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| Golden
Jubilee |
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| Since
1908, Cullinan I, also known as the Great Star of Africa,
had held the title of "largest faceted diamond in
the world". That however would change, following
the 1985 discovery of a large brown diamond of 755 carats
(151 g) in the prolific blue ground of the Premier mine
in South Africa; the diamond would later be cut and named
The Golden Jubilee, with an unsurpassed weight of 545.67
carats (109.13 g). |
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| The Premier
mine was also the origin of the Cullinan diamonds in 1905,
as well as other notables such as the Taylor-Burton in
1966 and the Centenary in 1986. |
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| The "Unnamed
Brown", as the Jubilee was first known, was
considered something of an ugly duckling by most.
It was given to master cutter Gabi Tolkowsky by
De Beers for the purpose of testing special tools
and cutting methods which Tolkowsky had developed
for intended use on the flawless D-colour ("colourless")
Centenary. These tools and methods had never been
tested before, and the "Unnamed Brown"
seemed the perfect guinea pig; it would be of no
great loss should something go amiss. |
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| To the
surprise of all concerned, what resulted was a fancy yellow-brown
beauty in a fire rose cushion cut, outweighing Cullinan
I by 15.37 carats (3.07 g). The glittering giant remained
largely unknown to the outside world, as the Jubilee's
perfect sister, the Centenary, had already been selected
and promoted to herald De Beer's centennial celebrations
in 1988. |
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| While
the current whereabouts of the Centenary are unknown,
the Golden Jubilee is known to have been purchased from
De Beers by a Thai syndicate in 1995. The diamond was
then given to King Rama IX of Thailand as tribute on the
50th anniversary of his coronation. |
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| King
Rama IX had the Golden Jubilee mounted in his royal sceptre,
bringing the diamond's journey to an end—for now.
The diamond's existence remains little known even to the
people of Thailand, as the government reported the Golden
Jubilee to be "a large golden topaz". The reason
for this deception may be rooted in the country's economic
woes; the diamond would likely lower popularity for the
monarchy if news of such an extravagant purchase were
to break. |
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