Origin of name
The Chloe diamond gets its name from the 12-year old
daughter of Gorges Marciano, the founder of the clothing company Guess Inc.
producers of the internationally renowned Guess Jeans. Georges Marciano
purchased the diamond at a Sotheby's magnificent jewels auction held in Geneva, Switzerland, on
November 14, 2007, and decided to name the hitherto unnamed diamond after
his 12-year old daughter.
Characteristics of the
diamond
The Chloe diamond is a rare, D-color, brilliant-cut
diamond with a weight of 84.37 carats, and an internally flawless clarity
grade. D-color is the highest color grade for a white diamond which is
equivalent to absolutely colorless. Besides the highest color and clarity
grades given to the diamond by the Gemological Institute of America, it has
also been assigned the "Triple X" designation, for the excellence of its
cut, polish and symmetry.
Being a D-color diamond the Chloe diamond is a Type IIa
diamond, which are said to be the "purest of the pure" of all diamonds. The
diamond is Type II because of the absence of nitrogen impurities or
presence of undetectable quantities of nitrogen impurities, in the crystal
structure of the diamond. Type II diamonds constitute only about 1-2 % of
all naturally occurring diamonds. Thus more than 98 % of diamonds are
nitrogen-containing Type I diamonds.
The diamond is Type IIa, because it is not only free of
nitrogen impurities but also free of other impurities such as boron and
hydrogen. Thus these diamonds are chemically pure diamonds. The Chloe
diamond is not only chemically pure but also structurally perfect. In the
absence of factors that cause color in diamonds such as impurities and
structural imperfections in the crystal, the diamond is absolutely
colorless. Thus the Chloe diamond is a structurally perfect Type IIa
diamond. These diamonds constitute only about 1-2 % of all naturally
occurring diamonds.
Type II diamonds that contain boron as impurities are
known as Type IIb. Boron imparts a blue color to diamonds. However their
occurrence is only about 0.1 % of naturally occurring diamonds.
Early history
The diamond is of Angolan origin, probably discovered in
the year 2005, from the alluvial diamond deposits of the northeastern part
of the country. Diamonds originating in Angola had previously earned a
notoriety as "blood diamonds" as they were responsible for fuelling the long
drawn out civil war between the Government of Angola forces and the UNITA
rebels. However with the end of the civil war and restoration of peace
in 2002, and the Government of Angola joining the Kimberley process,
diamonds originating from Angola, and handled by the state-owned diamond
company, are considered to be "clean diamonds."
The Chloe diamond was purchased in the year 2005, by Ron
Cohen - a Jewish diamond dealer who is the chief executive officer of the
Los Angles based company Clean Diamonds Inc. - from the state-run diamond company
of Angola, Endiama, the only legal seller of diamonds in Angola. The diamond
had gone through the Kimberley process and had been certified as a clean
diamond. Ron Cohen says that the name of his company "Clean Diamonds"
signifies two important facts, viz. that his company deals only with
Kimberley certified "clean diamonds" and that they only work with highest
quality diamonds known in the industry as "clean" for their clarity and
purity.
The Kimberley Process
The Kimberley process is a policy formulated on the
initiative of the United Nations, on the orderly marketing of diamonds, in
order to exclude "conflict diamonds" or "blood diamonds" from the legitimate
international diamond market, so as to prevent the financing of war
through the sale of such diamonds. All stakeholders in the international
diamond industry, which included the international diamond mining companies,
international diamond dealers, the Central Selling Organization that
controls the international diamond trade, diamond producing countries,
diamond processing companies, and non-governmental organizations have been
brought together in formulating this policy. Blood diamonds have been
implicated in the civil wars of many diamond producing African countries,
such as Sierra Leone, Liberia, Angola and the Congo. Under this arrangement
legitimate diamonds are provided with certificates of origin known as
Kimberley Certificate, which has to accompany the diamond from the time of
production until it reaches the end users of the diamonds. No diamonds could
be exported from one country to another without an accompanying Kimberley
Certificate.
