The Russian Crown Jewels

The Great Imperial Crown was made by a skilled court jeweller Jeremia Posier for the Empress Catherine II the Great's Coronation in 1762. It has a traditional shape and is made up of the two open hemispheres divided by a foliate garland and fastened with a low hoop. The crown is set with 5,000 selected Indian diamonds (some Russian sources state this number as 4,836) and and number fine, large white pearls. The crown is also decorated with one of the seven historic stones of the Russia's Diamond Collection - a large precious red spinel weighing 398.72 carats which was brought to Russia by Nicholas Spafary, the Russian envoy to China from 1675 to 1678. 

The Centenary Diamond

The diamond Jubilee of De Beers Consolidated Mines passed off quietly in 1948, the massive post-WWII growth and expansion of the diamond industry had barely begun, while several important sources of diamonds, including the Premier Mine, were still closed, while others remained to be discovered. Forty years later the annual output of diamonds exceeded 100 million carats and sales of rough diamonds reached around $5 billion.

The Blue Magic Diamond

Here is what Christie's said about the stone when it was up for auction as part of their Simply Blue sale in 2001:

"A MAGNIFICENT FANCY VIVID BLUE DIAMOND RING"
Set with a modified pear-shaped fancy vivid blue diamond weighing 12.02 carats to the tapered baguette-cut shoulders and 18k white gold hoop. With certificate 11568233 dated 19 June 2001 from the Gemological Institute of America stating that the diamond is fancy vivid blue, natural color, VVS2 clarity.

The Blue Heart Diamond

Some reports refer to this unusual diamond as the "Eugénie Blue" although it is now recognized that there is no evidence of its having been owned by the Empress. Had she owned it, wouldn't she have chosen to flee with it rather than the diamond which is named after her? However, a French link does exist because the cutting firm of Atanik Ekyanan of Neuilly, Paris cut this heart shape, which weighs 30.82 metric carats and is of a rare deep blue color, sometime between 1909 and 1910. This date raises the question whether the rough stone came from Africa or India. 

The Beluga Diamond

The Beluga Diamond was cut by the William Goldberg firm from a rather flat, blocky 265.82-carat rough and weighs 103-point-some carats. I am still researching it. It is the largest standard oval brilliant cut diamond in the world and appeared in an article about 'blood diamonds' in the March 2002 issue of National Geographic magazine.