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A number of large or extraordinary diamonds have gained fame, both as exquisite examples of the beautiful nature of diamonds, and because of the famous people who wore, bought, and sold them. These diamonds are often depicted in marketing materials aimed at the retail diamond customer. A partial list of famous diamonds in history follows.

Darya-ye Noor

Tiffany Yellow Diamond

• The Akbar Shah, an Indian diamond with a roughly pear-shaped outline and random faceting, including two Arabic inscriptions, the first reading "Shah Akbar, the Grand King, 1028 A.H." (the letters mean "After Hegira", the first year of the Muslim era, A.D. 622. The second inscription read "To the Lord of Two Worlds, 1039 A.H. Shah Jehan". The diamond was reportedly part of the original Peacock Throne. Purchased in 1886 in Istanbul by London merchant George Blogg, who re-cut it from 116 carats to a pear-shape of 71.70 carats, thus destroying the historic inscriptions. Blogg was the last known owner and the stone's whereabouts are presently unknown.
• The Allnatt Diamond, a 101.29 carat antique cushion-shaped brilliant fancy vivid yellow diamond.
• The Agra Diamond, antique cushion-shaped stellar brilliant, 28 carats.
• The Amsterdam Diamond, a 33.74 carat (6.748 g) pear-shaped black diamond which sold for $352,000 in 2001.
• The Archduke Joseph Diamond, antique cushion-shaped brilliant, originally weighing 78.54 carats, purchased by Molina Jewelers of Arizona sometime in the late-1990s and slightly re-cut to 76.45 carats to improve clarity and symmetry. D color, Internally Flawless.
• The Ashberg Diamond, 102.48 carats.
• The Aurora Butterfly of Peace, a display of 240 fancy-colored diamonds.
• The Aurora Pyramid of Hope, a display of 296 diamonds of natural colors.
• The Beau Sancy, a 34-carat diamond not to be confused with the Sancy.
• The Black Orlov, a 67.50 carat cushion-cut black diamond, also called the Eye of Brahma Diamond.
• The Blue Heart Diamond, 30.82-carat heart brilliant. Part of the Smithsonian collection.
• The Briolette of India Diamond, 90.38 carats - possibly the oldest diamond on record.
• The Centenary Diamond, 273.85 carats, modified heart-shaped brilliant, the world's largest colorless (grade D), flawless diamond.
• The Chloe Diamond, largest round brilliant-cut diamond ever put on auction. Sold on November 14th, 2007 at Sotheby's in Geneva to Georges Marciano of the Guess clothing line for $16.2 million, the second-highest price ever paid for a diamond on auction. Took 2 years to cut.
• The Cross of Asia, discovered in 1902 in South Africa as a 280-carat crystal. At first diamond was cut to 142 carats, and next the cut was three times changed to 112 carats, a cushion-cut of 109.28 carats (the weight Lawrence Copeland's "Diamonds - Famous, Notable and Unique" lists it at) measuring 1⅛ × ⅞ × ⅝ inches, and finally into a radiant-cut gem of 79.12 carats to elimination all flaws. It is Fancy Yellow and Internally Flawless.^[1]
• The Cullinan Diamond, the largest rough gem-quality diamond ever found at 3106.75 carats (621.35 g). It was cut into 105 diamonds including the Cullinan I or the Great Star of Africa, 530.2 carats (106.04 g), and the Cullinan II or the Lesser Star of Africa, 317.4 carats (63.48 g), both of which are now part of the British Crown Jewels.
• The Darya-ye Noor Diamond, the largest pink diamond in the world, about 182 carats (36 g), part of Iranian Crown Jewels. Its exact weight isn't known and 186 carats is an estimate.
• The Deepdene, widely considered to be the largest artificially irradiated diamond in the world, at 104.52 carats.
• The De Young Red Diamond, weighing 5.03 carats, the third-largest known red diamond, was bought in a flea market on a hatpin by Sidney deYoung a prominent Boston estate jewelry merchant. It was donated by him to the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History.
