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The
Heart of Eternity Diamond |
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| The
Heart of Eternity, top, with the Excelsior Diamond bracelet,
below. |
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| It was expected
that some 12-million people would visit the De Beers Millennium
Jewels Exhibition at the Millennium Dome in London. There
they were on view in a specially designed exhibit for
the entire year of 2000. It is worth it to pause a moment
and reflect on the rarity of blue diamonds. Pre-20th century
accounts of great blue diamonds reinforce the trade's
historical links with India, the only known early source
of diamonds. These accounts tell of diamonds such as Tavernier
Blue (now known as the Hope Diamond; 45.52 carats) and
the 30.82-carat Blue Heart, which today are valued for
their history and mystique as much as for their rare color.
These diamonds are famous because of their incredible
rarity - only red diamonds are rarer - and the De Beers
collection of blues is something that will never be seen
again. |
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| In modern times,
De Beers Premier mine in South Africa has become the only
important source of blue diamonds, yet they make up much
less than 0.1 percent of all diamonds recovered at this
mine. Of all De Beers South African rough production,
however, there is on average only one significant blue
diamond mined per year. The best blue diamonds have a
beauty that is not comparable to that of any other gem.
These are greatly admired and eagerly sought after by
collectors and connoisseurs. Of the ten highest per-carat
prices paid for colored diamonds at auction, six have
been blue diamonds. Some of these unique stones were sold
for $550,000-$580,000 per carat. One 20 carat blue stone
fetched well in excess of $10 million. "Fancy blue
diamonds contain impurities of boron, which result in
their blue color. Usually the blue of a diamond is strongly
modified by gray or black. Few stones have intense, saturate
color," explains Livnat, stressing that "the
blue color is often not evenly spread throughout the stone
and that, occasionally, parts of a blue stone may be totally
white. To get a beautiful pure blue stone is truly a professional
challenge." |
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| Natural blue
diamonds are much weaker in saturation than the blue objects
they are compared to. Blue colors are not overly abundant
in nature, although they do occur in certain flowers,
fruits, birds, and gemstones. Actual diamond blues, however,
are more likely to mimic the blue colors of indigo, ink
and steel. Whatever term is used to describe blue diamonds,
it is their combination of color, brilliance and rarity
that makes them so special. The rough diamond was found
by an alluvial digger in the early nineties. It originated
in what was then known as Zaire, now the Democratic Republic
of the Congo, and was purchased there many years ago by
a De Beers buyer on the open market. The stone has been
held in deliberate anticipation of this moment, though
its polishing took more than three years. Its beauty has
now been released by the extraordinary skill of the expert
craftsmen, and international team (South African, Israeli,
Belgian & American). The cutters received the ultimate
compliment when former De Beers Chairman, the late Harry
Oppenheimer, undoubtedly the doyen of the diamond industry
and who has probably handled more important diamonds in
his 70-year career than any other person in the world,
described the Millennium Star as "the most beautiful
diamond I have ever seen." |
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| Originally,
the rough stone was 777 carats, a magic number. Found
in the Buyimai district, the discovery set off a gold-rush
type of influx of diggers hoping to find a similar stone.
But, as it was the only stone of this type found in the
present millennium, statistically the odds are against
finding another one within the next few hundred years
or so. After studying and planning the cutting of the
stone for about 4 to 5 months, it was decided to cut the
rough in three pieces. The Millennium Star is the outcome
of the largest piece. The cutters were very tightlipped
about what happened to the other two pieces. In order
to cut and polish the stone a special "operating
theater" was built, not dissimilar to the conditions
in a sterile hospital room. "No dust is allowed to
touch the stone so the scaifes must be adjusted accordingly.
