Famous Fancy Diamonds.docx

8/14/2019 Famous Fancy Diamonds.docx

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Famous Fancy Diamonds: a brief history

by Linda Crane, Winnipeg, Man.

Dresden Green The Hope Tiffany

Diamonds when they first come to mind are generally white or colourless. They arehighly valued for being as white or colourless as possible. However, even morevaluable, partially due to their rarity, are fancy diamonds . This refers to diamondsthat come in a range of colours such as red, dark blue , pink, green, amber andcanary yellow . Diamonds of a definite colour are extremely rare. Natural coloureddiamonds are basically a "freak of nature". Brown [champagne/cognac], pink and redfancies are actually deformed diamonds. Defects in their crystal lattice structurechange their colour. Blue and yellow diamonds have trace elements of boron andnitrogen in their makeup. While it is known which chemical processes cause colourchanges, researchers are still not sure why some diamonds change colour and otherdiamonds do not.

Famous diamonds are almost always substantial in weight. There are a certain numberof famous diamonds that are not only large but coloured as well.

Dresden Green

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A scientific explanation for the phenomenon of the green colour in green diamonds isthat the colour is usually caused by the crystal coming in contact with a radioactivesource at some moment during its geological formation. The most common form ofirradiation encountered by diamonds is by the alpha particles which are present inmagma or kimberlite in minute quantities. Prolonged exposure to these particlescreates a green spot on the surface of the diamond or a thin green coating which is

only skin deep, and can be removed by polishing the stone on a scaife. Further bombardment to the stone by beta and gamma rays as well as neutrons will discolourthe stone to a greater depth and in some particular cases can turn the whole of thestone's interior green. Green diamonds of this nature are very unique. The change incolour is due to the altering of the crystal's lattice structure. Before the bombardment

by radioactive particles the crystal's lattice was stable but the initial radioactive shockwas enough to upset the equilibrium and produce a green discolouration in the stone.
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Heating the stone may sometimes improve its colour but care must be taken to keepthe temperature below 600 Celsius because at this critical temperature the greencolour is liable to turn to a light yellow or brown. It is clear to see why a natural greenuntreated diamond would be very valuable indeed. Imagine if that green diamond was

pear cut and weighed 41 carats, you would then be talking about a famous fancydiamond -- The Dresden Green .

The Dresden Green derives its name from the capital of Saxony where it has been ondisplay for more than two hundred years. The diamond was believed to haveoriginated in the diamond mines in the district of Golconda in India. Marcus Moses animportant diamond merchant of the time brought the large green diamond to Londonin 1726. Before the sale to the first owner, almost five years later it is believed thatthe Dresden Green was cut and polished in London.

In the spring of 1741 the diamond was sold to Frederick Augustus II King of Polandat the Great Annual Easter Fair at Leipzig by a Jewish merchant named Dallas for thesum of 30,000 .

The jeweller for the royal court named Dinglinger was commissioned the next year tofashion a badge of the Golden Fleece to hold the Dresden Green . Just four yearsafter that the Golden Fleece was broken up by Genoan master goldsmith Pallard so hecould create another still using the Dresden Green of course.

In 1753 the British Museum in London received a model of the DresdenGreen diamond that was probably made when the stone was cut. The museum stillhas that model today. It is made of glass.

After the defeat of Saxony in 1768 in the Seven Years War, Pallard's fleece wasdismantled by a jeweller named Diessbach from Prague. The section holdingthe Dresden Green was kept intact and made part of the hat ornament where itcurrently resides.

The diamond was allowed to be photographed and examined in great detail with anoptical goniometer by Professor Roesch and Dr. Krumbhaar of Germany in 1925.During World War II the Dresden Green along with the rest of the collection of theGreen Vaults was moved to safety out of Dresden. The Green Vaults had been erectedon the direction of Augustus the Strong the original owner to house the collection. Atthe close of the Second World War, a Russian organization called the Soviet TrophiesCommission took the contents of the Green Vaults to Moscow. They were returned tothe city of Dresden in 1958 from the K nigstein Vaults.


