The word diamond is derived from the Greek word ‘adámas,’ meaning “untamed” or “unbreakable.” Diamonds have been known to us since at least the 8th century BCE and are believed to have been first discovered in the Indian Subcontinent.
Diamond is the hardest naturally found material on Earth. It also has the highest thermal conductivity. Today, diamonds are used either as gemstones for decorative items, such as jewelry, or as cutting and polishing tools in various industries.
Though diamonds are more valuable, they are relatively more common than rare gems such as alexandrite. Global rough diamond production reached 139 million carats in 2019. Since then, annual output has remained between 100 and 115 million carats, with a market value of roughly $11.4 billion to $14 billion. Russia and Botswana are the world’s leading producers, accounting for a large share of global supply.
How Are Diamonds Described?
Diamonds are evaluated using the Four Cs: carat (weight), cut (how well the diamond is shaped and polished), color, and clarity (the presence of internal or external flaws). One carat is equal to 200 milligrams (0.2 grams).
The color of a diamond is affected by its chemical impurities and structural defects. The value of a diamond may either enhance or diminish depending on its color and intensity. For instance, white diamonds with an apparent yellowish hue are graded significantly less valuable than colorless or intensely blue or pink diamonds.
Below, we have compiled a list of the largest diamonds in the world. It includes historically significant diamonds, as well as those carved from larger ones.
Table of Contents
12. Golden Jubilee Diamond
Golden Jubilee Diamond
Weight: 755.5 Carats
Cut Weight: 545.67 Carats
Owner: King of Thailand
The brown-colored Golden Jubilee diamond is the largest cut diamond (of any color) in the world and weighs about 15.37 carats more than the Cullinan I. Coincidentally, the Golden Jubilee was discovered at the same diamond mine (Premier Mine in South Africa) as the Cullinan.
The diamond was originally named “Unnamed Brown” but was renamed “Golden Jubilee” by King Bhumibol, the former king of Thailand, sometime in 2000. The Golden Jubilee diamond has received a papal blessing from Pope John Paul II at the Vatican, as well as from the Buddhist Supreme Patriarch of Thailand and the Chularatchamontri, the Islamic head of Thailand.
Over the years, the Golden Jubilee diamond has been on display in several locations around the world, including Basel, Switzerland, and Palo Alto, California, in the United States. It is currently located at the Grand Palace in Bangkok.
11. Millennium Star
The Millennium Star Diamond
Weight: 777 Carats
Cut Weight: 203.04 Carats
Owner: De Beers Group
The Millennium Star is currently the second-largest known colorless diamond in the world. It was discovered in the year 1990 in the Mbuji-Mayi district of Zaire, modern-day Democratic Republic of Congo.
The diamond was acquired by De Beers, a British diamond mining and retailing company, amidst a civil war in the mid-1990s. It was first publicly displayed in 1999 as part of the iconic De Beers Millennium diamond collection. In 2000, during a De Beers diamond exhibition at London’s Millennium Dome, an attempt was made to rob the Millennium Diamond.
In the book Diamond Geezers, journalist Kris Hollington mentioned a detailed history of the diamond, including the attempted theft.
10. Great Mogul Diamond
A replica of Great Mogul Diamond | Image Courtesy: Wikipedia
Weight: 780 Carats
Cut Weight: 280 Carats
The Great Mogul, the world’s ninth-largest diamond, is believed to have been discovered in 1650 at the Kollur Mine in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India. It soon landed in the possession of Shah Jahan, the 5th ruler of the Mughal Dynasty, who received it as a political gift.
For decades, the Great Mogul remained one of the most celebrated stones in the Mughal Empire. Sometime around 1665, Shah Jahan’s son Aurangzeb presented it to Jean Baptiste Tavernier, a 17th-century French traveler and gold merchant. In his journal, Tavernier described the diamond as: “The stone is of the same form as if one cut an egg through the middle.”
The Great Mogul diamond mysteriously disappeared in the mid-1700s and has never been found, at least not in its original state. Many historians, however, believe that the lost diamond has been re-cut to create the Orlov diamond.
The Orlov, weighing over 189 carats, was found in the 17th century in southern India. It was named by Russian Empress Catherine the Great after Count Grigory Orlov, who presented the diamond to her as a gift. Since 1774, the Orlov has been found in the Russian Imperial Sceptre.
