The Hope Diamond is perhaps the most well known of all diamonds, it is the largest deep blue diamond in the world. The diamond is set in a pendant that is encircled by sixteen white diamonds. It was originally known as the Tavernier Blue. According to legend, the Hope Diamond was stolen from the Indian statue of Sita and purchased by Jean Baptiste Tavernier around 1660. It is said to have cursed by the Hindu God because financial ruin or sudden death occurred to many who owned it. After smuggling the diamond to Paris, Tavernier sold it to King Louis XIV who presented it to Marie Antoinette. The stone was eventually sold to legendary jeweller Harry Winston who donated the diamond to the Smithsonian Institute where he sent it through the US postal service in plain brown wrapper. Today the Hope Diamond gleams from a platinum setting in a beige marble display case. Some experts believe the diamond to be worth around £215 million, although with such a blighted history it remains to be seen who might dare to be the next to own it.

The ‘Great Star of Africa’ or ‘The Cullinan Diamond’ was found in 1905 by Mr Frederick Wells, the Superintendent of the Premier Mine in South Africa. Mr Wells was making a routine inspection trip through the mines when his attention was attracted by a shiny object in the ground. At first he thought he was being fooled by a large piece of glass but tests proved it to be the largest diamond crystal weighing a staggering  3106 carats. The Cullinan Diamond was sold to the Transvaal government who later presented it to King Edward VII on his 66th Birthday. The King entrusted the cutting of the stone to the famous Asscher Diamond Co. The huge diamond was studied for months and eventually cut. The Star of Africa is a pear shaped diamond weighing 530.20 carats and is the largest of the 9 large stones cut from the Cullinan Diamond. It is now on display in the tower of London. 

The Millennium Star diamond is the sixth largest diamond in the world. The 203.04 carat De Beers diamond is a D-Colour flawless pear-shaped diamond with a total of 54 facets. The diamond was found in the Mbuji-Mayi district of Zaire in 1990 and was cut from a rough diamond of 777 carats. It is the world’s largest D colour diamond. It took the Steinmetz Group three years to cut the Millennium Star and the conclusion was that it must be cleaved into three pieces. First of all it was split in Belgium, then polished in South Africa and subsequently finished in New York. The Millennium Star diamond was on display for the public in London for the first time in 1999. When the diamond was displayed in the Millennium Dome in 2000, thieves tried to steal the diamonds with bulldozers, but failed.

The Tiffany Yellow Diamond was discovered at the Kimberlite mine in South Africa in 1878 and weighed 287.42 carats. The diamond was bought by Charles Lewis Tiffany, the famous Fifth Avenue Jeweller and was cut and polished into a cushion shaped brilliant with 90 facets and classified as a fancy yellow.  The Tiffany Yellow Diamond has never been sold. The diamond remains on permanent display on the ground floor of the Tiffany & Co. store in New York City.