throughout its history, the Regent diamond has been worn by several members of the French royal family. In 1722, it was set into the coronation crown of Louis XV, where it remained until 1775, when it was set into a new crown for the coronation of Louis XVI.

Upon being removed from this crown, it found its way onto a hat worn by Marie Antoinette.” It was eventually sported by Napoleon Bonaparte. “After being stolen during the revolution and rediscovered among some roof timbers in a Paris attic, it became part of an ornament for his sword belt and later appeared on the hilt of his two-edged sword,” worthy.com states. It is now on display in the Louvre.

 

1) The rock star: The Hope Diamond

The estimated value: Insured for $250,000

Romancing the stone: What we are talking about here is not just the most famous diamond in the world, but the most famous cursed diamond in the world. It has been on display in the Smithsonian Institute’s National Museum of Natural History since 1958 and is the museum’s most popular exhibit. But you want to know about the curse.

The legend states it sparkled in the brow of an Indian temple idol, until it was impiously plucked out by a thieving priest, whose punishment was a slow and agonizing death. It was said angry temple priests put a curse on anyone in possession of the gem. In reality, its first recorded owner, French merchant Jean-Baptiste Tavernier, likely purchased the walnut-sized, 45-carat blue diamond from the Kollur Mine in India, before selling it to King Louis XIV of France in 1668.

“In 1792, during the early stages of the French Revolution, thieves broke into the Royal Storehouse and looted most of the crown jewels. The French Blue (as it was then known) disappeared from history, and various accounts suggest that it was disguised by being cut into two,” according to worthy.com. In 1812, it resurfaced in the U.K., where it was purchased by London banker Henry Thomas Hope. It was eventually purchased by gem merchant Harry Winston, who donated it to the Smithsonian. (He mailed it inside a box wrapped in brown paper.)

As for the curse, livescience.com says: “The misfortune attributed to the diamond would strain the imagination of soap opera writers: owners committed suicide, were murdered and left penniless through bad investments. Those who came in contact with the diamond suffered failed marriages, dead children, drug addiction, insanity and probably bad hair days and paper cuts as well.”

Indeed, Louis XIV and Marie Antoinette, who were beheaded, are often cited as victims of the curse. It turns out the curse was basically a sensational story created by journalists in the late 1800s to sell newspapers. And, no, the story about the first owner being torn apart by wild dogs is nothing more than a myth.

doug.speirs@freepress.mb.ca