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Legends and tales of folklore have always been woven with verses that were conceived through embellishment and interpretive imagination over an extended period in time. Petrified carbon crystals, millions of years old, eventually rise to the surface of the earth persuaded by internal forces of heat and pressure. Time is a key element in each of these statements. Carbon is also a key element here, an element that yields graphite, a very soft mineral, and the diamond: the hardest known crystal substance on earth.
Click on the thumbnails below to see a larger image of the diamonds
Whether fact or fable, intriguing stories have risen up over the ages concerning the king of all gems. Rather than focus our attention on evaluating each of these stories for accuracy and fact, we’ll instead leave them basically intact and examine them for their imaginative merit and attempt to learn what we can from the fascinating and odd details that add up to their sum. These are, in fact, just stories, stories that surround the most mysterious and fascinating travels of early prospectors who sought out this most elusive treasure. Fortunes were built in an instant and fell just as quickly when some of these famous diamonds changed hands.
Imagine a cavernous pit, so deep that the bottom is not visible from the perimeter above. In the hold, loose gems and treasures lay in wait. Unable to reach these hidden treasures tribesman threw pieces of raw animal flesh down into the pit so falcons and other birds of prey could swoop down to retrieve the bait. The legend continues to say that these gems would then become attached to the meat and would be drawn up and out of the pit when these large birds flew back up to the surface. How these gems were then wrestled away from these scavengers was never explained. One would need to track them all the way to their nesting places, high in the mountains. Equally mysterious is how polished and finished gemstones might have collected in the bottom of the pit in the first place. Legends require a lot of faith, and in most cases, blind faith is the best kind. Let’s allow our imagination to wonder freely as we avoid our natural tendency to rationalize everything we hear or read, in an effort to appreciate some of these remarkable and/or far-fetched stories.
The details included in this presentation were gathered from several previously published sources, web page searches, diamond specific areas of study and a few notable books. Paraphrased chapters appear from: “The Histories & Romance of the Famous Diamonds of the World” by Wayne Enterprises, a booklet published in the 1950’s directly related to a collection of replica diamonds produced in that same time frame. Additional invaluable information was gleaned from: “Famous Diamonds” by Ian Balfour and “Diamonds, Famous & Fatal” by Leo P. Kendall. Also interested readers should refer to: “The GIA Diamond Dictionary” and “Famous Diamond of the World” by Robert M. Shipley.
 The “World Famous Diamonds” section of this website is primarily the work of Greg Bedore, an International Diamond Center employee since it was founded in the early 1990’s. You can visit the Clearwater Showroom and meet Greg, the handsome gent on the left, {ref: far-fetched} or email him at
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The International Diamond Center has acquired an old, and very rare, set of over two dozen Replica Diamonds produced in the 1950’s. These Replica Diamonds approximate what these impressive gems look like (or may have looked like) in their cut and polished form. Some of the Famous Diamonds featured in the collection no longer exist or have fallen into private collections, never to be seen again. Those that are still known and cataloged in museums, private collections and royal crown jewels are seldom displayed for the general public. These representative stones are handmade of polished and faceted glass and are periodically displayed in the IDC showrooms.
If you have a keen interest in “World Famous Diamonds” you can visit Greg and/or any of the other IDC diamond associates in the Clearwater, Florida International Diamond Center. There you can see an example of the largest diamond (The Cullinan diamond) ever found in the “rough” state and the nine major finished gems cut from it. You can visit to see: The Hope Diamond, The Taylor-Burton Diamond, The Koh-I-Nor Diamond, The Orloff Diamond, The Tiffany Diamond and many others. Each one has its own story and pedigree. All are unique and all are seldom seen in any physical form. Photos of these examples exist but they differ somewhat from these hand made glass reproductions.
Please Note: IDC does not sell replica diamonds. No modern source we know of currently makes or offers these replica gems to the public. We’ve been asked on several occasions to consider selling reproductions but they are simply not available. The set at IDC is over 50 years old and is considered irreplaceable. We do however; deal in natural, world class, diamonds of every size and category every business day.
Please feel free to contact Greg Bedore, here at IDC, email him at
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, if you share his enthusiasm for the “World Famous Diamonds” that the earth has yielded for us to treasure. Greg is a Certified Diamontologist, Guild Gemologist and in the last 10 years, a Diamond Historian. Greg has been actively involved in the diamond business for nearly 40 years and he will be glad to contribute whatever insight he might have on these mysterious and famous diamonds of the world with all of those who study, admire and pursue these elusive treasures.
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