Graff's - Home of the Finest Diamonds

House of Graff, the producer of the most fabulous diamond jewelry in the world, has been fittingly known for their celebrated stones with outstanding properties - brilliant, rare, and exceptionally crafted. Graff's notable clients comprise of the usual rich and famous - world's royalty, heads of state, and Hollywood stars. It has received numerous accolades, including the Queen's Award, one of the most prestigious awards given to an enterprise.

As most of us know, a diamond's structure, hardness, brilliance and brightness are unrivaled by any other stone known to man because it was formed millions of years ago in the earth's core and it was able to withstand the very long journey to this day. That is the reason why these stones are of such high value.

Below are some facts about the House of Graff and information about their exquisite diamonds.


- Laurence Graff - founder of the House of Graff, also hailed as the 'King of Diamonds'. The jewelry house's own history, which goes back to over three brilliant decades, is just as fascinating as its diamonds.

- The Lesotho Promise - of exceptional color - rated D, the top color for diamonds, this 603-carat stone was discovered at the Letseng Diamond Mine in the Maluti Mountains of Mokhotlong district, North of Lesotho, a kingdom surrounded by South Africa. It is said to be the biggest diamond found in 13 years, and was bought by Graff for a whopping $12 million! The stone went under the hammer at the Antwerp diamond center and are now being studied by Graff's experts. It will take at least a year before it will be cut and polished into brilliant diamonds. It ranks as the 10th largest white diamond ever found.

- The Graff Vivid Yellow - Discovered as an exceptional rough crystal of 190.72 carats, this stunning rock was of such exceptional color that it had to be sent to the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) to verify if it was entirely natural. The challenge for Graff was to preserve the splendid color with a magical weight of 100 carats. It had to undergo a rigorous process lasting over 9 months in which the 190.72 carat rough crystal was expertly transformed into a magnificent polished diamond of 100.09 carats of startling, vivid beauty.

- The Paragon - Sourced from an isolated region in Brazil, this rough diamond of 320 carats took endless months of work before its full glory was finally revealed. A perfect cut and flawless quality has endowed this 137.82 carat diamond with a startling brilliance. It has been certified as a "D color and internally flawless' stone by the GIA, with a statement that it is the largest 'D' flawless diamond they had ever graded.

fasdhfgka

- The Star of Lesotho - Hailed as the 'Most dazzling 'D' color heart shape diamond', it weighs 53.11 carats and was recently sold by Graff. It was 123 carats in the rough, when it was discovered in the Letseng diamond mine in the Maluti Mountains of Mokhotlong district, north of Lesotho. The painstaking process of cutting and polishing this stone was undertaken by a team of Graff's experts at its factory in Antwerp.
sdgZH

sfdgdg

- The Golden Star - Weighing over 101 carats, this fancy, vivid yellow, cushion-cut diamond was an astonishing 204 carats in the rough when discovered in the famous Finsch Mine located in the Northern Cape in South Africa. The cutting and polishing was done partly in the Graff factory in Johannesburg and thereafter entrusted to skilled master cutter at the Graff workshop in New York.

- The Graff Legacy - As a vertically integrated company, Graff directly sources diamonds from mines across the world, after which its skilled workers expertly cut and polish the precious stones at its famed workshops. Selecting only the finest and most superior stones, Graff executes lavish, extraordinary jewelry collections that one can cherish for a lifetime and pass on to the next generation.

- Each of Graff's diamonds is laser inscribed on the girdle with the Graff logo and GIA identification number, an inscription visible, only under 10 point magnification. Every diamond over one carat is accompanied by a GIA certificate verifying its cut, clarity, color and carat.

adsadf

Source: AME Info

ghdh

hjjhj

Discover the compelling power of Graff's creations at Graff showrooms conveniently located in Burj Al Arab, Saks Fifth Avenue - Burjuman Centre and Wafi City. See the finest and most exquisite array of the earth's most enduring and valuable stones - DIAMONDS.

Also view another entry in our official blog which is related to this article. http://blog.jewelrydays.com/2007/08/king-of-bling.html

And of course, Jewelry Days' website (link below) for various choices of jewelry and accessories. We offer diverse types of stones, may it be our blog's topic which is diamonds, or gemstones such as sapphires, amethyst, ruby, pearls, and more, in yellow, white, or rose gold, platinum, and others. Take a look at your options. Enjoy!

fsgrg

yffog

***********

http://www.jewelrydays.com/

--My Life Is Beautiful

Size Doesn't Always Matter... Record-Breaking Blue Diamond

One of the rarest gems in the world, a flawless blue diamond, has sold for US$7.98 million (3.91 million pounds) at a Sotheby's auction in Hong Kong, making it the most expensive gemstone in the world, per carat, sold at auction. Today, it broke the twenty-year-old world record set by the “Hancock Red” diamond, which fetched $926,000 (£456,000) per carat in New York in April 1987.

Below are other facts regarding the blue diamond:

- The 6.04 carat blue diamond was bought by Alisa Mousaieff of "Moussaieff Jewellers" in London which has a reputation for acquiring extremely rare and costly gemstones.

