In the history of the diamond, there are a few that became world famous, either because they are exceptionally large, especially beautiful in colour and fine cut, or because they were owned by famous people. In the course of time, legends formed around these stones, so that they began to appeal even more to the imagination.

• Cullinan I (Star of Africa) — 530.20 ct, D colour, 1905  The largest of the stones which were cut from the Cullinan, which is the largest uncut diamond ever found, weighing 3,106 carats when it was discovered in South Africa in 1905. The Cullinan I is the largest white cut diamond, second largest in the world.

• Incomparable — 407.48 ct, Flawless, fancy brownish-yellow  This is the largest IF-diamond (the highest degree of clarity). Ranking third largest in the world.

• Centenary Diamond — 273.85 ct, D, Flawless  The most expensive diamond, which, according to rumour in 2006, was sold for around 100 million dollars. It is the diamond with the greatest number of facets: 247.

• Orlov — 189.62 ct, 17th century  “The Sun of the Sea” was the name of a diamond weighing 194.75 carats. According to legend, it was stolen from the eye of a temple statue in the former Indian state of Madras by a French soldier in the middle of the 18th century. After various wanderings, the diamond — with the measurements of a “small Bantam hen’s egg” — ended up in Amsterdam in 1767. There it was bought by the Russian count Orlov, who hoped to win back the love of the Russian Empress Catherine II with it. She accepted the stone, had it set in the Imperial Sceptre, but did not restore Orlov to favour.

• The Shah — 88.7 ct, ca. 1450  One of the few diamonds with an inscription: the names of three owners since 1591. Given the hardness of the stone, this is a remarkable accomplishment. The stone weighs 88.7 carats and is partially uncut; it has never been part of a crown or a piece of jewellery. The Shah was in Persian possession from 1739 onwards. To prevent a war that was threatening to break out between Persia and Russia, the Persians gave the diamond to Czar Nicholas I in 1838. Now the Shah is part of the Russian crown jewels and is exhibited in the Kremlin.

• Moussaieff Red — 5.11 ct, Fancy Red, Brazil, 1990  The Gemmological Institute of America (GIA) states that “it is the largest Fancy Red, natural colour diamond that we have graded as of the date that report was issued” (mid-1990s). Rough weight 13.90 carats.

• The Hope — 45.52 ct, Fancy Deep Greyish-Blue  The Hope diamond is very notorious; it is said that this stone will plunge its wearer into misfortune. The stone is named after Lord Henry Philip Hope, who bought this 44.5-carat blue diamond in 1830. The diamond was supposedly cut from the Great Blue Diamond of the French crown. It originated in India and was sold to King Louis XIV of France in 1669. The stone remained in the possession of the French royal family until shortly before the French Revolution (1792). It was then stolen and turned up in London in 1830. From 1910 to 1949, the Hope was owned by Evalyn Walsh McLean, the wife of newspaper magnate Edward McLean. Whether or not the Hope was to blame, it is a fact that she met a series of accidents: her brother died young, her 9-year-old son was killed by a motor car, she divorced her husband — who later died in a psychiatric institution — her 25-year-old daughter committed suicide, and at the age of 60 she herself died of pneumonia. Since 1958 the Hope has been in the collection of the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, where it appears to have caused little harm to date.

• The Koh-i-Noor — 105.6 ct, “Mountain of Light”  One of the most famous diamonds in the world. In the 16th century, its value was estimated to be “the total income of the entire population of the world on a single day”. The legend goes that the stone brings misfortune to male owners. Throughout its long history in India, present-day Pakistan and Iran, many of its owners died in terrible ways. In 1849, the stone was taken by the British army as booty and presented to Queen Victoria. In 1852 she had the stone re-cut by the famous cutter Louis Voorzanger and bruter Fedder of Coster Diamonds in Amsterdam. The stone was given an oval brilliant form and reduced in weight from 186 to 105.60 carats. It was set both in a brooch and in a crown. In 1937 the Koh-i-Noor was set in the coronation crown of Elizabeth, Queen Mother.

• The Regent — 140.64 ct, D, India  Two famous diamonds of Indian origin — the Regent and the Sancy — both came into the possession of the French royal family. Louis XV had the Regent set into the royal crown in 1722. Later it was set in the hilt of Napoleon I’s ornamental sword. It was also used as security for large loans to help finance the French wars of expansion at the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th centuries. Both diamonds may today be admired in the Louvre Museum in Paris.

• The Sancy — 55.23 ct, India  The Sancy arrived in France via Constantinople at the end of the 16th century, bought by Nicolas de Sancy. It changed hands many times, belonged for a while to the British crown jewels, returned to India and was sold to the Banque de France in 1978. Today it is on view at the Louvre.