Important Diamonds – Yellow 4

Yellow Diamonds

Yellow Diamonds, also known as Canary Diamonds are considerably more prevalent from other coloured diamonds. Within the range of rare coloured diamonds, the yellow diamond has gained tremendous popularity because of its beautiful shine and its relatively affordable prices. A diamond’s yellow colour is the result of nitrogen molecules absorbing blue light, making the diamond appear yellow (yellow is the complement of the colour blue). While in rough form, a natural yellow crystal is usually cut into a large and a small stone. Larger stones feature a much more intense yellow than smaller cuts.

Yellow diamond gradient levels

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Moon of Baroda

Moon of Baroda

The early history of this pear shaped, light yellow diamond weighing 24 carats, is obscure. The gem is said to have been owned by an Indian Prince who, at the conclusion of the Second World War, found himself in financial difficulties following the confiscation of much of his property by the Japanese and then the Indian governments.

In 1944 Samuel H. Deutson, President of a firm of jewellery manufacturers in Cleveland Ohio, aquired the Moon of Baroda; six years later Meyer Rosenbaum, President of Meyer Jewellery Company in Detroit, Michigan, bought it and it was during

Marilyn Monroe wearing the Moon of Baroda

his ownership that the stone became well known on account of its association with Marilyn Monroe.

In 1952 20th Century Fox made the film ‘Gentlemen Prefer Blondes’, starring Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell, during which Marilyn Monroe put across in her own inimitable style the song ‘Diamonds are a Girls Best Friend’.  She did not wear the diamond in the film but wore it to promote the film. This was enough to ensure adequate publicity for the film and the diamond.

In April 1990, Christie’s auctioned the diamond with a pre sale estimate of $120.000, it fetched $297.000.

 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Mahjal/Algeiba Star Diamond

The Mahjal Diamond

In November 1983 Christie’s auctioned a fine yellow diamond of Soutj African origin with a cushion shape of 139.38 carats. Then called the Mahjal diamond it sold for 1, 320,000 Swiss Francs (approximately £412,500). It is said to have been worn in a turban piece by Jagatjit Singh Bahadur, Maharajah of Kapurthala,a small pribcly state of the Punjab.

The Maharajah of Kapurthala (1872-1949) was a colourful figure. He was entitled to a personal salute of 15 guns. He also owned a vast array of clocks for which he employed a servant just to wind them up!

In 1984 the Mahjal Diamond was recut to 133.03 carats and renamed the Algeiba Star.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Rojtman Diamond

The Rojtman Diamond

The early history of the diamond such as the country of origin, mine of origin, date of discovery, original owners of the diamond, the person or company involved in the cutting etc. are all unknown. But some experts believe that the diamonds origin is from the alluvial deposits of the South African diamond fields.

The first time the diamond made its public appearance was in 1957, when Harry Winston acquired the diamond, which was a yellow cushion-cut weighing 107.60 carats. Harry Winston got the diamond re-cut slightly to its present weight of 107.46 carats, and mounted it in an elaborate clip- pendant combination.

In 1963 he sold the diamond to Marc B. Rojtman and his wife Lilian of the United States, who were keen collectors of jewels. On April 25th 2006, the Rojtman diamond featured at a Sotheby’s Magnificent Jewels Auction, held at Manhattan, New York. The sale of the 107.46-carat, elegant, cushion-shaped

The Rojtman in the Graff Ring Setting

diamond, was expected to be the highlight of the auction. The spectacular diamond had an estimate of $ 1.5 – 2.0 million (£1,121,550 – £1,495,400) placed on it. It achieved, as expected, $1.92 million (£1,435,584) and was acquired by Graff Diamonds Ltd. of London.

The Rojtman diamond is now the proud possession of Laurence Graff, the King of Diamonds, who is said to have handled more important gem-quality diamonds than any other living dealer. Graff has set the Rojtman diamond in an exquisitely designed platinum ring, surrounded by smaller pink diamonds.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Vainer Briolette

The Vainer Briolette

The rough diamond weighing 202.85 carats was discovered in 1984, probably in South Africa which is renowned for its Cape series of yellow and brown diamonds. The rough diamond was a yellowish, octahedral shaped crystal, and purchased by M. Vainer Limited in 1984.

After a careful study of the stone, the master cutter of the company Michael Gould recommended that the stone be cut into a briolette, which appeared to be the most appropriated shape that would fit an octahedral shaped crystal. The owner of the company Milosh Vainer accepted the suggestion, and work began in transforming the diamond to a briolette shape. When the faceting was completed the stone weighed 116.60 carats, with a loss of weight of only 86.25 carats, which is equivalent to 42 %. In addition the rough stone also produced five other smaller diamonds, with a total weight of 14.93 carats.