9. Koh-i-Noor
Weight: 793 Carats
Cut Weight: 105.6 Carats
The Koh-i-Noor, also spelled Kohinoor, is perhaps one of the most popular and controversial diamonds on earth. It was discovered, most likely in the 12th century, at the Kollur Mine (in Andhra Pradesh, India) and has been part of many historically significant crown jewels and ornaments.
The diamond changed hands several times before it was acquired by the British Empire under Queen Victoria in 1849 and was transported to Britain shortly after. There, it was re-cut from 191 carats to its current size in 1852. It is currently on display at the Tower of London’s Jewel House.
For decades, the Kohinoor diamond has been a source of diplomatic tensions between India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and the United Kingdom, with each claiming to be its rightful owner.
8. Lesotho Legend
Weight: 910 carats
Lesotho 910-carat diamond is the sixth-largest gem-quality diamond in the world. It was discovered in 2018 in the Letseng diamond mine in Lesotho, a small African nation surrounded by South Africa.
According to Gem Diamonds, the diamond mining company that owns Letseng mine, the Lesotho 910-carat diamond was sold for $40 million. It was not the first time an expensive diamond had been found at the Letseng mine. In 2015, a 357-carat diamond from the same mine was sold for about $20 million.
7. Star of Sierra Leone
Original Weight: 968.9 carat
The Star of Sierra Leone was a large gem-quality stone discovered near the town of Koidu in Sierra Leone, West Africa. It is currently the fourth-largest gem-quality diamond in the world. It is also one of the rarest types of diamond that has no chemical impurities. A few months after its discovery, the diamond was bought by a New York City jeweler for $2.5 million.
The initial cut weight of the diamond was 143.2 carats. A later re-cut of the gem produced 17 smaller diamonds, thirteen of which are virtually flawless.
6. Excelsior Diamond
Weight: 972 carats
The Excelsior was the largest diamond in the world before the discovery of Cullinan in 1905. At the time of its discovery, the rough stone weighed 971 carats (about 194.2 grams) and was shaped roughly as a leaf. It was found in South Africa’s Jagersfontein Mine in the Northern Cape Province.
In 1903, the Excelsior Diamond was cut into 11 smaller stones because its enormous size and value made it difficult to sell to a single buyer.
The decision was widely criticized at the time. Many experts believed the diamond should have been cut to create the largest possible polished gem instead. In the 1990s, the largest piece, Excelsior I (69.68 carats), sold for about $2.64 million.
5. 1,098 Carat Diamond
Weight: 1,098 carat
On June 1, 2021, Botswana-based mining company Debswana discovered one of the world’s largest diamonds, weighing 1,098 carats (219.6 grams). Measuring approximately 73 × 52 × 27 millimeters, it was considered the third-largest gem-quality rough diamond ever recovered.
This new discovery exceeded the famous 813-carat Constellation Diamond, also found in Botswana in 2015.
What made the stone particularly valuable was not only its extraordinary weight but also its high gem quality, exceptional transparency, and relatively intact crystal structure, which offered the potential to produce several exceptionally large polished diamonds after careful planning and cutting.
4. Graff Lesedi La Rona
Front view of Lesedi La Rona | Image Courtesy: Graff
Original Weight: 1,111 carats
Cut Weight: 302.37
Lesedi La Rona is the fourth-largest gem-quality diamond in the world. The diamond was bought by British jeweler Graff for $53 million in 2017, two years after it was discovered in Botswana.
In 2019, the diamond was cut and transformed into a single large diamond, Graff Lesedi La Rona, weighing 302.37 carats and 66 smaller ones.
The diamond was initially named Karowe AK6, after the mine where it was found. Its name was later changed to Lesedi La Rona, meaning “Our Light” in the Tswana language.
The discovery of Lesedi La Rona was made using an X-ray-enabled large diamond recovery machine, TOMRA. A single TOMRA sorter can scan 150 tons of material per hour.
