Tuesday, November 30, 2010

The Diamond Man

Laurence Graff has done it again and bought this 24.78 carat "fancy intense pink" diamond which he named "The Graff Pink". It wasn't so long ago that he bought the the blue Wittelsbach diamond for $24.3 million. He renamed it the Wittelsbach-Graff and had it re-cut to bring out the fire inside. The Graf Pink has a slight flaw which is unnoticeable to the naked eye by after re-polishing could be graded as internally flawless.
According to Graff, this diamond is the most fabulous diamond he's seen in the history of his career and he has seen a lot of diamonds. It was almost routine for him to travel to see the Sultan of Brunei carrying a suitcase full of his diamond creations.
This is a classic emerald-cut stone of exceptional colour and purity. It is classified at type 11a which comprises less than 2 per cent of all the world's gem diamonds and is even more valuable than a white diamond of this type because of the scarcity of pink diamonds.
The "Graff Pink", which is roughly the size of a pinball, was last on the market about 60 years ago and was only expected to sell between $27 and $38 million.


But if that is a bit ostentatious for you why not pop over to New York for the Bonhams' fine jewelry sale on December 16 and put in a bid for this little number. A 10.17 carat oval shaped diamond of E colour and VVS1 clarity with two half moon diamond shoulders. It's price is estimated at $550,000-$650,000. Small change if you're Graff.

Also on the block is a rare Oscar Heyman & Brothers diamond, sapphire and enamel "Harlequin" brooch. This is only one of eight Harlequins that Oscar Heyman has created over the last 12 years. The masked figure is playing a lute and the body is pave-set diamonds, accented with marquise shaped sapphires. The mask, hat, and shoes are made of black enamel and the white enamel face is accented by hand-painted red lips. It comes with a signed box, a marker's mark and is estimated to sell for $15,000 to $20,000. It'll be snowing in New York, perhaps I'll just phone by bid in.




3 comments:

River said...

$650,000 you say? That's almost enough for me to buy the house I've got my eye on.
Hmmm, which to buy, which to buy...

Jayne said...

I'll have three!
Perhaps I should do a Di Fisher and check if they come in different colours first?
No?

JahTeh said...

River, I know your pain. Unfortunately this was only a down payment on the beach front house I wanted but it did have a lift from the basement to the top floor.

Jayne, not my shade. I still have the memory of an Argyle Pink diamond being dropped into my hand and it topped this by a mile.