The still unnamed diamond took a small tour of the world when it was brought to Thailand by the Thai Diamond Manufacturers Association to be exhibited in the Thai Board of Investment Exhibition in Laem Chabang. The exhibition garnered so much attention that there were daily lines of over 1 mile long just to see the yellow-brown stone.
In 1995, a group of Thai businessmen led by one Henry Ho purchased the 545.67 carat diamond from the De Beers group with the intention of presenting it to the King of Thailand in 1997 in recognition of his 50th year on the throne. Before the presentation was made though the diamond still had several trips to make. The first was to the Vatican where the diamond would receive the Papal blessing by Pope John Paul II and then back to Thailand where it would be blessed by the Supreme Buddhist Patriarch and the Supreme Imam in Thailand.The diamond was then presented to King Bhumibol Adulyadej on the 50th anniversary of his coronation day in 1997 where the King gave the diamond it’s name, The Golden Jubilee. Initial plans were to mount the Golden Jubilee in the Royal Scepter, later discussions centered around mounting the stone in the Royal Seal. Neither has ever happened.
The Golden Jubilee Diamond has been exhibited at Henry Ho’s 59-story Jewelry Trade Center in Bangkok, the Central Department Store in Lad Prao (Bangkok) Thailand, and internationally in Basel (Switzerland), Borsheims in Omaha, USA (owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc.), and Gleims Jewelers in Palo Alto, USA. The Golden Jubilee now resides in the Royal Thai Palace as part of the crown jewels.
An interesting aside to the diamond has to do with the financial collapse of the markets across South East Asia in 1997. Fearing that the people of Thailand would see this gift as too opulent and an arrogant purchase in such economic times, the Thai government decided it would be best to down play the gift and tell the people that the King was gifted a large Topaz.
To this day most Thai’s still believe the Golden Jubilee is a large Topaz and not the worlds largest cut diamond. It’s believed that this reasoning is what kept the diamond from being mounted in the Royal Scepter or the Royal Seal and definitely why there are so few pictures of the diamond after 25 years.
Read more at http://thailandlandofsmiles.com/2010/03/10/worlds-largest-faceted-diamond/
6 comments:
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Warm Greetings!
Today I visited your site and found it to be really informative. I'm highly pleased to see the comprehensive resources being offered by
your site. Its indeed very informative, Kudos to you for the Great Work!
As you believe in Link Popularity, you are requested to give a Link on your webpage, in return I will publish your link at my 2 websites,
Following are the link details of my website:
-------------------------------------------------------------
Title – Diamond Jewelry
URL – www.ilovediamondjewelry.com
Description - ilovediamondjewelry.com is your online jewelry store with one of the largest diamond jewelry collection online. Offering you a selection of over 3000 items in stock from earrings to rings, bracelets, necklaces, gold, silver jewelry and from classic style to fashion jewelry to mens jewelry. I love diamond jewelry is your ideal destination to buy jewelry online. For the finest service and jewelry quality ilovediamondjewelry.com is the store visit!
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Looking forward to hear from you.
Warm Regards,
Jason Moore
This is one of the beautiful yellow-brown stone. It shown that this stone could not found any where, this the perfect example for beautiful creation.
What beautiful gem stone,its really looking nice.
The mere sparkle of it brings a smile to ever face...a gift of such level makes the giver and the receiver feel an emotion worth treasuring a memory of a lifetime.Good post here....
Diamond Engagement Rings
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