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| The Centinary Diamond |
 Color: D Clarity: Flawless Cut: Modified Heart Source: Premier Mine, South Africa The Centenary was found on Julu 17th, 1986 by the electric X-ray recovery system at the Premier Mine. Only a handful of people knew about it and all were sworn to silence. In its rough form it resembled an irregular matchbox with angular planes, a prominent elongated "horn" jutting out at one corner and a deep concave on the largest flat surface. The shape of the stone expressed problems in cutting with no apparent solution. Famous diamond cutter, Gabi Tolkowsky was chosen to cut the Centenary. In late 1988, Tolkowsky, and master cutters Geoff Woolett and Jim Nash began examining the stone until every aspect was in memory. For an entire year, the right tools and technical conditions were created, the Centenary remained unaltered and untouched.  Even though saws and lasers were available, Tolkowsky chose to cut the diamond by hand, using the old method of kerfing. He did not want to take any chances on damaging a stone of this type in any way. They 154 days to remove about 50 carats which would have been polished to dust anyway. This was necessary to get the stone ready to be cut for its final shape. When the cutting was finished, it weighed 273.85 carats and had 247 facets - 164 on the stone and 83 around its girdle. No stone had ever had this high number of facets been polished onto a diamond. Its color was extremely high at "D" and its clarity is "flawless", making it the largest D-Flawless diamond in the world. It is among the top-color diamonds, surpassed only by the Cullinan I and the Cullinan II. In addition, two flawless pear shapes weighing 1.47 and 1.14 carats were cut from the rough. The Centenary Diamond was sold to an anonymous buyer. The owners of such diamonds are kept secret for security reasons. Perhaps the Centenary will someday be shown so that we all can appreciate its beauty. |
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