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DEEPDENE
DIAMOND |
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| On May 27th,
1971, Christie's auction house in Geneva offered to prospective
buyers a cushion-cut, 104.52 carat fancy golden-yellow
diamond which would later come to be known as the Deepdene.
Its clarity was stated as VVS1
(with two very small imperfections near the girdle or
midsection of the stone) and its vivid-yellow colour
guaranteed to be natural by both the German gemmological
institute and the University of Mainz. |
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| However,
Dr. Edward Gubelin, also of Geneva, had the opportunity
to inspect the diamond before the auction took place.
Gubelin had a keen eye and experience with examining gems;
he recognized an artificially coloured diamond when he
saw one. The Deepdene had been irradiated, likely by neutron
bombardment. Gubelin warned Christie's and any buyers
who would listen, but the sale was allowed to continue
with the recommendation that it be examined by another
lab. |
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| After
being sold to jewellers Van Cleef & Arpels for a reported
190,000 pounds, the Deepdene was sent to the Gem Testing
Laboratory in London, England. The lab's director, gemmological
pioneer Basil Anderson, was given the task of substantiating
Gubelin's claims. That he did, using spectral analysis
with damning results. |
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| Van Cleef
& Arpels promptly returned the unfortunate stone
for a refund, leaving it somewhat of an unwanted
orphan. Its current whereabouts remain uncertain. |
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| The Deepdene
gets its name from the Pennsylvania estate of Mrs. Bok,
wife of Cary W. Bok, both the diamond's original owners.
At the time, the Deepdene weighed slightly more (104.88
carats) and was mounted in a diamond clip. Harry Winston
bought the diamond from the Boks in 1954 and it eventually
found its way to a London firm in 1960 and later to its
German owner. Assuming Winston did not have the irradiation
treatment done, it could have taken place any time between
1955 (when Winston sold it) to 1971, the year it was offered
at auction. In any event, the Deepdene is widely considered
to be the largest irradiated diamond in the world |
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