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A major exhibition in 1959 at the Albertinum in Dresden publicly displayedthe Dresden Green for the first time since 1942. The Dresden Green and its hatornament are now on display in the Green Vaults. It was here in 1988 that the firstgemmological examination was conducted by two senior members of the GemologicalInstitute of America. The Dresden Green diamond was proved to be not only ofextraordinary quality but also a rare type IIa, one of the purest forms of diamond. It isa large pendeloque shape of stone. The diamond is exceptionally transparent despiteits considerable thickness. The clarity grade determined by G.I.A. was VS1. Becausethe famous green diamond can not be removed from the bezel-prong mountingwithout risk of damage to the historic metal work, it was with difficulty that a weightof 41 metric carats was arrived at.

Areas that were visible on the girdle ranged from extremely thin to very thin and wereslightly wavy. It was remarkable actually that the symmetry was in fact good and its

polish very good for a diamond cut prior to 1741. After the examination in 1988 itwas determined possible to recut the Dresden Green diamond to improve its clarity

perhaps even to flawless without a significant weight loss. However, while this wouldnever be done to such a historic diamond it is a measure of the superior quality of thisstone.

Diamonds with green skins or scattered green patches (radiation stains) are common.Faceted diamonds with a natural green body colour like the Dresden are extremelyrare. The Dresden diamond is the most famous fancy green diamond.

The Hope

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A major famous or perhaps infamous fancy blue coloureddiamond in public view today is the Hope Diamond . It isrenown for its striking violet blue colour and its fascinatinghistory of bringing bad luck to its private owners.

A French diamond merchant named Jean Tavernier whotravelled the Orient for jewels for Louis XIV showed the diamond to the King in 1668

after returning from his sixth trip to India. It was first cut Indian style and weighed112.50 carats. Five years after the king bought it, he had the royal goldsmith cut it intothe shape of a heart. The diamond was called the Royal French Blue . In 1774 LouisXVI inherited it and Marie Antoinette wore it.

When the revolution broke out the heart cut blue diamond while under guard in theFrench Treasure House -- Garde Meuble was stolen. It was never seen again!
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The Royal French Blue was believed to be sold in Spain and there cut into threesmaller stones. The Goya portrait of Queen Marie Louisa painted in 1799 shows herwearing a deep blue diamond cut much like the one that was offered for sale inLondon in 1830 now 44.5 carats of rounded oval.

Henry Phillip Hope a wealthy banker bought the diamond for $90,000. It was afterthat the diamond took on its now still existing name " The Hope Diamond ." It stayedin the Hope family until the turn of the century and the legend of its sinister influence

began again.

It was recalled that Montespan the mistress of Louis XIV lost her place in court soonafter wearing it. Louis XIV died a miserable death of smallpox. Louis XVI whoinherited it, and Marie Antoinette who wore it were both executed. The Hopesthemselves added to the stories. The original Henry Hope died without marrying,leaving the stone to his nephew. The stone was then passed on to a grandson whochanged his surname to Hope to inherit it. Unfortunately bad luck plagued him, andhis wife ran off with another man.

The last of the Hopes went bankrupt and the stone was sold to a jeweller. It changedhands frequently in the next few years. A Folies star who wore it was killed by a

jealous lover. A Greek broker who bought it fell off a cliff with his wife and children.The Sultan of Turkey, Selim Habib, was forced to sell it when faced with a revolution.It was put up for auction in Paris in 1909 but no one bought it. Shortly after that, C. H.Rouseau purchased it only to resell it the same year to Cartier, the French jeweller.

It was at Cartier's that Mr. Edward B. McLean and his wife found it. He was the sonof millionaire publisher John R. McLean. Edward and his new bride each had$100,000 from their respective fathers as a wedding gift. Two hundred thousanddollars was exactly the price Cartier wanted for the Hope . Mrs. McLean was not ableto take it at that time, as her husband did not want to put his half of the money. Oneyear later Cartier arrived in Washington with it reset in a necklace, Mrs. McLeanraised $154,000 to buy it from him.

