Jewelry Blog

>The rough 507 carat white stone was unearthed at the historic Cullinan mine – where the famous Cullinan diamond was discovered in 1905.

A spokesman for the mining firm Petra Diamond said the gemstone found last week was among the world’s 20 largest diamonds ever discovered.

He added: “Initial examinations indicate that it is of exceptional colour and clarity, and most likely to be a Type I diamond.

“At 507 carats (just over 100 grams) the diamond, which has yet to be named, is considered to be among the top 20 largest high quality rough diamonds ever found worldwide and ranks alongside other illustrious diamonds recovered at the celebrated Cullinan mine.

The stone was found alongside three other valuable diamonds, with miners also unearthing a gemstone of 168.00 carats and two other stones of 58.50 and 53.30 carats.

Petra confirmed the rocks were discovered during digging at the huge Cullinan mine, around 25 miles outside Pretoria in South Africa’s mineral-rich Gauteng province.

The original 3,106 carat Cullinan diamond became the largest rough diamond ever discovered when it was found on January 26 1905 by miner Frederick Wells.

Once polished, the stone was presented to King Edward VII and now forms part of the British crown jewels.

Experts have put its value in excess of £200 million.

It was only overtaken as the world’s biggest polished diamond in 1985 with the discovery of the Golden Jubilee diamond, also at the Cullinan mine.

That stone was smaller than the original on discovery but had a larger polished weight of 545 carats.

The Cullinan mine has also produced several of the world’s other largest diamonds, including the famous Centenary diamond, at 599 carats rough.

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