Unbelievably Rare ‘Diamond Within a Diamond’ Specimen Dubbed ‘Beating Heart’ Found in India

Courtesy of Danny Bowler/De Beers Group; Inset: Courtesy of Ivan Nikiforov/De Beers Group

A very rare natural diamond has been unearthed in India and given the name Beating Heart for its breathtaking “diamond within a diamond” formation.

After being recovered in the rough and named by diamond manufacturer VD Global in Surat, India, the gemstone was analyzed by De Beers Institute of Diamonds at its facilities in Maidenhead, England, in November 2022. Experts classified the 0.329-carat gem as being a type IaAB diamond of D-color, with an internal cavity encasing a smaller diamond, ostensibly trapped, but free to move within the cavity.

An optical image showing the small diamond crystal nestled in the cavity of the 0.329-carat rough diamond. Courtesy of Danny Bowler/De Beers Group

Using their own patented instruments, De Beers performed an analysis to confirm the diamond’s authenticity, followed by further tests using optical and scanning electron microscopy, fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, and fluorescence and phosphorescence imaging.

They believe the cavity was formed when an “intermediate layer of poor-quality fibrous diamond” was etched away, leaving a nugget of original “core,” good-quality diamond growth in the center. Since a subsequent layer of diamond growth was also “likely poor and fibrous,” and likewise etched away at some point between the gem’s formation and its journey to the surface of the Earth, only the core and the outer gem-quality casing survived.

Etch features are visible on both the smaller diamond and the inner cavity of the host, as shown in this electron microscope scan. Courtesy of Ivan Nikiforov/De Beers Group

An image acquired from the De Beers Group. Courtesy of De Beers Group

Incredible close-up photos of Beating Heart show the outer layers of the gem in jaw-dropping detail, a visual narrative of the diamond’s journey from formation to discovery. Through the small, jagged entrance of the diamond’s outer casing, the second diamond, the sparkling jewel in the treasure chest, can be seen.

Samantha Sibley, technical educator at De Beers Group Ignite, said in a press release that she had “certainly never seen anything like the ‘Beating Heart’ during my last 30 years in the diamond sector.”

(Courtesy of De Beers Group)

Added Jamie Clark, head of global operations at De Beers Institute of Diamonds, “The ‘Beating Heart’ is a remarkable example of what can happen on the natural diamond journey from formation to discovery. ... A find like this demonstrates why natural diamond formation and origin is such a fascinating area of study, and why it is important to strive for advancements in testing and analysis that can contribute to our knowledge of natural diamond growth.”

Beating Heart was deemed a “potentially significant anomaly” of diamond formation by De Beers, and will likely undergo further testing to investigate how it came to be. For now, the diamond has joined a small group of similar natural gemstones, including the “priceless” 800 million-year-old Matryoshka nesting diamonds unearthed in Siberia in 2019.

Beating Heart will be preserved for research and educational purposes. It will be neither cut nor polished.

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