The De Beers
Not long after the formation of De Beers Consolidated Mines
Limited in March 1888, a huge light yellow octahedral crystal was found in the
De Beers Mine. The gem weighed 428.50 old carats (old carats being the pre-1913
non-metric carat) and measured 47.6 mm through its longest axis and 38.1 mm
square. Excluding Victoria, aka the Great White or Jacob, the source of which
remains doubtful, the De Beers was the largest diamond found at the four mines
at Kimberly during the time period.
Weighing 234.65 carats, the De Beers is the seventh largest
faceted diamond in the world, not including the Nizam, a now-lost stone which is
said to have been only partially cut. It isn't known where the De Beers was cut,
but because of its pre-eminence as a cutting center at the time it is very
likely that the work was carried out in Amsterdam. 
In this photo the stone appears to be a deeper shade of yellow than it actually is.
After its display in Paris the Maharaja of Patiala bought the
De Beers. In 1928 Cartier of Paris set it as the centerpiece of a ceremonial
necklace that came to be known as the Patiala Necklace. Sometime during the
1930's the diamond was acquired by its present owners who loaned it in 1973 for
an exhibition in Israel. 
The Patiala Necklace is a candidate for one of the most
spectacular pieces of jewelry ever created.
After the end of the Raj, the art deco Patiala Necklace
disappeared. Then in 1998, someone came upon the remnants of it in a second hand
jewelry shop in London. All of the big stones were gone: seven stones ranging
from 18 to 73 carats, set above a pendant, and the 234.69-carat De Beers
Diamond, seventh largest in the world. Cartier acquired the remains of the
necklace and spent four years restoring it. They tried recreating the original
replacing the missing diamonds with a variety of natural stones such as white
sapphires or white topazes, but with disappointing results. Back to the
diamonds. The original diamonds were of course not available including the De
Beers Diamond itself. While the search for replacements continues, Cartier
decided to use cubic zirconium to substitute for the seven diamonds and
synthetic rubies to substitute for the original Burmese marvels. A replica of
the De Beers Diamond was created and set in the necklace, but what type of
synthetic material used has not been released to the press. (One source actually
said synthetic yellow sapphire, but this would have taken a prohibitively long
time to cut and polish due to the immense size of the replica and the fact
sapphire is a very tough stone, being a 9 on the Mohs hardness scale. Therefore,
it is more than likely than yellow cubic zirconium was used, and another clue is
that in a number of photos of the necklace, the De Beers replica casts off a
number of different colors, something a synthetic yellow sapphire wouldn't do to
that degree, but which a yellow cubic zirconium would.) The necklace originally
contained about 2,930 diamonds weighing about 962.25 carats.
On May 6th, 1982, the De Beers came up for auction at
Sotheby's in Geneva. It was generally thought that bidding could reach as much
as $4.5 million. At the event the stone was bought when the top bid of $3.16
million remained below its undisclosed reserve.
In his book Precious Stones and Gems, Edwin Streeter
has unwittingly been the cause of some confusion concerning this diamond. He
wrote that it was shown at the Paris Exhibition as the "Victoria"; this has led
to the listing in some publications of a diamond called the Victoria I, weighing
228.50 old carats, also found in 1888 and also a light yellow color, and
afterwards sold to an Indian prince. A mathematical calculation will show that
this is the same stone as the De Beers and not to be confused with the diamond
known variously as the Imperial, Great White or Jacob, a diamond which was cut
into a cushion shape of 184.50 carats. Sources: Diamonds - Famous, Notable
and Unique by GIA, Famous Diamonds by Ian Balfour, the Cartier
website, and numerous articles on the internet.