Oct

The Cullinan II

The Cullinan II is the second largest diamond cut from the Culinan diamond, the largest rough diamond ever found. It is also called the Lesser Star of Africa and it weights 317.4 carats (63.48 g). The cutting shape of this Cullian diamond is cushion and is the forth largest polished diamond in the world.

The Cullinan II

The massive Cullinan II is the center-front of the Imperial Stat Crown of Great Britain. Both gems, Cullinan II and also Cullinan I, are on display at the Tower of London, as parts of the Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom. The transport of Cullinan diamond from South Africa to England was a little problematic and raised security issues. Due to its great value it was arranged a fake transport of the diamond on a ship and was spread the rumor of the departure in order to attract the attention of possible thieves. The real Cullinan was actually send in a plain box via parcel post.

The Cullinan II - Royal Crown

After the arrival, the diamond cutters realized that the massive stone must be first cut in two in order to be polished and finalized. Lack of technology made them find inventive solutions in order to accomplish that. They studied the stone trying to find a vulnerable spot, made an half an inch incision and hoped that with a single blow, the diamond would be split in two pieces. For the splitting blow it was designed a special knife but it broke on the first attempt to make the cleavage. The second tentative was a success and the diamond broke perfectly in two resulting the pieces from which were created Cullinan I and Cullinan II.