Origin of name
The Amsterdam diamond gets its name from the city of
Amsterdam, an international power house of the diamond industry, where the
rare black diamond made it's first appearance in 1973, at the jewelry store
of D. Drukker & Zn.
Characteristics of the
diamond
The Amsterdam diamond is a 33.74-carat, pear-shaped,
black diamond, with a total of 145 facets. It is the second black diamond of
significance to make it's appearance in the diamond trade after the Black
Orlov diamond, a diamond purported to have originated in India, but whose
first authentic appearance was around 1950, when Charles F. Winson, the New
York City, gem and jewelry dealer, acquired the diamond. In the list of
famous black diamonds the Amsterdam diamond occupies the 7th position. See
table below.
List of famous black
diamonds
|
S/N |
Name |
carat weight |
shape/cut |
|
1 |
The Spirit of Grisogono |
312.24 |
old moghul-cut |
|
2 |
The Black Star of Africa |
202.00 |
|
|
3 |
The Table of Islam |
160.18 |
emerald-cut |
|
4 |
The Gruosi diamond |
115.34 |
heart-shaped |
|
5 |
The Korloff Noir |
88.00 |
|
|
6 |
The Black Orlov |
67.50 |
cushion-cut |
|
7 |
The Amsterdam |
33.74 |
pear-shaped |
History
Diamonds exist in all colors of the rainbow. The
commonest color in diamonds is yellow followed by brown. Nitrogen impurities
which cause yellow color in diamonds is found in almost 98 % of naturally
occurring diamonds. The yellow color can vary from a slight almost
imperceptible tinge to an intense yellow color as found in canary yellow
diamonds. However, in the Argyle mines in Western Australia out of the
gem-quality diamonds produced 80 % are brown, 16 % yellow, 2 % white, 2 %
gray, and less than 1 % fancy colored diamonds. After yellow and brown the
next commonest are white and gray diamonds. All fancy colored diamonds are
generally rare, and their occurrence is less than 0.1 % of all naturally
occurring diamonds. Blue and pink diamonds are rare but the rarest of fancy
colors are red, purple, orange and green. A statistical analysis of the
occurrence of pink diamonds in the Argyle mines shows that only a single
carat of pink diamond is produced for every one million carats of rough
gem-quality diamonds. This works out to an extremely low percentage of
0.0001 %. Thus the occurrence of extremely rare colors such as red and
purple must be even less than the low percentage for pink diamonds.
Black diamonds are found only in two regions of the
world, viz. Brazil and Central African Republic, and they usually occur in
alluvial deposits. Black diamonds never occur in Kimberlite and Lamproite
pipes, and therefore they do not originate deep inside the earth like
conventional diamonds. Not one black diamond has ever been discovered in the
conventional Kimberlite diamond mines of South Africa, Canada, Australia or
Russia. Even in the long history of exploitation of diamonds in the Indian
Sub-Continent, the first diamond producing country in the world, the
discovery of black diamonds have never been reported.
An interesting feature of black diamonds is that unlike
conventional diamonds which are made up of a single massive crystal, they
are made up of aggregates of perhaps millions of tiny crystals stuck
together, giving it a porous nature. Iron compounds such as hematite and
magnetite may be associated with the conglomerate crystal, giving it the
black color. Black diamonds are harder than conventional diamonds, because
they do not have cleavage planes like conventional diamonds. Thus black
diamonds are extremely difficult to cut and polish. However there may be
areas in the black diamonds that are softer, due to loosely bound porous
material. Thus working with black diamonds can pose serious challenges
to the experienced diamond cutter. Thus drastic losses of weight is a usual
occurrence in the cutting of black diamonds. The 300.12-carat Gruosi rough
diamond had a weight of only 115.34 carats after it was processed, resulting
in a loss of 184.78 carats. The Black Orlov that weighed 195 carats in the
rough state, had a finished weight of only 67.50 carats. The 587-carat
Spirit of de Grisogono rough diamond had a final processed weight of only
312.24 carats.
Likewise the Amsterdam black diamond which weighed 55.85
carats in the rough state weighed only 33.74 carats in it's finished form as
a pear-shaped diamond. The Amsterdam Black diamond is also of African
origin, and most probably it would have originated in the Central African
Republic, the source of many other black diamonds. The diamond no doubt
would have been cut in Amsterdam itself, a country that had been renowned
for it's experienced diamond cutters, since 17th century. But, Antwerp in
Belgium had overtaken Amsterdam as the main diamond cutting center of Europe
after world war II, since the elimination of the Jewish diamond cutters
during the holocaust by the Nazis.
The Amsterdam diamond was first exhibited in February
1973, at the jewelry store of D. Drukker & Zn. Amsterdam. In November 2001,
the rare diamond was auctioned off by Christie's for a record sum of $
352,000, setting a world record for the highest price fetched by a black
diamond at an auction. The pear-shaped Amsterdam diamond was set in a
pendant surrounded by 15 cushion-cut, smaller white diamonds, and the color
contrast was very striking.
The current popularity of black diamond jewelry is
credited to Fawaz Gruosi, who inspired by a photograph of the Black Orlov
diamond set with contrasting white diamonds, which he accidentally saw in a
magazine in 1996, swung into action, and took a world tour scouting for
black diamonds in the main diamond producing areas of the world. Having
collected enough of these under-rated stones, he got them processed by black
diamond cutting experts based in Antwerp, who transformed the stones into
jet-black beauties. Using these diamonds Fawaz, turned out a breathtaking
collection of jewelry, consisting of necklaces, earrings, bracelets, and
rings. To bring out the contrast in colors he always associated the black
diamonds with other gemstones such as white diamonds, gray icy-diamonds,
pearls, rubies, emeralds, sapphires etc. The jewelry were marketed under the
famous de Grisogono brand name, and became an instant success. The black
diamond jewelry became very popular among women, and Fawaz Gruosi is
credited with launching the love affair between the black diamond and women
around the world.
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