Blue Heart Diamond

 

Image credit: Chip Clark

Chronological Background

1908 – Found at the Premier Mine, South Africa

1909 – 1910 – French jeweler Atanik Eknayan of Paris faceted the 30.62 carat heart-shaped, brilliant cut, blue diamond out of a 100.5 carat piece of rough

1910 – Cartier purchased the Blue Heart and sold it set in a lily-of-the-valley brooch to Mrs. Unzue, an Argentinian woman

1953 – Van Cleef & Arpels bought the gemstone and set it in a pendant to a necklace valued at $300,000.  It was later sold to a European family

1959 – Harry Winston acquired it and mounted the Blue Heart in its present platinum ring setting surrounded by 26 round brilliant cut colorless diamonds with a total weight of 1.63 carats

Image credit: Chip Clark

1960 – Mrs. Marjorie Merriweather Post purchased the ring from Harry Winston

1964 – Mrs. Marjorie Merriweather Post donated the Blue Heart to the National Gem Collection, Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C.

2010 – The Smithsonian celebrated 100 years since the cutting of the Blue Heart

Today, the Blue Heart continues to reside at the Smithsonian.  Although the Blue Heart is about 2/3 the size of the Hope Diamond (45.52 carat), it remained a popular gemstone for its heart-shaped brilliant cut and vivid blue color.  GIA graded the Blue Heart as a natural fancy deep blue diamond with a clarity grade of VS2.

The Taylor-Burton

Image credit: famousdiamonds.tripod.com

In 1966, a rough stone weighing 240.80 carats was found in Premier Mine, South Africa. Harry Winston bought it and studied the massive rough with his cleaver, Pastor Colon Jr. for 6 months.

The rough yielded a stone of about 24 carats and a larger piece weighing 162 carats that was destined to produce a 69.42 carats pear shape.

Richard Burton bought this world’s 12^th largest diamond at that time from Cartier for USD1.1 million, making it the world’s most expensive diamond at the time. The newly named Taylor-Burton diamond originally worn as a ring was too mammoth and Liz had Cartier redesigned it into a necklace. After Burton’s death, Liz sold the stone for charity, donating in his memory to a hospital in Botswana.

Mr Robert Mouawad, the stone’s current owner, had it slightly recut to weigh 68.09 carats. While previously having a very round outline, it is now a little more straight at the end with an even smaller culet.

Image credit: antiquesandfineart.com

The Centenary Diamond

The Premier Mine has produced nearly 300 stones weighing more than 100 carats, and ¼ of the world’s diamonds weighing more than 400 carats. There was nothing better fitting that the discovery of the Centenary coinciding with De Beers’ 100 years of achievement!

Found in July 1986, the rough resembled a matchbox with angular planes, a prominent elongated horn jutting out at one corner and a deep concave on the largest flat surface. Weighing 599.10 carats in rough, its shape presented a challenge in cutting.

Gabi Tolkowsky, one of the most accomplished cutters in the world, was tasked to the job. “From the moment I knew I was going to cut it, I became another man. A strange man. I was looking at the stone in the day and the stone was looking at me at night.” It took him and his selected team almost 3 years for the transformation to take place.

Image credit: famousdiamonds.tripod.com

The completed Centenary weighed 273.85 carats, measuring 39.90 x 50.50 x 24.55 mm. It has 247 facets – 164 on the stone and 83 on its girdle. Never before had such a high number of facets were polished on a diamond. 2 flawless pear shapes weighing 1.47 and 1.14 carats were also cut from the rough.

 Image credit: Louis Velazquez

Among top-color diamonds, the Centenary is surpassed only by Cullinan II. The Centenary is famous as the largest top-color, flawless, modern fancy cut diamond in the world. It is unique being the only one to combine the oldest method of kerfing with the most sophisticated modern technology in cutting.

The Centenary was unveiled at the Tower of London in May 1991. Insured for around $100 million, whether it has been sold remains a mystery.