At 203.04 carats (40.608 g), it is the world's second-largest known top-color (grade D, i.e., colorless), internally and externally flawless, pear-shaped diamond.
De Beers purchased it during the height of the country's Civil War in the early to mid-nineties.
Workers of the Steinmetz Diamond Group took over three years to produce the classic pear form.
There was an attempt on 7 November 2000 to steal the collection (see Millennium Dome raid), but the Metropolitan Police discovered the plot and arrested the robbers before their escape.
[1] Crime journalist Kris Hollington wrote a book called Diamond Geezers (ISBN 1843171228) about the attempted theft.