I don’t know about you, but I am very saddened by the fact that empty foreign finds are trumpeted all over the world, while really important and breathtaking discoveries in our country remain known only to a very small circle of people.
So, for example, quite recently the news thundered all over the world that some American found a completely ordinary diamond weighing a couple of carats. Nothing of the kind, however, almost all the information publications of the world trumpeted about it, as if not a diamond was found, but at least an elixir of eternal youth or a philosopher’s stone of immortality.
At the same time, for some reason, everyone is diligently trying to keep silent about the really important finds and discoveries of our country, as if Russia is unworthy of being mentioned in the foreign press. For example, quite recently, a truly unique diamond was found at a mine in Yakutia, which had no analogues in the entire known history of mankind.
Unique diamond «matryoshka». There is another diamond inside the mineral. Unique diamond «matryoshka». There is another diamond inside the mineral.
The gem became notable for the fact that inside a fairly large diamond there was a natural cavity in which there was another smaller diamond — the so-called matryoshka diamond. No one has been able to find something similar in nature, and such an event has not yet been recorded in modern history. But for some reason, this news has bypassed the world.
Another example. In 2016, the largest diamond in Russia weighing 207.29 carats was mined on the territory of our homeland.
The Spectacle, the largest diamond in the history of Russian cutting The Spectacle, the largest diamond in the history of Russian cutting
For Russia, this mineral has become a record holder not only in terms of its size, but also in several other factors, due to which its price has exceeded all even the wildest expectations.
In most cases, when a diamond of similar characteristics is found in the world, a huge line of people who want to make a diamond out of this stone for exclusive jewelry line up behind it.
However, in our case, the size and shape of the mineral seemed so difficult for world jewelers to process that, most likely, they were simply afraid to work with such an expensive and truly unique natural mineral.
Fortunately, in Russia itself, the school of processing precious stones is at such a high level that processing even such a complex stone for our masters was not a problem.
The largest diamond in Russia. 207.29 carats. The largest diamond in Russia. 207.29 carats.
A diamond weighing 207.29 carats was cut in one of the divisions of ALROSA, where, after processing, the diamond was presented for evaluation by world experts and foreign specialists.
And what was their surprise when the resulting quality of the diamond finish exceeded even the wildest expectations.
The cutting was so accurate and accurate that they simply could not find the slightest flaw in it. The diamond itself received the highest marks from the best GIA experts. Its clarity showed a D value — i.e. a perfectly colorless diamond, and in inclusions the mineral was rated as an IF category — completely clean, without inclusions. The name of the diamond was appropriate — «The Spectacle».
A diamond from the largest diamond in Russia. A diamond from the largest diamond in Russia.
In other words, a diamond in one of the most difficult cuts for large stones — «emerald», has become an ideal stone with ideal characteristics. Its mass after processing was as much as 100.94 carats, which is several times larger than the size of many of the most famous stones.
What was the value of such a precious stone? As expected, the world media did not particularly strive to increase the popularization of this piece of jewelry art (let me call it that) and, most likely, they even tried to bring down the public’s interest in it.
However, all points in the issue of estimating the cost of such a cut diamond were put by the buyers themselves. At the Christie’s Magnificent Jewels auction, one of the bidders bought the diamond for quite an impressive $14.14 million, including taxes (more than 1 billion rubles).
No matter how hard the world tries to lower the price of our diamond, true connoisseurs who offered more than a billion rubles for it still gave a more honest assessment of this luxury item, and for one thing, Russian jewelers.
I am sincerely happy for my country and proud that we have masters who can work with such valuable minerals.
M. Gorbunov.