• The Dresden Green Diamond, 41-carat antique pear-shaped brilliant - its color is the result of natural irradiation
• The Dresden White Diamond, 47-carat antique oval brilliant, near-colorless
• The Dresden Yellow Diamond, 38-carat antique round cut
• The Earth Star Diamond a 111.59-carat, pear-shaped diamond with a strong coffee-like brown color.
• The Eureka Diamond, the first diamond found in South Africa, a yellow-brown 21.25 carat stone (before cutting) resulting in a finished diamond 10.73 carats
• The Empress Eugenie Diamond, 52-carat antique pear-shaped brilliant with an odd, random facet pattern
• The Excelsior Diamond, the largest known diamond in the world prior to the Cullinan at 970 carats, it was later cut into 10 pieces of various sizes (13 - 68 carats)
• The Florentine Diamond, a lost diamond, light yellow with a weight of 137.27 carats (27.45 g).
• The Golden Eye Diamond, a world's largest, flawless, 'perfect-cut' Canary Yellow diamond (43.5 carats).
• The Golden Jubilee Diamond, the largest faceted diamond ever cut at 545.67 carats (109.13 g)
• The Graff Blue Diamond
• The Great Chrysanthemum Diamond, 104.15 carats
• The Great Mogul Diamond, fabled 280-carat mogul-cut diamond, now lost, although presumed by historians to have been re-cut as the Orlov.
• The Gruosi Diamond, a heart-shaped black diamond, weighing 115.34 carats.
• The Heart of Eternity Diamond, perhaps the largest fancy vivid blue, weighing 27.64 carats.
• The Hope Diamond, 45.52 carats, is a Fancy Dark Grayish-Blue diamond and supposedly cursed. Almost certainly cut from the French Blue Diamond.
• The Hortensia Diamond, peach color, formerly part of the French Crown Jewels. Displayed in the Louvre.
• The Idol's Eye, 70.21 carats^[2]
• The Incomparable Diamond, a brownish-yellow diamond of 407.48 carats (81.496 g) cut from an 890 carat (178 g) rough diamond of the same name - it appeared on eBay in 2002. Internally Flawless clarity.
• The Jacob Diamond weighing 184.5 carats (36.90 g), also known as Imperial Diamond & Victoria Diamond.
• The Jones Diamond, weighing 34.48 carats, found in West Virginia by the Jones family.
• The Jubilee Diamond, originally known as the Reitz Diamond; perhaps the sixth-largest in the world at 245.35 carats.
• The Kazanjian Red Diamond, a 5.05-carat Asscher-cut red diamond formerly known simply as "Red Diamond". It was cut from a 35-carat piece of boart discovered near Lichtenburg, South Africa. It reappeared in 2007 after a 37-year absence from sight, and was purchased by Kazanjian Brothers Inc.
• The Kimberley Diamond, 55.09 carats^[3]
• The Koh-i-Noor, a 105.6 carat (21.6 g) white of Indian origin, with a long and turbulent history and a good deal of legend surrounding it. After belonging to various Mughal and Persian rulers, it was taken away from the Maharaja Duleep Singh of Lahore and was presented to Queen Victoria during the British Raj, and is now part of the Crown of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother.
• The Le luz de dia, a 201 carat (40.25 g) colorless diamond, with unknown history. The firs note about this gem is in a book from the 16th century. It was sold for almost $24.5M in 2004 only to be stolen two days later. It hasn't appeared since.
• The Lesotho Brown was a stone originally 601 carats, with the largest stone 71.73 carats after cutting.
• The Lesotho Promise, is the 15th-largest diamond, the tenth-largest white diamond, and the largest diamond to be found in 13 years. The original stone was 603 carats, although the largest diamond after the cutting was 75 carats.
• The Millennium Star, at 203.04 carats is the second-largest colorless (grade D), flawless diamond.