- The diamond will be brought back to London but not for display to the public. The stone will be locked away in the vaults at Moussaieff Jewellers in Mayfair. Ms Moussaieff explained that it will be shown only to “legitimate hard-nosed business clients”.

- Blue diamonds have long captivated the rich and powerful-- shimmering with a certain dark mystique.

• The famous "Hope Diamond", a 45.52 carat grey-blue beauty, was passed down through the ages by King Louis XIV of France, Marie Antoinette and American heiress Evalyn Walsh McClean among others. It now rests in the Smithsonian Institute in Washington D.C.
• The Sultan of Brunei is thought to have snapped up another massive blue diamond when it surfaced briefly on the market in the 1980s.

- Other coloured diamonds with pink and red hues can be mined in multiple locations across the globe including Brazil, India and Australia, but "blues" are mostly found at just one site on earth -- the Premier Mine in South Africa.

- The blue hue is a result of trace amounts of boron in the stone's crystal structure.

- “It’s the colour, the purity and "the life" of the stone. The life of the stone is the water, the shimmer inside the diamond. Its cut and the number of carats may appear on the certificate, but the life you have to see," Ms Moussaieff said. According to her, the rarity combined with the lustre of this particular stone made it irresistible, thus amounting to the very large, record-breaking price.


Source: Timesonline


Here's a video on the headlining blue diamond:

Blue Diamond Unveiled


As the saying goes, "size doesn't matter", it holds true even to gems like diamonds. What matters is the quality, that is what makes it valuable, and, yes, very, very pricey. Because of its immaculate cut and vivid blue color, this blue diamond beats the world record today at the price of almost $8 million dollars. Watch the video and see how the diamond would actually look, it is sparklingly gorgeous!



***************

http://www.jewelrydays.com/
--My Life Is Beautiful

Acclaimed Pink Diamond... Who Will Be The Highest Bidder?

Diagem, Inc., a Canadian exploration mining company, obtained the currently famous "Pink Diamond" last March. This stone, weighing 9.34 carats, was purchased for the price of $ 445,000 from an artisan miner in Brazil who had mining permit in Diagem's property 370/98. Since then, Diagem sent the stone to Natural Diamond in Antwerp, Belgium to have the stone evaluated, cut, and polished. Last September 11, they announced that the heart-shaped, pink diamond (with some shade of tangerine) at 3.13 carats, is almost finished with the processing.

A diamond trader from the United Arab Emirates also analyzed the diamond and said that aside from it's rarity, it also has an evenly distributed intense pink color, very small inclusions, and with no internal defects. Auction houses have been very interested in adding this diamond to their next auctions, more likely on the auction before Valentine's Day. Proceeds of the sale will be used to fund Diagem's diamond exploration and development projects.
-- Source : Rapaport

The procuring of this precious pink diamond is a significant evidence of the quality of the diamonds originating from Chapada, a flat-topped upland found in the Brazilian Highlands, where the kimberlite pipes cluster are found. Note: Kimberlite is a type of rock best known for sometimes containing diamonds. It is named after the town of Kimberley in South Africa, where the finding of a large kimberlite pipe in the 1870s spawned a diamond rush.
-- Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

As February, the expected time of the auction comes close, its value is most likely to increase when they discover more rare and distinct characteristics of the pink diamond as they are still in process of evaluation and polishing to this date. It looks like Diagem, in this possession of the one-of-a-kind diamond, succeeded in their pursuit of setting forth a new variety of diamondiferous deposit which will bring a cutting edge addition to the diamond market. Thus, it won't be too long until we see this highly regarded pink diamond available in the market. Let's all wait and see when it will come up in the Jewelry Days Catalog. At the moment, what I am anxious to know is who will eventually win the 3.13 carat heart-shaped pink diamond? Who will be the highest bidder? We will surely keep you posted...

Fancy Colored Diamonds Facts :

-- Fancy colored diamonds come in a variety of natural colors, including yellow, pink, blue, purple, orange, cognac, champagne and red.

-- Only one in every 10,000 diamonds possesses natural color.

-- True red diamonds, the rarest of diamonds, are so scarce, only seven are believed available for sale.

-- Fancy colored diamonds are produced by trace elements and distortions to the diamond crystal.

-- Blue diamonds are often created by the introduction of boron into the diamond. -- The presence of nitrogen produces diamonds in yellow and orange.

-- Hydrogen generates unique shades of violet.

-- Intense pressure, even greater than that for traditional white diamonds, produces diamonds in red, pink, purple and brown.

-- Green, blue, aqua and teal diamonds result from millennia of exposure to natural radiation.

-- The most famous diamond is the 45.52 carat, blue Hope Diamond, housed at the Smithsonian Natural History Museum.

-- Pink diamonds gained national attention when Ben Affleck presented Jennifer Lopez with a 6.1 carat pink diamond ring for their high-profile, but ill-fated, engagement.




*****

www.JewelryDays.com
--My Life Is Beautiful