A BIG DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH

120 years ago, one of the largest know diamonds in the world was discovered.  Weighing in at a completely staggering 970 carats with a blue - white tint, the diamond was discovered at the Jagersfontein Mine in South Africa by a worker that was shoveling gravel into a truck.  After successfully hiding the diamond from his colleagues, he hand delivered it to the manager of the mine directly and was rewarded with money and a horse.

The diamond itself was shaped roughly like half a loaf of bread and was classed as colour G, nearly colourless. Until the discover of the Cullinan Diamond 12 years later in 10905, The Excelsior was the largest diamond know to exist.

The Excelsior diamond was unfortunately cut into ten more stones meaning that it would never be a single large faceted stone.  In London, The Asscher Firm cut it into the following pieces:

• Excelsior I - 69.98 carats and cut into a pear shape
• Excelsior II - 47.03 carats and cut into a pear shape
• Excelsior III - 46.90 carats and cut into a marquise shape
• Excelsior IV - 40.23 carats and cut into a pear shape
• Excelsior V - 34.91 carats and cut into a marquise shape
• Excelsior VI - 28.61 carats and cut into a marquise shape
• Excelsior VII - 26.30 carats and cut into a pear shape
• Excelsior VIII - 24.31 carats and cut into a pear shape
• Excelsior IX - 16.78 carats and cut into a pear shape
• Excelsior X - 13.86 carats and cut into a pear shape
• Excelsior XI - 9.82 carats and cut into a pear shape

The Excelsior I came up for sale in 1996 and was purchased by Robert Mouawad for $2,642,000.  The remaining stones have been used in various extravagant tiaras, bracelets and crowns.