Records as they say, are meant to be broken. The latest iteration of this quote has manifested via the unveiling of what people are now calling the largest graded D-color emerald-cut diamond on record.

The VVS clarity "Constellation 1", one of several stones fashioned from the famous 813ct Constellation rough diamond (pictured below), is now the current record holder of this esteemed title. The finished emerald-cut diamond weighs about 313 carats, and its cutting was the initiative project of Nemesis International in partnership with Swiss company de Grisogono- which originally purchased the stone for a bit over sixty three million dollars back in 2016.



After a period of 18 months spent on the careful examination of the original material's inclusions and their positions, Almas Diamond Services, sister company to Nemesis International, pushed through with the cutting process to achieve a 57% recovery rate on the stone.

Such rare diamonds are arriving on the international stage with great promise, especially during a time when the natural diamond industry has slowed globally due to several factors- such as lower demand from Chinese markets as observed during the September 2019 Hong Kong Jewellery Fair.

At the current time, Nemesis has no current plans yet to sell the diamond, expressing its intention to keep the final faceted stones together as a family, possibly sending them on tour as the miniature works of art that they are.

Most diamond jewelry collectors are probably aware of the common cutting styles usually applied to their gemstones. The famous round brilliant cut is also most often the priciest among the modern-cut shapes, all things equally considered.

A round brilliant cut diamond consists of 57 to 58 facets. The last optional 58th facet would be the culet- a small polished facet at the pavilion point area. This was originally done to prevent point chipping, however larger culets are a lot less commonly seen on most newly cut round brilliants today.

A facet is a small polished surface. Brilliant cut diamonds are created with triangular or kite-shaped facets that cover the entire gemstone's surface. Facets allow us to better view the scintillation and brilliant beauty of a diamond, while providing us with many windows to look into its transparent body as well.



Emerald cut and Asscher cut diamonds are created with step-cut facets instead of brilliant facets. This means that their facets are usually four-sided shapes such as trapezoidal designs, rather than triangular. While some people prefer step-cuts for their diamonds, it all depends on the visual effect desired for the stone.



Brilliant cut stones, as the same suggests- show more sharp and numerous brilliant reflections. They also heighten color dispersion or 'fire' as most people term it. The round brilliant style is very specific in its ideal proportions, which is why different laboratories also assign a cut-grade to these stones, as a way of judging how well their cutting accentuates the gem's optical beauty.

Step-cut stones are often done on diamonds with very high clarity, as a way of visually showcasing the top-notch grade through an absence of inclusions. For colored stones on the other hand, a mix of brilliant and step-cut facets is preferred by many. This style is what's referred to as a mixed-cut. More often than not, mixed cuts use a brilliant cut crown with a step-cut pavilion. The latter helps to save weight from the raw crystal.

The term mixed-cut though can also refer to other combinations of faceting styles. Combined with the current diversity of shape choices, the gemstone industry actually has a very wide array of gem cutting designs to suit anyone's personal taste and preference.

You would almost never see a standard-sized diamond cut in a mixed-cut style because it just doesn't bode as well with diamond's optical properties, as the traditional full-brilliant cuts do.



Specific angles and facet placements are needed to direct light from the stone, back into your eyes in the form of brilliance and sparkle. Light leakage can occur if the diamond is either too shallow or too deep, resulting in either a watery-looking effect with grayish girdle reflections, or a darkened center area known as extinction.

The round brilliant style has been very popular for several decades now, despite newer more proprietary cuts coming into the market. Some diamonds are even cut with over 200 small facets to create a novel appeal.

As gem enthusiasts and jewelry collectors, we're sure that at least some of you have encountered this label before. Watermelon tourmaline is a very unique variety of the gem group that showcases a lovely pairing of fertile greens with vivid red cores. The curious ratio of color gave the variety its name, but did you know that a long time ago, the first green tourmaline gems discovered in Brazil were initially confused with emeralds?


Tourmalines are mixed crystals of aluminum boron silicate that also contain elements such as iron, manganese, sodium, lithium, or potassium. Today, they can be distinguished by their chemical composition, and by the optical and physical properties observable by gemological testing.


The gem got its name from the Sinhalese word "Toro Mali" meaning mixed stones of many different colors. Back then, gems were usually just identified by their hues, and so many people weren't really aware that many species of tourmaline actually belonged to the same gem group. The species called "Elbaite", although not as popular a label, is actually the one we most often see when we buy rubellite, paraiba (copper-bearing neons) or even watermelon varieties of tourmaline.


What causes the color in watermelon tourmaline? As the raw tourmaline crystal grows larger and thickens out, it's exposed to different elements such as manganese and lithium, which consequentially cause the gemstone to change color from a pink core through a pale zone to the outer green rind, creating the duo-color we're all familiar with.



Despite first being discovered in the state of Maine in the U.S., watermelon tourmaline can also be found in Brazil, Nigeria, Madagascar, and Afghanistan among other localities. Miners sometimes refrain from sending the rough stones off to cutting plants, as certain specimens can be worth more in their natural uncut state. This is only true for well-formed crystals that are hard to find and extract safely from their host matrix rock.


A lot of gem cutters like to 'slice' rough stones like loaves of bread, in order to fully exhibit the beautiful medley of color that makes it so unique. These tourmaline slices often become the centerpieces of pendants or earrings for designer jewelry pieces.

Have you ever wondered why some of the most illustrious diamonds in the world are blue? Gleaming, pristine colors as deep as the oceanic depths, give such an astounding ambience to many of these incredibly rare treasures of the earth.


It's estimated that just 1 in every 200,000 diamonds are blue. The 45 carat Hope Diamond at the Smithsonian, is probably the greatest example we have today of this incredibly scarce variety of diamond.

A scientist at the University of Hawaii, Dongzhou Zhang has studied the formation of natural blue diamond. Alongside his team of researchers, Zhang published an article in the journal 'Nature', that showed the world a little more about how blue diamonds form.


We already know that their vivid colors arise from trace percentages of boron. This element, aside from sharing some electro-conductive properties with the stone, also allows it to selectively absorb light differently from other diamonds. Portions of visible light enter the stone, but only some wavelengths are able to leave and return to our eyes, causing the blue color we see so clearly.

The article published newer information, that the impurities contained in most blue diamonds are actually found at a very deep level of the earth. It became clear that based on their findings, blue diamonds form at far greater depths than typical colorless diamonds- many at levels below 410 miles down into the earth.


Some of the researchers have suggested that boron, which absorbs red light (and makes diamonds show up blue) could have been originally present on areas of the ocean floor. When continental plates collided, there were forces that pushed these elements even further down, to levels where heat and pressure allowed for diamond formation occur.

Note that many blue diamonds sold today in jewelry, are a product of artificial enhancement. Color dyes, irradiation and many other modern-day processes create colors in otherwise near-colorless stones. The prices of treated diamonds are much lower than their natural-colored counterparts.