'World's biggest diamond' revealed as fake

I'm at a loss here. Has Abraham Lincoln emerged from the grave?*

The discovery of the "world's biggest diamond" last August sent ripples of excitement around the world. It was said to be twice the size of the Cullinan, or Great Star of Africa, discovered near Pretoria in 1905.

Neither the South Africa Diamond Board, nor the Diamond and Jewellery Federation, the trade body, confirmed its authenticity. But the warnings were drowned out by the breathless claims of one Brett Jolly, a spokesman for the mining firm Two Point Five Construction, who had announced the stone was being transported to a bank vault in Johannesburg "until we calm down and decide what we are going to do".

Now however, the "diamond" has been revealed as a fake. Yesterday, the president of the World Federation of Diamond Bourses, Ernest Blom, announced he was withdrawing from the verification process to test the stone, saying: "I suspect something is afoot.

*For those who don't know his famous quote: You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time.

I apologize, but no one took a decent picture of that diamond. They're all fuzzy. Shit! I won't even accept such shots of my cat. That is if I had one. I kept hunting. You should be so grateful. I found a pic that ain't great, but its much better than before.

Via The Independent.