500 Carat Egg-Sized Diamond Unearthed - One of the Top 20 Stones in the World

The famed Cullinan Mine in South Africa claimed another prize when a massive 500 carat diamond was unearthed in late-September 2009. The Cullinan Mine has long been associated with large and very high quality diamonds since the Cullinan Diamond was mined - this is the world's largest diamond weighing in at a simply enormous 3,106 carats and which now forms the centerpiece for the British Crown Jewels as the main diamond of the Imperial Septre.

The most recent find may be nowhere near the size of the Cullinan but at 500 carats, it is the size of a chicken egg and is reported to be of the highest quality in terms of clarity and color. At the moment, no value has been ascribed to the 100 gram stone but an assessment will be under way to determine what to do with the diamond - either to cut it into smaller diamond gemstones or whether a buyer can be found for a single huge diamond which most woman would not be able to wear comfortably on their ring finger!

The quality of the stone is said to be exceptional which makes it eminently suitable for producing diamonds for jewelry purposes as opposed to using the stone for industrial diamond products. What is also exceptional is that this stone was discovered along with two other "lesser" stones, both weighing in at more than 50 carats each and of similar quality. This find has further cemented the historical and global reputation of the Cullinan Mine which aside from the world's largest diamond has also produced the Jubilee Diamond (755 carats when found and before cutting and polishing), the Centenary (599 carats rough) and the Taylor-Burton which was a huge 69 carats after it had been cut and polished.

The latest find will now undergo expert analysis to determine whether it is suitable for use as a piece of jewelry which seems likely given what is already known about its quality and in order to keep the size of the stone as large as possible to maximize potential sales revenue for its relative uniqueness. While most of the world's notable diamonds have come from South Africa, the stone may very well end up in India where most of the world's diamonds used in jewelry are actually cut and polished, before heading to the largest market for diamond jewelry, the United States.

Assessing the diamond will take account of the "Four C's" - the clarity, color, cut and carat. Obviously, in the rough the only two factors that can be assessed are color and clarity - the cut and carat weight will be determined and only apply once the finished cutting and polishing has been concluded. In this instance, the stone is thought to be a Type II diamond, that is a stone which means that it has no measurable nitrogen impurities which affects the color - in this case the stone has a very high degree of clarity due to the absence of color, and this high rating is only likely to vastly increase the value of the stone both in the rough and the finished product.