It was purchased by the Sultan of Brunei.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Graff Golden Empress

299 carat Rough Golden Empress

It was several yeas ago that Graff discovered an opaque 299-carat rough diamond from the Letšeng Mine in Lesotho (the mine adheres to the Kimberly diamond process – a requirement of Graff for all stones it acquires). The family owned and operated company couldn’t resist the temptation to purchase it and try to turn it into a world- famous stone that could join its roster of legendary diamonds.

Before the rough jewel was cut, Graff’s Senior Gemologists spend many months meticulously studying the nuances of the stone, and the risks

Golden Empress

involved in cutting it. With the study complete, imagination, exceptional skill and intense precision came into play. It was determined that one large-sized diamond could emerge from the rough, with additional smaller stones also being cut.

Coloured diamonds are cut differently from white diamonds to ensure the cutter gets the fullest colour saturation. This means that Graff’s top cutters and polishers have to work a difficult balance of adding enough facets to let the light in, but not too many that the stone loses its fire and depth of hue. The cutting is a mathematical formula of angles and surfaces, while the painstaking polishing expertly lets the light

Golden Empress necklace setting

shine through those cuts.

Through this balancing act, the 132.55-carat Fancy Intense cushion cut diamond — known now as the Golden Empress — was born. The rough stone also yielded another eight smaller, satellite diamonds: six pear-shaped Fancy Yellow stones, with the largest at 21.34 carats, and two brilliant round stones.

Graff’s expert team of designers has since set the Golden Empress as the key pendant stone in a stunning yellow-diamond necklace.

 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Golden Star

The 101.28-carat Golden Star diamond and its 16.63-carat satellite sister diamond

The Golden Star rough diamond weighed 204.03 carats and was discovered in the famous Finsch Mine located in the Northern Cape in South Africa. The date of discovery and other details of the early history of the diamond are not known. The diamond was purchased by Graff diamonds.

The rough diamond was partially processed in Johannesburg, South Africa, where Graff has its largest diamond processing factory, but, the Johannesburg factory had been specially set up to process smaller diamonds. Graff’s workshops that specialize in cutting larger diamonds are situated in Antwerp and New York. The Golden Star diamond after partial processing in Johannesburg was sent to the Graff workshop in New York, where it was cut and polished by the skilled master cutter in charge of the workshop, the late Antonio Nino Bianco, who transformed the rough stone into a magnificent cushion-cut, fancy vivid yellow brilliant of 101.28 carats. The loss of weight entailed in the process was 103 carats, equivalent to 50.5 %. Such loss of weights are normal in maximizing for quality and brilliance. Quality is usually achieved only at the expense of quantity. However, the master cutters were also able to create a satellite sister stone, also a cushion-cut fancy vivid yellow, weighing 16.63 carats.

Laurence Graff set the Golden Star diamond as the centerpiece of a spectacular necklace weighing 176.82 carats. In March 2005, this necklace was exhibited at the TEFAF Maastricht, the world’s leading art and antiques fair as part of the Haute Joaillerie du Monde section. However, try as I might I cannot find a photograph of this necklace.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Star of Bombay

Star of Bombay

Acquired in 1974, the 47.39ct Star of Bombay was the first of a great many famous diamonds to pass through the House of Graff. Since the time of the Moghul Emperors, the Golconda mines in the Kingdom of Golconda (now part of the Indian state of Hyderabad) have produced some of the most historic and beautiful diamonds. Laurence Graff has owned many of these unique stones. He bought this diamond from a European dealer, who sold it for the benefit of a noble Indian family. ‘It was emerald cut and it had probably been set in a Maharajah’s regalia,’ according to Graff.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Windsor Yellows

Windsor Yellows

In 1948 Harry Winston sold the Windsor’s a pair of fancy yellow diamonds, which he intimated had formerly belonged to royalty fallen on hard times.  The well matched pear shaped stones weighed 40.81 and 52.13 carats and were mounted as lapel clips. The Duchess was often photographed wearing the yellow clips.

Duchess wearing the yellow clipswearing the Windsor yellow clips.

In correspondence between Winston and the Duchess about the diamonds, she asked him to supply her with earrings to match. He found two yellow diamonds of the same hue, brilliant cut of 5.17 and 5.18 carats. From each stone hung a pear shaped fancy yellow diamond of 8.13 and 8.01 carats. In 1868 these were remounted by Cartier, Paris as ear clips with the placing of the stones reversed. The new mounts were pavé-

Remounted Windsor yellows

set with yellow diamonds.

 

The Windsor Yellows were acquired by Laurence Graff in 1987 in Geneva during the auction of the jewels belonging to Wallis Simpson, Duchess of Windsor. Again these were remounted with white diamonds.