Sophie Marceau and The Millennium Star

The Millennium Star is the 10th largest diamond in the world. It weights 203.04 carats and is a D-color flawless pear-shaped diamond with a total of 54 facets. The diamond was found in the Mbuji-Mayi district of Zaire (Democratic Republic of the Congo) in 1990 and as a rough stone it weighted 777 carats. It took 5 months of studying and planning the cutting of the stone and the conclusion was that it must be cleaved into three pieces.

The Millennium Star is the centerpiece of the company's Limited Edition Millennium Diamonds collection which further consists of 11 highly unusual blue diamonds cut into a variety of shapes, having a total weight of 118 carats. The diamonds were presented to the world with great theater during an impressive ceremony at the top floor of the CSO's Charterhouse Street complex in London: the Millennium Star was lovingly caressed by the latest James Bond girl, French actress Sophie Marceau, under the approving eyes of De Beers top executives and principals of the worldwide Steinmetz Group of Companies - the craftsmen that designed, planned, and manufactured these exceptional and unique stones.

Clearly, the Millennium Star is the result of faceting and polishing the largest piece from the rough diamond. The value of the stone hasn't been revealed but it is said that the 100 million English pounds which served to insure the Millennium Star was insured was just a fraction of its true worth.

To mark the year 2000 and to celebrate the new millennium, De Beers and the Steinmetz Group put together the most valuable set of diamonds ever. The most impressive of this collection was the Millennium Star, the second largest faceted D-Flawless diamond after the Centenary Diamond.

Though the general press coverage focused understandably on the Millennium Star and actress Sophie Marceau (who played in the James Bond movie aptly called "The World is Not Enough"), the trade is rightfully excited also about the eleven exceptionally rare blue diamonds, which orbit as sparkling blue satellites around the Millennium Star. Steinmetz explains that each one of these stones came from the famous Premier Mine in South Africa. But blue diamonds of this quality and size are extremely rare and to discover one on any year is an incredible accomplishment, let alone discovering the entire collection.

In addition to the pear-shaped Millennium Star, the collection consists of 11 beautiful blue diamonds of different shapes and carat weights, ranging in size from 5.16 carats to a phenomenal 27.64 carat heart-shaped stone, the Heart of Eternity. Each of these 11 blue diamonds will be specially inscribed with a De Beers Millennium number, using De Beers' proprietary branding technique. Livnat explains that the Millennium Star will not be branded, as "it is externally flawless. There is not even a single scratch or burn mark on any of the facets. This is extremely exceptional - and a tribute to the cutters' expertise - and De Beers is therefore rightfully presenting the stone as externally flawless." Thus branding is out for the Millennium Star.