Attesting to a growing demand of rare gems being bought for investment purposes, a world record was smashed when one was sold for 45.4 million francs ($46 million) at auction in Geneva this week. Laurence Graff won the bid for a 24.78-carat rare pink emerald cut diamond surpassing initial expectations of $27 million to $38 million dollars. “This is the highest price ever bid for a jewel at auction,” said David Bennett, the head of Sotheby’s European and the Middle Eastern jewelry departments. “Everybody was surprised it went that high,” Mart van Drunen, a jeweler from Amsterdam, commented after the sale.
The Gemological Institute of America (GIA) has classified the diamond as “Fancy Intense Pink”. Sold by a private collector, this marks the first time the gem was put on the market in 60 years. “What makes it so immensely rare is the combination of its exceptional color and purity with the classic emerald-cut,” said chairman David Bennett. “It’s a style of cutting normally associated with white diamonds and one that is so highly sought-after when found in rare colors such as pink and blue,” he added.
Graff immediately renamed the gem the “The Graff Pink”. “It is the most fabulous diamond I’ve seen in the history of my career and I’m delighted to have bought it,” he said in a statement issued by Sotheby’s. The jewelry auction raised a record 103 million francs.
Congratulations to Prince William on his engagement to Kate Middleton! Honoring his late mother, The Prince recently announced the engagement ring he gave his new fiancé Kate Middleton was the same one Prince Charles once gave to Princess Diana. “I’d been carrying it around with me on my right side for about three weeks…” Prince William said in an interview with CNN. “I literally would not let it go. Everywhere I went I was keeping hold of it because I knew if this thing disappeared, I’d be in a lot of trouble. You hear a lot of horror stories about proposing and things go horribly wrong, but it went really, really well.”
The exquisite 18 carat diamond and blue sapphire engagement ring features an oval cut center surrounded by 14 brilliant cut white diamonds in a cluster setting. The sapphire alone is worth approximately $300,000 and the ring total is worth $500,000 retail. Sapphires are rarer than diamonds, but less expensive because the demand is lower. With blue sapphires all the rage once again, here’s a selection of our favorite diamond rings featuring an oval cut center that would make for a unique engagement ring:
In this behind the scenes video tour, fine jewelry designer Simon G describes how their heirloom quality pieces are created and the lengthy process in which they go through before reaching the hands of a customer. Starting off with just a rough sketch whether it is a ring, earring, bracelet or pendant, the idea is then followed by dozens of other sketches until a final design is approved. Bringing the sketch into a 3D format, a Computer Aided Design (CAD) model is used to examine every aspect of the design. During this phase is where countless hours are spent reviewing every detail ranging from the stones to the settings until a final consensus is reached.
As the piece transitions from an idea to reality, Simon G maintains 10 quality control stations, one after each phase of manufacturing. In order to achieve their signature look, they alloy their own metals, working in platinum and palladium or platinum and iridium for enhanced durability. When working with white gold, a piece is alloyed with palladium to enhance the longevity of the color and minimize the allergy to white gold. They find these methods are also ideal for intricate bead-work, filigree and engraving.
Once the ring is cast, and the diamonds are chosen, one of the most difficult parts of the job involves uniting the two together. All diamonds no matter how big or small are hand set under a microscope by a master jeweler. This ensures quality, security as well as that even the smallest of micro-pave diamonds brilliantly reflect the most amount of light. Simon G maintains a host of specialists within their specialists. Some diamond setters work on channel-settings only, others on pave-settings and others focus on the prongs.
After the piece is complete, it makes its way through quality control and polished by hand once again. It is then laser engraved with a unique serial number and a Simon G. signature. “I’m extremely picky” says Simon G. Before the pieces are finally shipped out, they are examined under a 15X microscope at an additional 2 quality control stations. While the process may seem lengthy and tedious, this all ensures the highest quality hand-crafted piece is delivered with its own unique look and feel.
The Wittlesbach-Graff Diamond was finally unveiled at the American Museum of Natural History. In a category known as Type IIb, this type of diamond is believed to make up less than half of one percent of all diamonds found in nature, putting the Wittlesbach-Graff alongside very rare company such as the 70.21-carat Idol’s Eye and the 45.52-carat Hope Diamond. These types of stones get their distinctive blue hue from the absence of nitrogen and presence of boron. They are also semiconductors, which is another unusual trait.
Bracelets