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The Tiffany Diamond
Posted by malluu on February 26, 2019, 10:55 am
Lady Gaga wore the Tiffany Diamond yesterday at the Oscars. She is only the third person to wear the diamond after Mary Whitehouse, wife of diplomat Sheldon Whitehouse, and Audrey Hepburn.
Mary Whitehouse was the wife of diplomat, Sheldon Whitehouse, and wore the diamond on a necklace to the Tiffany Ball in 1957. What I read said that she was the lucky winner chosen to wear the necklace so there must have been some sort of charity raffle.
Hepburn wore the diamond set in a different necklace in 1961 for promotional photos for Breakfast at Tiffany's.
And Lady Gaga
The 287.42 carat rough diamond was found in 1877 and bought by Charles Lewis Tiffany who had it cut to 128.54 carats the next year by George Frederick Kunz. The diamond has had quite a few settings over the years
Early design sketch
1961 - Jean Schlumberger designed necklace
1995 - Jean Schlumberger designed Bird on a Rock setting - this wasn't actually made until after Schlumberger passed away but Tiffany's says it was based on his design
2012 - 175th anniversary necklace setting with over 100 carats of white diamonds
The diamond is exhibited quite often usually in their New York Fifth Ave store but also around the world. The most recent non-NYC exhibition seems to have been in Vancouver in 2017. Has anyone been able to see it in person?
Re: The Tiffany Diamond
Posted by MarcA on February 26, 2019, 2:15 pm, in reply to "The Tiffany Diamond"
Hi Malluu,
There were some very interesting jewels at the Oscars even though most of the women only tend to wear earrings or bracelets now. Is the necklace still with Tiffany and in the vault nearly all of the time?
Allison Janney wore a very nice necklace.
I wonder what the disappearance of necklaces is all about. Fashion for them, they don't suit the gowns, lack of offers from the jewellery houses?
Lady Gaga wore the Tiffany Diamond yesterday at the Oscars. She is only the third person to wear the diamond after Mary Whitehouse, wife of diplomat Sheldon Whitehouse, and Audrey Hepburn.
Mary Whitehouse was the wife of diplomat, Sheldon Whitehouse, and wore the diamond on a necklace to the Tiffany Ball in 1957. What I read said that she was the lucky winner chosen to wear the necklace so there must have been some sort of charity raffle.
Hepburn wore the diamond set in a different necklace in 1961 for promotional photos for Breakfast at Tiffany's.
And Lady Gaga
The 287.42 carat rough diamond was found in 1877 and bought by Charles Lewis Tiffany who had it cut to 128.54 carats the next year by George Frederick Kunz. The diamond has had quite a few settings over the years
Early design sketch
1961 - Jean Schlumberger designed necklace
1995 - Jean Schlumberger designed Bird on a Rock setting - this wasn't actually made until after Schlumberger passed away but Tiffany's says it was based on his design
2012 - 175th anniversary necklace setting with over 100 carats of white diamonds
Tiffany & Co. - The Tiffany Diamond
The diamond is exhibited quite often usually in their New York Fifth Ave store but also around the world. The most recent non-NYC exhibition seems to have been in Vancouver in 2017. Has anyone been able to see it in person?
Welcome to the board Malluu!! What an interesting topic. The alluring Tiffany Diamond!
According to Ian Balfour in Famous Diamonds there are some queries about when and where the Tiffany diamond was found. The year could be either 1877 or 1878. He suggests it may have been found in the mine then owned by what was colloquially called the French Company, or more formally the Compagnie Francaise de Diamant du Cap. In part, the claim that the diamond was found in the French Company's mine is based on the fact that the diamond was sent to France to be cut. The mystery about the precise origins of the diamond has arisen because it was found before accurate records were kept of finds in the Kimberley mine.
Gideon Reed, the head of Tiffany's Paris office, purchased it for $18,000.00, and it was then imported into the US in 1879.
According to Balfour, the diamond has 90 facets, not to make it sparkle more but to make it smoulder!
From what I have read Marc the diamond is normally on display in Tiffany's headquarters in New York when it is not lent to an exhibition -- so potentially many can view it.
I know it is a matter of taste but there is something charmingly appealing about Jean Schlumberger's "Bird on a rock" setting. Otherwise I prefer the setting of the stone as in the necklace worn by Mrs Whitehouse to the legendary ball.
There are some discrepancies between Balfour and Tiffany's information. Tiffany makes no mention of Gideon Reed but that could be explained away if maybe Reed purchased it on Charles Lewis Tiffany's behalf. Tiffany's press release also says that the diamond has 82 facets not 90.
I prefer the orientation of the diamond in the Whitehouse version but I like the rest of the necklace better in the 175th anniversary version. I LOVE mixed diamond cuts being used together so the alternating brilliant and Lucida diamonds win me over.
Thanks Malluu. Undoubtedly Balfour has a mistake in his text. Tiffany would have the precise details of their famous diamond. There are other differences between the Tiffany information and Balfour. Although it is not stated explicitly, the Tiffany text gives the impression that Tiffany sent the diamond to Paris for cutting. Balfour's text gives the opposite impression. One of the issues I have with Balfour's text in general is that he has no footnotes to show where his information was sourced, but it is not a scholarly text as such and perhaps the publishers advised him to leave out footnotes and endnotes to save on printing costs.
on February 26, 2019, 10:55 am
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