World’s Largest Diamond Ring—Only $68,000,000!

By Antoinette Matlins, PG

I’m sure many of you have seen the media surrounding what is being touted as the “world’s largest diamond ring” created by the Swiss jeweler, Shawish. 
     At $68,000,000, as well as from the sketches they’ve shown, one is led to believe the ring is fashioned entirely from the same stone. But this brings many questions to my mind. First, if you have seen the video and some of the images in the press, it appears the diamond was cut from a much larger “briolette” cut diamond—which from the images would indicate a diamond in excess of three-hundred carats, which would certainly rank it among the world’s largest diamonds. So, do we know of this diamond by another name? And if not, why not? If one had such a diamond, it must certainly have had a diamond grading report, but there is no description of the quality, particularly with regard to color and clarity. 
     More importantly, if you have such a significant diamond, why re-cut it and lose so much weight? Especially in light of the fact that there is always a risk in re-cutting any diamond? And then, of course, I must ask, how would one re-size it for a particular finger? 
     I’m also wondering who cut it as it would most likely require a master diamond cutter. What was done with the center portion of the original diamond—a nice carving perhaps, for the vanity table of the owner of the ring? I think this would be most revealing of all.
     Of course, we’re all assuming it’s fashioned from a natural, single diamond. But is this an accurate assumption? It’s becoming more and more difficult to know for sure whether or not a diamond is natural or lab-grown. At the moment, major labs are confident that they are able to distinguish natural from lab-grown, but with the amassed experience of diamond growers and technological advances, is this reality? There are rumors about large colorless lab-grown diamonds already in the market—a topic that will be addressed in a couple months at a major conference on the future of diamonds. For anyone interested in knowing more about the conference, visit the Accredited Gemologist Association website: www.accreditedgemologists.org. 
     I’m not suggesting this diamond ring is lab-grown, but it would certainly make much more sense if it were, or if it were assembled from more than one diamond. In short, it raises many unanswered questions. I think this is a story to which we should all stay tuned!