She loved it, there was no doubt of that. Their son was killed in an automobileaccident, their daughter died of an overdose of sleeping pills and Mr. McLeansuffered a nervous breakdown and died in a mental hospital. But while gossip saidthe Hope was their undoing, Mrs. McLean placed no stock in legends about herdiamond. She wore it constantly and stuffed it into a cushion when she didn't. Mrs.McLean hired a detective as a body guard to stand by on all occasions so she wouldnot be robbed. At one point she pawned it to help the Lindbergh Baby, but the manshe aided was the imposter Gastor Means. Mrs. McLean died in 1947, a legend in her


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own time. The Hope Diamond was bought by Harry Winston along with other jewelsin her estate for more than $1,000,000. He first displayed it in his Fifth Avenue salon.After putting it on display at various charity shows, he mailed it to the SmithsonianInstitution. The stamps cost him $145.00, $2.44 postage and the rest for insurance of$1,000,000. The Hope Diamond hangs in the case there today and is one of the most

popular displays at the Smithsonian. It is probably seen by more people each year thanany other diamond.

Although, the Hope has been in the United States for most of the 20th century sinceits purchase in 1911 by Evalyn Walsh McLean it had never been formally graded. InDecember 1988 the opportunity presented itself when GIA learned that the Hope was

being removed from its mounting for a number of reasons including photography andthe making of a model. Several representatives of the New York office of the GIAtravelled to Washington to prepare a complete grading report on the Hope . After thestone was unmounted and weighed, it was 45.52 carats rather than the previously

published weight of 44.50 carats.

It is classified IIB diamond, which are semiconductive and usually phosphoresce . TheHope Diamond phosphoresces a strong red colour, which will last for several secondsafter exposure to short wave ultra-violet light. The diamonds blue colouration isattributed to trace amounts of boron in the stone. When examined by the GIA theyobserved that the gem showed evidence of wear. Its clarity is slightly affected by awhitish graining which is common to blue diamonds. They described the colour as afancy dark grayish blue.

The diamond has left the Smithsonian only three times since it was donated. In 1962 itwas exhibited for a month at the Louvre in Paris, France as part of an exhibit entitledTen Centuries of French Jewellery. In 1965 the Hope diamond travelled to SouthAfrica where it was exhibited at the Rand Easter Show in Johannesburg. In 1984 thediamond was lent to Harry Winston Inc., in New York, as part of the firm's 50thanniversary celebration. After that it has been residing in the same case at theSmithsonian Institute where it is enjoyed by many new people every day.

Tiffany

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A vivid yellow diamond is a rare occurrence. Absorption in yellow diamonds iscaused by nitrogen rather than one of the usual transition elements. The Tiffany is thelargest yellow diamond in existence. The 287.42 carat crystal was found in thehistoric DeBeers Mine, South Africa in 1887.
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Tiffany & Co., the famous Fifth Avenue jewellery firm after which the stone is named bought it the following year. Tiffany had the yellow diamond cut in Paris under thesupervision of Dr. George Frederick Kunz, the company's distinguished gemologist. Ithas ninety facets: forty on the crown and forty-eight on the pavilion, plus a table and aculet.

Strangely enough eighty years were to pass after its discovery before the beautifulcanary yellow diamond was in a piece of jewellery.

More than twenty-five million people are estimated to have seen the great gem in fourlarge expositions: the Chicago Columbian Exposition in 1893, the Pan AmericanExposition in 1901. The Chicago Century of Progress exposition in 1933-34 and the

New York World's Fair in 1939-40. In the latter, it was the highlight of the fourteenmillion dollar collection in the "House of Jewels." The diamond has been on almostcontinuous display through the years at Tiffany's.

The Tiffany diamond was mounted in a necklace and worn for the first time as a personal ornament at the Tiffany Ball in Newport in 1957. The honour of this firstwearing went to the Ball's chairwoman, Mrs. Sheldon Whitehouse.

It was mounted for the occasion in a necklace of white diamonds. In 1971the Tiffany returned to South Africa for the exhibition which marked the centennialcelebration of the Kimberley Mine. After an absence of forty years from London,Tiffany's re-opened their branch in Old Bond Street in 1986 and displayed thediamond to herald their return.

