Famous Stones
The Golden Jubilee
Since 1908, Cullinan
I, also known as the Great Star of Africa, had held the title of "largest
faceted diamond in
the world". That however would change, following the 1985 discovery
of a large brown diamond of 755 carats (151
g)in the prolific blue
ground of the Premier
mine in South
Africa; the diamond would later be cut and named The Golden
Jubilee, with an unsurpassed weight of 545.67 carats (109.13
g).
The Premier mine was also the origin of the Cullinan diamonds in 1905, as well as other notables such as the Talyor-Burton in 1966 and the Centenary in 1986.
The "Unnamed Brown", as the Jubilee was first known, was considered something of an ugly duckling by most. It was given to master cutter Gabi Tolkowsky by De Beers for the purpose of testing special tools and cutting methods which Tolkowsky had developed for intended use on the flawless D-colour ("colourless") Centenary. These tools and methods had never been tested before, and the "Unnamed Brown" seemed the perfect guinea pig; it would be of no great loss should something go amiss.
To the surprise of all concerned, what resulted was a fancy yellow-brown beauty in a fire rose cushion cut, outweighing Cullinan I by 15.37 carats (3.07 g). The glittering giant remained largely unknown to the outside world, as the Jubilee's perfect sister, the Centenary, had already been selected and promoted to herald De Beer's centennial celebrations in 1988.
While the current whereabouts of the Centenary are unknown, the Golden Jubilee is known to have been purchased from De Beers by a Thai syndicate in 1995. The diamond was then given to King Rama IX of Thailand as tribute on the 50th anniversary of his coronation.
King Rama IX had the Golden Jubilee mounted in his royal sceptre, bringing the diamond's journey to an end—for now. The diamond's existence remains little known even to the people of Thailand, as the government reported the Golden Jubilee to be "a large golden topaz". The reason for this deception may be rooted in the country's economic woes; the diamond would likely lower popularity for the monarchy if news of such an extravagant purchase were to break.