And the largest diamond in the world is… anyonee Anyonee Step right
up ladies and gentlemen. Get yer topaz. Step right up.
So here they are… the largest diamonds in the world… from the
smallest on up… in carats. The Millennium Star: 203.04. The Red
Cross: 205.7. The De Beers: 234.65. The Jubilee: 245.35. The
Centenary: 273.85. The Spirit of Grisogono: 312.24. The Cullinan:
317.40. The Incomparable: 407.48. The Cullinan I–aka The Star of
Africa: 530.20. And the winner is…
But first… for after all… what is life without a little pre-amble
and tension inducing delaye But first… a little bit about our
stone. In the rough in weighed 755 carats. and it was discovered in
the fecund blue ground of the Premier mine in South Africa in 1985.
After cutting it went down to 545.67 carats and was presented to the
King of Thailand for his Golden Jubilee… a name given to a
celebration which denotes a 50th anniversary.
Before it was called that which it is now called… this diamond was
called the Unnamed Brown… a name so ignominious as to be the
considered the ugly duckling of the diamond-world by most. Do I hear
a little music to Hans Christian Anderson here. Hey look… there’s
Danny Kaye. The stone was designed by none other than Gabriel S.
“Gabi” Tolkowsky… probably the most famous diamond cutters in the
world.
Of course… the diamond derived its name from the name of the
celebration of the King of Thailand when it was presented to him in
1997. Henceforth it became known as–not the Unnamed Brown–but
rather The Golden Jubilee. It’s rather amazing how innovative and
creative man can be when push comes to shove. The Golden Jubilee!
Imagine that.
And then the diamond was brought to Pope John Paul II in the Vatican
to receive his papal blessing. And then it was blessed by the Supreme
Buddhist Patriarch and the Supreme Imam in Thailand. But here’s the
thing of it… with all the blessings bestowed upon it… and all the
reverence showered upon this magnificent stone–now a swan from an
ugly duckling–one had to tread softly when dealing with the
populace… for the country was in dire economic straits… and it
just wouldn’t do to purchase a diamond which is today worth up to 12
million smackeroos … and so the stone was originally represented as
being a large golden topaz. A deceptive governments you saye A
government that wants what it wants and the people be damned you saye
Bah. Not possible. Righte
It’s been exhibited all over the world with plenty of oohs and aahs
to warm the cockles of its pavilion. And… and… I have an image of
it. Yes I do folks. A gorgeous sublime image of the Golden Jubilee…
the largest diamond in the world. Wanna seee Go. You know where. How
many times do I have to tell youe
For those of you who are new to this thing called Tidbits…may I
direct you to my home page at http://www.tyler-adam.com where you
will scroll down the left side menu till you get to the area that
says Current Tidbits… click it… and you will see represented on
our pages an image the largest diamond in the world.
And there ya have it. That’s it for this week folks.
Catch you all next week.
Benjamin Mark