The sole hiatus in the otherwise uneventful history of the Tiffany has centred onreported attempts to sell the diamond which was valued at $12,000,000 at the end of1983. In 1951 the new chairman of Tiffany's recommended that the gem should besold. This decision horrified some members of the old Board. A buyer agreed to pay$500,000 for the stone but the deal fell through because the chairman wanted a chequein full whereas the prospective buyer wished for other financial arrangements to bemade.

Then in 1973 the New York Times carried an advertisement by Tiffany's, offering tosell the diamond for $5,000,000. However, in the circumstances it would be as well torecall the story of the eager new salesman who, when he asked what would he get ifhe sold the famous gem, was promptly told by the head of the firm "Fired".The Tiffany to this day is still displayed for all to see at Tiffany's Fifth Avenue, NewYork.

Diamonds also come in red, lilac, pink, black and brown:


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The Halphen Red diamond is one of particular interest among diamonds of unusualcolour, those of a red hue are extremely rare. Edwin Streeter, a diamond dealer in the19th century in Paris bought one that was just a carat, which subsequently he sold for800 . It was known as the Halphen Red . It was an extraordinary deep ruby redcolour. There are other red diamonds that are as large as 5 metric carats, but the colourof the Halphen Red is unmatched.

The Hortensia [Hydrangea] diamond a 20 carat five-sided stone of fine pink colourwas originally purchased by Tavernier in India and sold to Louis XIV in 1669. Afterthe French Revolution, it was one of the stones reserved from the sale of the FrenchCrown Jewels in 1883.

Tiros Lilac -- Found in Tiros district, Minas Gervais, Brazil, 1938. Lilac coloured andweighing 12.25 carats. Location today not known.

Earth Star -- A 111.59 carat coffee brown pear shape was cut from a 248.90 caratrough, found in Jagersfontein Mine, South Africa, in 1967. It is thought to be thelargest brown diamond in the world.

Fine fancy stones are always rare, but in this market, rareness is relative. For example, brown stones are the most common colour, and for that reason they are also the leastexpensive. Fine yellows, on the other hand, are rarer than browns, although comparedto some of the other stones, they are downright plentiful. Pinks and blues are probablythe rarest of all the regularly traded fancy coloured diamonds. The supply of pinkstones picked up when Australia's Argyle mine came on stream in 1986. Most of theseare smaller stones, larger fine pinks are still in short supply. Fine blues are just as rare.

There are also red and green diamonds, but these are so impossible to find dealersdont really consider them a stable category.

Coloured diamonds are increasingly being sought after in the market today not onlyfor their beauty but for their investment value. Overseas customers in particular wouldmuch rather have a coloured diamond of great distinction rather than property, stocksor bonds.

It is safe to say that coloured diamonds are not just a trend in the jewellery trade butthat they are here to stay.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Balfour, Ian. [1992] Famous diamonds, 2nd ed. Santa Monica, California :Gemological Institute of America. 245 p.


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Bates, Rob. [1995] "Jewelers take a fancy to colored diamonds." National Jeweler ,Vol. 39, no. 4, pp. 30-31.

Bruton, Eric. [1978] Diamonds, 2nd ed. Radnor, Pennsylvania : Chilton Book Co.532 p.

Copeland, Lawrence L. and Jeanne G. M. Martin. [1974] Diamonds... famous,notable and unique, 1st ed. Santa Monica, California : Gemological Institute ofAmerica. 204 p.

Crowningshield, Robert. [1989] "Grading the Hope diamond." Gems and Gemology ,Vol. 25, no. 2, pp. 91- 94.

Dickinson, Joan Younger. [1965] The book of diamonds: their history andromance from ancient India to modern times, New York, New York : CrownPublishers, Inc. 226 p.

Encyclopedia Smithsonian, [1996] Available at Hope diamond

Jackson, James O. [1996] "Are diamonds still forever?" Time , Vol. 147, no. 10. pp.58-62.

Kane, Robert E., Shane F. McClure and Joachim Menzhausen. [1990] "The legendaryDresden Green diamond." Gems and Gemology , Vol. 26, no. 4, pp. 248-266.
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