Koh-i-Noor Replica to Feature in Major London Museum Display

A replica of the original uncut Koh-i-Noor, one of the most famous diamonds in the world, will be on display at the Natural History Museum in London from July 8 in a major exhibition of diamonds.

The diamond was presented by Maharaja Duleep Singh to Queen Victoria in 1850 as a gift. It went on show the following year at the famous Great Exhibition of 1851 at Crystal Palace in southern London where thousands of people queued up to marvel at the size of the stone which, uncut, weighed 186.1 carats.

Queen Victoria's husband Prince Albert had the Koh-i-Noor recut into an oval weighing 106 carats and it forms the centerpiece of the Maltese cross of the coronation crown made for the Queen Mother in 1937.

The museum is collaborating with the American gem artist John Hatleberg to create a replica of the diamond.

Hatleberg has created a map showing every facet of the diamond and meticulously recreated it from natural and synthetic materials.

The replica will join De Beers’ 203.04 carat Millennium Star, and seven other unusual diamonds, including the Steinmetz Pink, the world’s largest fancy vivid pink, a flawless 59.60 carat diamond. The other six are the yellow Incomparable, which was cut from an 890-carat rough diamond to create a 407.48 carat stone - the third largest cut diamond in existence; the Ocean Dream, the world’s largest natural fancy deep blue-green diamond weighing 5.51 carats; the 5.11 carats Moussaief Red; the fancy vivid blue Heart of Eternity - at 30.82 carats this is the largest heart-shaped blue diamond in the world; the Allnatt, a 101.29 carats vivid yellow cushion-shaped diamond; and finally, the 616: a 616 carat rough diamond.

The exhibit, entitled ‘Diamonds’, will run from July 8 to February 26, 2006 and is sponsored by Steinmetz, with additional support from the Diamond Trading Company.