Saturday, May 16, 2009

Worlds Biggest Diamond (Carat, Weight & Size)

The world's largest diamond was the Cullinan, found in South Africa in 1905. It weighed 3,106.75 carats uncut. It was cut into the Great Star of Africa, weighing 530.2 carats, the Lesser Star of Africa, which weighs 317.40 carats, and 104 other diamonds of nearly flawless colour and clarity. They now form part of the British crown jewels.

The Cullinan was three times the size of the next largest diamond, the Excelsior, which was also found in South Africa. The world's largest documented polished diamond - unearthed in 1986, also in South Africa - is called Unnamed Brown. It weighs 545 carats and was cut down from a 700 carat rough diamond. It took an international team of expert cutters 3 years to complete the masterpiece. Another impressive diamond that also took 3 years to cut, and also is part of the British crown jewels, is the Centenary Diamond. It weighs 273.85 carats and is the world's largest flawless diamond.

Carat is the term used to express the weight of a diamond, with one carat equaling 200 milligrams of actual weight.

Carat Abbreviations

The abbreviation ct is a shortened way to write carat, and refers to the weight of a single diamond.

The abbreviation ct TW means carat total weight, and is used to express the total weight of multiple diamonds used in a piece of jewelry.

Carat Weight vs. Size

Carat weight is used as a measure for other gemstones, but different gems of the same weight aren't necessarily the same size, because some gemstones are more dense than others--meaning that they pack more weight into a smaller space.

Weight of Small Diamonds

The weight of smaller diamonds is often expressed as points, not carats. There are 100 points in a carat. Another way to look at it is to say that each point equals 0.01, or one-hundredth, of a carat.

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