Did Beyonce wear a Tiffany ‘colonial’ diamond? – Here’s what we know

Beyonce caught a stray in the backlash over Tiffany & Co's yellow 'colonial' diamond.

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Beyonce Tiffany diamond

Luxury jewellers Tiffany & Co. faced a heap of backlash over a recent campaign that featured Beyonce Knowles-wearing a precious stone some may argue is a ‘colonial’ diamond.

Beyonce becomes first black woman to wear Tiffany Diamond

According to the US jewellers, only three women, before Mrs Knowles-Carter, have worn one of the world’s finest yellow diamonds that was first discovered in 1877, in South Africa’s Kimberley diamond mines.

The 287.42-carat rough stone was sold to founder Charles Lewis Tiffany for $18 000 a year later. The first woman to wear the Tiffany Diamond was Mrs. E. Sheldon Whitehouse in 1957. Four years later, the stone was reset in a Ribbon Rosette necklace designed by Jean Schlumberger and worn by British actress Audrey Hepburn.

Pop star Lady Gaga became the third woman in history to wear the stone at the 2019 Academy Awards.

Not only has Beyonce been added to this prestigious list but the 39-year-old becomes the first black woman to don the Tiffany Diamond.

Tiffany & Co. gets backlash over ‘blood’ diamond

While fans of the megastar melted over the regal energy she projected from the Tiffany campaign photos that hit social media, South Africans were far from celebratory.

The Tiffany Diamond has been a subject of controversy in Africa for the longest time. The Kimberley diamond rush of the 1800s was frothed with colonial disparities. Black miners, as depicted in J.D Omer-Cooper’s History of Southern Africa, were grossly underpaid and worked in horrendous conditions for jewellers like Charles Lewis Tiffany.

This is the hereditary trauma that was felt by South Africans who came across the diamond that was flaunted on their favourite songstress’ chest.

Here are some of the reactions we picked out online: