PEACE OF MINeD A Story Of Provenance.

For some years now, Boodles have worked to build a special connection with the unique place that is the Cullinan Mine: source of the largest rough diamond ever discovered: the 3,106 carat Cullinan diamond. It yielded Cullinan I and Cullinan II – the ‘Greater and Lesser Stars of Africa’ – both of which are now among the Crown Jewels.

They featured during Her Majesty The Queen’s Coronation on 2 June 1953, in the Sovereign’s Sceptre and the Imperial State Crown. And like those diamonds, the remarkable stones in this collection come straight from the Cullinan Mine and are thoroughly traceable. Coinciding with The King’s Coronation, this collection represents a true privilege.

1977 Was a Significant Year

First and foremost, The Queen’s Silver Jubilee: 25 years since Her Majesty’s Accession. And for Boodles, their first trip to the Cullinan Mine. While the people of Britain sang ‘God Save The Queen’, Boodles late Chairman, Anthony Wainwright, and his wife Jean donned spotless white boilersuits and travelled hundreds of metres below ground. They were travelling at the invitation of the World Diamond Council.

Anthony Wainwright’s youngest son – Boodles Managing Director, Michael Wainwright, his wife Annie – and their daughter Honour, now Boodles Marketing Manager – visited the Cullinan Mine, in South Africa, to literally follow in Anthony’s footsteps. Many of the rough stones they returned with became the jewellery in this collection.

When you wear a piece from this collection, you’ll be adding your story to one which started more than a of planning, Mr Asscher is said to have fainted on completing his task.) As a diamond lover, you’ve probably heard of the ‘four C’s’ – cut, colour, clarity and carat. At Boodles, we like to add a fifth: Clive. Clive is our master diamond cutter, and responsible for helping our Director of Precious Gemstones, Jody Wainwright, create some of our most beautiful diamonds. It’s Clive’s expert eye – and guiding hand – that guarantees a diamond’s perfect finish, as he has done with many of the world’s most famous diamonds over these last four decades.

It all begins with a ‘eureka’ moment: a sparkle is spotted amid the rock dust; a flash of fire, shimmering in the dark. The team in South Africa know what we are looking for: high colour, high purity ‘roughs’. A deal is done, and the stone is on its way to us.

Once in London, the rough diamonds are lasermapped using technology that would have been inconceivable for the man who cut the 3,106 carat diamond from the Cullinan Mine in 1908. (So stressful was the first cleaving, that after three months of planning, Mr Asscher is said to have fainted on completing his task.) As a diamond lover, you’ve probably heard of the ‘four C’s’ – cut, colour, clarity and carat. At Boodles, we like to add a fifth: Clive. Clive is our master diamond cutter, and responsible for helping our Director of Precious Gemstones, Jody Wainwright, create some of our most beautiful diamonds. It’s Clive’s expert eye – and guiding hand – that guarantees a diamond’s perfect finish, as he has done with many of the world’s most famous diamonds over these last four decades.

His bench is where the shape is ‘blocked out’. Facets are angled for maximum refraction and fire, century ago – back in January 1905, when what is still the biggest rough diamond ever discovered was found at the Cullinan Mine in South Africa. At an incredible 3,106 carats, this was the diamond later cut to yield the 530.2 carat ‘Great Star of Africa’, and the 317 carat ‘Lesser Star of Africa’ – both now in the British Crown Jewels, visible in the Sovereign’s Sceptre and Imperial State Crown respectively. So as one anniversary year is echoed by another, and we welcome a new monarch, we celebrate – as always – with diamonds. with a microscopic eye always on purity. The term ‘polishing’ does Clive’s work an injustice; few realise it can take months to polish some Boodles diamonds. It’s not unheard of for him to spend a full day polishing an important diamond’s ‘table’ (the top facet of the diamond) alone. After a quick trip to New York and back for GIA certification, the finished diamond is in London once more, to be placed in its setting. (The work of our design team merits a book of its own!) And finally, it’s over to you, in these pages.

As a diamond lover, you’ve probably heard of the ‘four C’s’ –cut, colour, clarity and carat. Boodles like to add a fifth: Clive. Clive is our master diamond cutter, and responsible for helping Director of Precious Gemstones, Jody Wainwright, create some of our most beautiful diamonds. It’s Clive’s expert eye – and guiding hand – that guarantees a diamond’s perfect finish.

Which is of course where the next chapter – and your own story – begins with a microscopic eye always on purity. The term ‘polishing’ does Clive’s work an injustice; few realise it can take months to polish some Boodles diamonds. It’s not unheard of for him to spend a full day polishing an important diamond’s ‘table’ (the top facet of the diamond) alone. After a quick trip to New York and back for GIA certification, the finished diamond is in London once more, to be placed in its setting. (The work of our design team merits a book of its own!) And finally, it’s over to you, in these pages.

His bench is where the shape is ‘blocked out’. Facets are angled for maximum refraction and fire, a flash of fire, shimmering in the dark. The team in South Africa know what Boodles are looking for: high colour, high purity ‘roughs’. A deal is done, and the stone is on its way to Boodles.

The term ‘polishing’ does Clive’s work an injustice; few realise it can take months to polish some Boodles diamonds. It’s not unheard of for him to spend a full day polishing an important diamond’s ‘table’ (the top facet of the diamond) alone. After a quick trip to New York and back for GIA certification, the finished diamond is in London once more, to be placed in its setting. Then finally, it’s over to you. Which is of course where the next chapter – and your own story – begins.

Which is of course where the next chapter – and your own story – begins

The feature race of the 2022 Boodles May Festival saw the Aidan O’Brien / Ryan Moore connection strike again, continuing their hot streak throughout this festival.

It was Cleveland who scored the victory with Ryan Moore guiding him home in the two miles, two and a half furlongs contest, staying on well to win by a neck.

His form going into this contest had been a bit inconsistent, being unable to place in three of his four prior starts. The only outlier being a comfortable win in a Curragh maiden in November 2020, so he wasn’t exactly a standout in the betting. Market support was split between the two joint favourites, Falcon Eight and Coltrane.

Dermot Weld’s Falcon Eight had won this contest in 2021 in convincing fashion and was understandably catching the eye of many. The gelding had recently been trying his hand over the jumps, winning a maiden at Thurles before a solid showing when third in a Grade 2 at Fairyhouse. He looked primed to successfully defend his crown. Andrew

Balding’s Coltrane

had struggled to live up to some of his first season promise in the lead up to this contest, his best results in the run-in being a pair of seconds on the AW at Kempton but he still saw lots of support with many tipping him to rediscover his old form.

Cleveland was slowly away, getting held up in the rear of the field as the likes of Coltrane and the Hugo Palmer trained Rajinsky took a keen hold of the race. Solent Gateway took the lead, pulling hard and setting a pace he was unable to keep up. Jockey Ben Curtis saying post-race that the gelding ran too free. This allowed Coltrane to take control of the contest around five