With the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebration in full swing, the centre attraction of the entire event will be the exhibition of renowned royal jewels, specially the display of jewelry (new york jewelry stores) made from the world’s largest diamond.
This display will bring together seven of the nine principal stones cut from the Cullinan Diamond at the upcoming “Diamonds: A Jubilee Celebration” exhibition at Buckingham Palace.
The seven Cullinan diamonds are set in three brooches, a ring and a necklace. The remaining two stones forms parts of the Crown Jewels and are held in The Royal Sceptre and The Imperial State Crown.
The Cullinan was discovered in South Africa in 1905. It was the largest gem quality rough diamond ever found weighing about 3,106 carats. The crude gemstone yielded nine primary diamonds, 96 smaller round brilliant cut stones, and 9.5 carats of unpolished pieces.
The largest of the gems is the Cullinan I, also known as “Great Star of Africa”. This pear-shaped diamond of 530.4 carats is set in the Royal Sceptre. The second biggest stone is Cullinan II or “Second Star of Africa”, a cushion-cut diamond of 317.40 carats forms part of the Imperial State Crown.
The other diamonds of the Cullinan Family are:
- Cullinan III, a cushion cut diamond weighing 63.3 carats and Cullinan IV, a pear shaped diamond of 94.4 carats respectively. Together they form the Brooch from The Royal Collections.
- Cullinan V Brooch constitutes of a heart shaped diamond of 18.8 carats forming the centerstone of another Royal Collections Brooch.
- Cullinan VI and VIII together form the third Royal Brooch. They are a marquise cut diamond of 8.8 carats and a cushion cut diamond of 6.8 carat weight respectively.
- Cullinan VII is an 8.8 carat marquise cut gemstone and is the part of Delhi Durbar Necklace from the Royal Collections.
- The Cullinan IX is the smallest of the nine diamonds. It is a pear shaped 4.4 carats stone constituting the ring from the Royal Collections.
Among other items that will go on display at the Palace will be the Queen Victoria’s Small Diamond Crown, Girls of Great Britain Tiara, the Coronation Necklace and Earrings and the South African Necklace and Bracelet.
Queen Victoria’s Small Diamond Crown was worn by the queen on her celebration of the Diamond Jubilee. She was the only other British monarch to celebrate this occasion.
The tiara was inherited by the Queen from her grandmother Queen Mary. It was a wedding present to Princess Victoria Mary of Teck, later Queen Mary as a representation token by the Girls of Great Britain and Ireland in 1893.
Guest at the exhibition will also see the extraordinary necklace and earrings worn by the Queen at her coronation ceremony in Westminster Abbey in 1953. The necklace is formed by 25 large cushion-shaped brilliant-cut diamonds and a central pear shaped pendant of 22.48 carats.
Marking Queen Elizabeth’s regime as the Monarch for 60 years, the Diamond Jubilee Celebration will commence on weekend after next. The Central Weekend to celebrate The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee will take place from 2-5 June 2012 in London. The Queen has reigned through six decades of enormous social change and development in Great Britain.
The Diamonds: A Jubilee Celebration exhibition will be held from June 30 to July 8 and from July 31 to October 7.
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