Forums: Diamonds

AP) A 507-carat diamond as big as a chicken's egg sold for $35.3 million, breaking the record for the highest price ever paid for a rough diamond, the supplier said Friday. The stone- which weighs just over 3.53 ounces - was estimated to be among the world's top 20 high-quality rough diamonds. It was discovered in September at South Africa's Cullinan mine. London-listed diamond supplier Petra Diamonds Ltd. said the gem was purchased by Hong Kong-based private jewelry retailer Chow Tai Fook Jewelry Co. Ltd.

NEW YORK – A square, 32.01-carat emerald-cut diamond that billionaire philanthropist Leonore Annenberg bought for her 90th birthday sold for $7.7 million at auction on Wednesday. About the size of a walnut, the flawless, colorless diamond sits on a ring designed by Manhattan jeweler David Webb. It is flanked by two pear-shaped diamonds, one of them 1.61 carats and the other 1.51 carats. The ring was offered for sale by Annenberg's estate. Christie's auction house did not identify the buyer, who bid by phone. Annenberg died in March at the age of 91. She served as U.S. chief of protocol...

Old Southern Medical Remedies Burns: My grandmother would often use mayonnaise applied directly to the burn area.Acme, pimples, Skin infection, etc: One full Tablespoon of Nutmeg, repeat as necessary. My grandmother said this would “cure the blood”.Castol Oil: May be use as a laxative. My grandmother would try to give me a tablespoon of castol oil whenever constipated however I could never swallow this stuff and would always gag. She gave up after many attempts of chasing me around the house.Sunburn: Vinegar. I used to sunburn often and my grandmother always would apply vinegar on a cloth and lightly pat...

In recent years, African diamonds have lost much of their lustre. The ruthless hunt for so-called blood diamonds delivered little more than brutal civil wars and misery upon that continent, no more so than in Liberia, which is still recovering from years of conflict. But when Hillary Clinton touched down there on her African tour this week, she cited another nation, Botswana, as a role model for dealing with the precious stones. As Ginny Stein reports, a massive diamond deposit appears to be a godsend for the once sleepy country. REPORTER: Ginny Stein For over 40 years in an arid,...

here is growing speculation that the $65 million heist of an exclusive London jewelry store was the work of a notorious band of European jewel thieves known to police as the Pink Panthers. A key element in the speculation is that the men who looted Graff Diamonds on New Bond Street Aug. 6 made no effort to hide their faces, suggesting that they had been able to alter their looks with "Mission Impossible" style prosthetic make-up. Disguises as well as lightning-quick robberies have been hallmarks of the Pink Panthers who last year dressed as blond women to get past security...

Two well-dressed thieves walked into a London Bond Street jewelry store last week and, after brandishing handguns at shop workers, made off with $65 million worth of gems in one of Britain's biggest jewelry heists, police said Tuesday.

Graff Diamonds £40 million jewellery robbery is Britain's biggest gem heist A £40 million raid on Graff Diamonds, the Mayfair jewellers, is thought to be the biggest ever gems heist in Britain. Richard Edwards 11 Aug 2009 Scotland Yard have issued CCTV images of two men dressed in suits, concealing handguns, who escaped with 43 rings, bracelets, necklaces and watches from the central London store last week. They threatened staff at Graff’s with handguns, briefly seized a woman employee as a hostage, and fired warning shots as they made a getaway in a series of cars. The two men, thought...

Researchers have found shock-synthesized hexagonal diamonds on one of California's Channel Islands, which they say is the strongest evidence yet that a comet exploded in the atmosphere above North America, causing widespread extinctions there around 12,900 years ago... In 2007 researchers theorized that a comet set off continental fires that led to the mysterious disappearance of the Clovis people and the extermination of 35 mammal genera, including mammoths, mastodons, ground sloths and camels. The team documented a "black mat" of charcoal throughout North America that contains high levels of iridium, magnetic spheres, and nano-diamonds, which are consistent with such an...

The reputation of diamond as the hardest material around is under threat. Researchers in China and the United States recently determined that two naturally occurring substances surpass diamond’s resistance to scratching and indentation. They calculated that the mineral lonsdaleite—made of carbon, like diamond—is 58 percent harder than its famous cousin. And wurtzite boron nitride beats diamond’s hardness by about 18 percent after being subjected to pressure, which alters its atomic bonds. Still, in the short term diamond will continue to dominate in practical applications such as saws, drill bits, and industrial abrasives, since the newly studied materials are extremely rare....

BRUSSELS, Belgium - Thieves emptied more than 100 vaults at a diamond trading center in what officials said might be the largest theft ever in Antwerp, the gem trading capital of the world. Authorities were still trying Tuesday to determine the amount of the loss from the cellar of a building that houses dozens of gem trading companies in a city that has been a center of the trade in precious stones since the 16th century. The thieves bypassed heavy security to steal the diamonds from 123 of 160 vaults in the cellar of the Antwerp Diamond Center over the...