3. Motswedi Diamond
Motswedi diamond found in Botswana
Original Weight: 2,488.32 carats
Unearthed in August 2024 at the Karowe Mine in Botswana by Canadian miner Lucara Diamond Corporation, this rough diamond weighs 2,488.32 carats (497.66 grams) and measures 106.3 × 71.6 × 53.8 millimeters. It is the second largest diamond ever discovered.
Lucara has officially named the diamond “Motswedi”, a Setswana word meaning “water spring” or “a stream of underground water rising to the surface.”
Unlike many historic discoveries that occurred through conventional mining methods, the Motswedi Diamond was recovered using Lucara’s Mega Diamond Recovery (MDR) system, which utilizes X-ray Transmission (XRT) technology.
This system detects large diamonds before they pass through crushers. It has transformed diamond recovery at Karowe and has also been responsible for recovering other world-famous diamonds, including the 1,758-carat Sewelô, the 1,109-carat Lesedi La Rona, and the 813-carat Constellation Diamond.
2. Cullinan III
A portrait of Queen Mary wearing four of the largest Cullinan diamonds. Cullinan III is on her necklace
Weight: 3106.75 carat
Cut Weight: 94.4 carat
On January 26, 1905, a diamond measuring 10.1 cm long and 6.3 cm wide was recovered from a mine in the small town of Cullinan, South Africa. It was three times as big as the Excelsior diamond. It was named after the mine’s chairman at the time, Thomas Cullinan.
A few months after its discovery, the rough gem was put on sale, but it went unsold despite its soaring popularity. In 1907, the diamond was bought by the Transvaal Colony (a former British colony in modern-day South Africa) for £150,000 as a gift to Edward VII, the king of England.
Cullinan III, also known as the Lesser Star of Africa, is a pear-shaped diamond weighing around 18.8 g (94.4 carats) and is occasionally worn by Elizabeth II, the Queen of the United Kingdom. In 1911, Queen Mary wore four of the largest Cullinan diamonds, including Cullinan III, during her first State Opening of Parliament.
1. Cullinan I: The World’s Largest Clear-Cut Diamond
Nine of the largest diamonds cut from rough Cullinan (Cullinan I on top middle)
Cut Weight: 530.2 carat
In 1905, an enormous diamond weighing 3,106 carats was discovered in a mine in the town of Cullinan, Transvaal Colony (part of modern South Africa). It was named the Cullinan diamond shortly after. At the time of its discovery, the Cullinan was three times the size of the Excelsior diamond at 972 carats.
After King Edward VII received the Cullinan as a gift in 1907, he ordered it to be cut down and polished into several smaller pieces. As a result, the diamond was split into nine major and almost a hundred smaller ones.
The largest of the nine pieces, Cullinan I, is a pear-shaped diamond with a total of 74 facets (flat geometric faces). At a weight of 530.2 carats, Cullinan I is the eleventh largest diamond in the world.
Since 1910, the Cullinan I has been seen on top of the Sovereign’s Scepter with Cross, an ornamental gold rod held by the monarch during a coronation, which was redesigned to accommodate it.
In 1992, Cullinan I was surpassed by the Golden Jubilee Diamond as the largest cut diamond in the world of any color. The former, however, remains the largest clear-cut diamond. Cullinan I was valued at $2.5 million (about $51 million now) in 1908.
Other Interesting Discoveries
2025: A 2,036-carat diamond was discovered from the Karowe Mine in Botswana. It’s a near-gem-quality rough diamond, weighing 2,036 carats (407.2 grams or about 0.9 pounds). The discovery instantly became the third-largest rough diamond ever recovered.
2024: Lucara Diamond Corp discovered a remarkable 1,094-carat rough diamond, named the Seriti Diamond, at its Karowe Mine in Botswana. Weighing 218.8 grams, it ranks among the 15 largest rough diamonds ever found.
2021: A 1,098-carat diamond was discovered by Debswana, a joint venture between De Beers and the Botswana government; this diamond is among the largest ever found and is still uncut.
2019: A 1,758-carat Sewelo diamond was discovered in Botswana. It was the second-largest diamond ever mined before the 2,492-carat find. The diamond was later purchased by Louis Vuitton, marking a significant event in the luxury industry.
2018: A 910-carat diamond was found at the Letseng mine. It is one of the largest gem-quality diamonds ever found in Lesotho and was sold for $40 million.
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