It is vital to monitor the temperature of the stone during
the cutting and polishing process. Actually, the temperature
must be strictly controlled in order to avoid cracks or
other damage, explains Nir Livnat, managing director of
Johannesburg-based Ascot Diamonds, a member of the Steinmetz
Group of Diamond Companies. Special tangs had to be designed
to hold the stone, he added. |
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| The craftsmen
weren't about to reveal their company's professional secrets
and refrained from giving more details on the manufacturing
process itself, except to note that "the infrastructure
and skills required to polish such large stones is extremely
complex and dramatically different from the usual polishing
factory." It was learned, however, that some 100
plastic models of the original rough were made, and these
were almost all used to plan and design the optimum polished
stone, both in terms of beauty and weight. The stone's
classic pear shape totals 54 facets. Often large stones
contain more facets in order to optimize the use of rough;
having fewer facets invariably necessitates losing weight,
but this loss is offset by far greater brilliance. |
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The Millennium
Blue Diamonds, with the Heart of Eternity at the center.
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| Nicky Oppenheimer
was careful not to put a value on the Millennium Star,
saying that any figure he would give would be purely academic.
The London Evening Star was not as conservative as Mr.
Oppenheimer and insured the Star for 100 million English
pounds. This is believed to be a fraction of its true
worth. Beny Steinmetz, Co-Chairman of the Steinmetz Diamond
Group, echoed the cautious approach of Oppenheimer, but
pointed out that the previous record price paid for any
polished diamond was $16.5 million for a 100.10 carat
D-Flawless stone, the Star of the Season, that was auctioned
by Sotheby's in May, 1995, thus selling for about $165,000
per carat. According to market sources, that stone was
also manufactured and sold by the Steinmetz group. To
the two senior principals of the Steinmetz Group, brothers
Beny and Danny Steinmetz, it is rather symbolic that they
were chosen to cut the De Beers Limited Edition Millennium
Diamond. It is exactly 50 years ago, almost to the day,
that the Steinmetz Diamond Company was established by
the late Ruben Steinmetz, father of the present principals.
"Ruben Steinmetz was known for manufacturing high
quality goods," recalls his son, and, without saying
so, one could sense that the sons are truly moved by their
ability to continue family tradition. Nobody will ever
"accuse" the hard and successful businessmen,
what the Steinmetzes are, of being sentimental. But in
the presence of the Millennium stones times stands still
and one must reflect on one's past, one's roots and on
the future. |
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Chairman
Nicky Oppenheimer, who tends to be emotional about diamonds,
summed it up by recalling that these incredible diamonds
have been collected at the end of this millennium and
presented to the world to celebrate the beginning of
the next. Nature gives us so few blue diamonds that
most people will not see one in their lifetime. "As
we come together to celebrate the new Millennium, De
Beers is giving the world a chance to see this unique
collection - truly a once in a Millennium experience",
reflects Oppenheimer. "To be able, therefore, to
unveil a truly spectacular new diamond on the threshold
of the new millennium is surely a uniquely opposite
combination of two very rare events. To be able to unveil
not only one diamond, but a collection of such rarity
that most of us will not see its like again is, I think,
the only adequate way to mark the passage of 2000 years
of man's history," concludes Oppenheimer. |
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The
Heart of Eternity paid a visit to the Smithsonian Museum
in the summer of 2003, being part of an exhibit titled
The Splendour of Diamonds (above photo). The exhibit
lasted from June 27th to September 15th and featured
a number of other unusual colored diamonds, namely the
Allnatt, the Millennium Star, the Pumpkin Diamond, the
Moussaieff Red (formerly known as the Red Shield), the
Ocean Dream, and the Steinmetz Pink. An interesting
note, every source I've seen mention the stone up till
the Splendour of Diamonds exhibition describes the Heart
of Eternity as Fancy Intense Blue, but the Smithsonian
website says GIA has graded it as Fancy Vivid Blue,
one color grade higher. The gem is on loan to the exhibit
by a private collector, in other words, it was sold
sometime after the Millennium Dome Exhibition. Sources:
Chaim Even-Zohar, Famous Diamonds by Ian Balfour, the
Smithsonian Institute and various articles on and off
the internet. |
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