Koh-i-Noor (glass replica)

• The Moon of Baroda, 24.04 carats
• The Moussaieff Red Diamond, the largest known Fancy Red, at 5.11 carats.
• The Mouna Diamond, 112.53 carats, Fancy Intense Yellow cushion-shaped brilliant.^[4]
• The Nassak Diamond, 43.38 carats
• The Nepal Diamond, 79.41 carats, fine quality antique pear-shaped brilliant, sold by Harry Winston to private collector in 1961. Thought to have originated from the Golconda Mines.^[5]
• The Nizam Diamond, reportedly 340 carats.
• The Nur-Ul-Ain Diamond, around 60 carats and part of the Iranian crown jewels.
• The Ocean Dream Diamond, the only known natural Fancy Deep Blue-Green, and weighs 5.51 carats.
• The Oppenheimer Diamond, one of the largest gem-quality uncut diamonds in the world, at 253.7 carats.
• The Orlov, an Indian mogul cut rumored to have served as the eye of a Hindu statue, and now currently is part of the Kremlin Diamond Fund, weighing approximately 190 carats.
• The Paragon, weighs 137.82 carats.^[6]
• The Polar Star Diamond, a colorless cushion-shaped stellar brilliant diamond weighing 41.28 carats.
• The Porter Rhodes Diamond, a colorless 54-carat Asscher-cut stone.^[7]
• The Portuguese Diamond, 127-carat antique emerald cut with a pale yellow body color and very strong blue fluorescence. Part of the Smithsonian's collection.
• The Premier Rose Diamond, 137.02-carat (27.4 g) stone cut from a 353.9-carat (70.8 g) rough gem of the same name
• The Pumpkin Diamond, perhaps the largest fancy vivid orange diamond (5.54 carats), modified cushion-shaped brilliant.
• The Red Cross Diamond, 205.07 carats, yellow, cushion-shaped stellar brilliant cut.^[8]
• The Regent Diamond, weights 140.64 carats, is cushion-shaped stellar brilliant cut, formerly belonging to Louis XV, Louis XVI, and Napoleon Bonaparte, it now resides in the Louvre.
• The Sancy, a shield-shaped pale yellow diamond currently in the Louvre, weighing 55.23 carats.
• The Shah Diamond, very old yellow diamond (found approximately in 1450 in India) currently housed in the Diamond Fund in Kremlin, weighing 88.7 carats.
• The Spirit of de Grisogono Diamond, 312 carats, the world's largest cut black diamond.
• The Spoonmaker's Diamond, circa 86-carat (17 g) diamond housed in Topkapı Palace in Istanbul.
• The Star of Arkansas
• The Star of the East, a 95-carat (19 g) stone once owned by Mrs. Evalyn McLean of Washington DC, who also owned the Hope Diamond.
• The Star of Sierra Leone was originally 968.9 carats, cut into smaller pieces, the largest of which is 53.96 carats.
• The Star of South Africa, also known as the Dudley Diamond. This must not be confused with the Star of Africa. The Star of South Africa was the initial name given to this diamond, when it was purchased as an 83.5-carat rough diamond. The diamond is a D-color, pear-shaped stellar brilliant cut stone, weighing 47.69 carats.
• The Star of the South. weighing 128.48 carats.
• The Steinmetz Pink Diamond, modified oval brilliant cut (step cut crown, brilliant pavilion), largest known fancy vivid pink, at 59.60 carats.
• The Taylor-Burton Diamond, purchased by Richard Burton for his wife Elizabeth Taylor, weighing 68 carats.
• The Tereschenko, 42-carat antique pear brilliant cut.
• The Tiffany Yellow Diamond, antique modified cushion-shaped stellar brilliant cut, on display at Tiffany & Co.'s New York City store. It weighs 128.54 carats.
• The Uncle Sam Diamond, the largest discovered in the US, emerald-cut, M color (pale brown), VVS2 clarity, weighing 40.23 carats.
• The Vargas
• The Wittelsbach Diamond, 35.56 carats, Fancy Deep Grayish Blue, antique oval stellar brilliant cut. Sold at Christie's, London, December 10, 2008 for $23.4 million, currently the highest price ever paid for a diamond at auction.^[9]

References

External links

• Famous Diamonds Overview Site Ryan Thompson's overview site with many stories and photos. Non Commercial.
• Farlang Famous Diamonds Several full text books and article of many famous diamonds. Non Commercial.
• World's largest diamonds Article on famous diamonds with their rare pictures