MUST DO | A Visit to Cape Town Diamond Museum + YOUR complimentary Guided Tour!

I had a lovely time visiting the small and interesting Cape Town Diamond Museum.

Hidden on the second floor of the V&A Waterfront building (Clock Tower) that is just to your right when facing the Robben Island Museum, is a small museum highlighting the journey of diamonds from their formation through to when they show up at the showroom for you and I to take home with us!

The museum is owned by Shimansky Jewellers, a South African diamond and mining company that was founded by Yair Shimansky- who began selling jewellery in Durban and eventually found his way to Cape Town. Shimansky specializes in white diamonds and has a nice selection of coloured diamonds and tanzanite. The diamonds are mined, cut, polished and sold exclusively by Shimansky- they guarantee the quality and integrity of the diamond from start to finish!

The museum opens at 9:00am with a tour that lasts about 45 minutes – perfect timing to visit just before going to Robben Island, and closes at 9:00pm, perfect for a visit right after dinner!

Upon entrance you are greeted by your guide, with a glass of juice and some candies.

The museum is beautifully lit and immaculately clean.

The guide begins by giving you a general history of diamond formation and then goes into South Africa’s diamond history. After, you are guided to a replica of a diamond mine and around to some artifacts, including authentic mining material and finds from South Africa’s nascent mining days.

You’ll stop for a short video going into the 4cs as well as adding the ‘confidence’ factor to diamond grading. You will then be shown a lovely display of the various popular diamond cuts, as well as see Shimansky’s own cut: the “My Girl” cut, which is actually more brilliant than the favorite brilliant cut!

At the end of the tour, you are guided into their beautiful showroom, which you are unfortunately not allowed to take photos in, but I managed to include some of Shimansky’s photos to give you a glimpse!

I was very excited to snap some photos for you…until I realized my camera was missing its memory card! So I’ll include the museum’s photos directly below and under that the photos I snapped via my ‘amazing’ camera phone ;-).

Samples of commonly found minerals with diamonds

The 4 Cs Video Playing

The glittering Shimansky Showroom

–

From the Droid Vault

Entrance Timeline

The young boy (at the time) who found the Erasmus diamond by chance, and gave it to his neighbor!

Recreations of various diamond cuts

Famous diamond slice that resembles the portrait of a woman

Guide showing me some loose diamonds

Team polishing stones

For complimentary admission, print this voucher or screenshot it on your smartphone!
Use this link and tell them you got the voucher through AurumEve Magazine!

If the pdf does not load, simply go to www.CapeTownDiamondMuseum.org and download from the top right of the page!

 

Images courtesy of AurumEve and Shimansky Diamonds.