Cutting of the diamond
The rough diamond weighed 365 carats, and according to
Cohen the diamond was large enough to cover his entire palm. He examined the
rough diamond and was convinced that it was a gem-quality diamond. Having
purchased the diamond, Cohen made a detailed study of the stone that
took him more than an year, to decide on the best way to cut it. Finally he
decided that the round brilliant was the ideal way to cut the stone, and
eventually got the job executed in Antwerp, Belgium. When the processing of
the diamond was complete it weighed only 84.37 carats, resulting in an
enormous loss of 280.63 carats, equivalent to 77 %. Such enormous losses are
usually encountered in the creation of round brilliant diamonds, and the
Chloe was no exception. In any case Cohen's decision to go in for a
brilliant-cut sacrificing quantity for the sake of quality, was vindicated,
when the GIA awarded a "Triple X" designation for the diamond, in view of
the excellence of its cut, polish and symmetry.
"It's a very rare diamond," said Ziad Al-Ahmadi, a rough
diamond dealer and co-founder of Matrix Diamond Technology, in Antwerp,
Belgium. "The only other stone of around that size and quality I know of was
a 90.97-carat stone cut a few years ago, and it could well be that there are
only two or three round-shaped polished diamonds of this size and quality in
existence."
Sale of the diamond
Having completed the cutting of the diamond, Mr. Cohen
decided to consign it with Sotheby's with the sole intention of providing an
international exposure to the rare gem, which only a renowned auction house
like Sotheby's would be able to achieve. The diamond was showcased by
Sotheby's in many cities around the world, such as London, Paris, New York,
Los Angeles, Rome, Dubai, Bahrain and Hong Kong, before the auction held in
Geneva. The diamond was highly acclaimed in all these cities for its
exceptional characteristics, such as color, clarity, cut, polish, symmetry,
and carat weight. Eventually, when the actual sale took place in Geneva's
historic Beau Rivage Hotel, the auction room was packed with around 300
diamond dealers, connoisseurs, collectors, and jewelry manufacturers. The
estimated value placed on the diamond before the auction was between $ 13.3
million ad $ 17.8 million. The bidding for the diamond was strong and
competitive, with two buyers bidding hard at the end, one of whom was
bidding by telephone from California. The winning bid was made by telephone from Beverly Hills,
California, by Georges Marciano, the founder of Guess Jeans.
Second most expensive
diamond ever sold at an auction
The purchase
price of the diamond was $ 16,189,769 million ( 18.2 million Swiss francs), and
the 84.37-carat, white brilliant-cut diamond, became the second most
expensive jewel ever auctioned, the first being the 100.1-carat, D-color,
pear-shaped, internally flawless, "Star of the Season" diamond which
was sold in 1995, also by Sotheby's for $ 16.5 million, to the Saudi-based
renowned jeweler and diamond collector, Sheik Ahmed Hassan Fitaihi. A quick computation shows that the price per carat paid
for the Chloe diamond is $ 191,890. The price per carat for the "Star of the
Season" diamond was $ 164,835. Thus the price per carat paid for the Chloe
diamond, is the highest price per carat ever paid for a white diamond at an
auction. The Chloe diamond was also the largest, purest white, flawless,
round brilliant-cut diamond ever to be sold at an auction.
Georges Marciano says that after he saw a news spot on
the CNN about the diamond, he was captivated. This provided the incentive
for him to make an attempt to own it, when it came up for auction on
November 14th, 2007. Ron Cohen the owner of the diamond, deliberately
refrained from giving a name or even a nick name for the diamond, and passed
on the privilege of naming the diamond to its prospective buyer.
Accordingly, Georges Marciano baptized the diamond "Chloe Diamond" in honor
of his 12-year old daughter.
Comments by David
Bennett, Sotheby's auctioneer
David Bennett, chairman of Jewelry at Sotheby's Europe
and Middle East division, told reporters after conducting the sale, "It's
just a whisker under the world record. This stone had the ability to take my
breath away. It really is the paradigm of a diamond- the essence of bling."
He further stated that, "the results achieved tonight for the Chloe diamond
is one of the highlights of my career. It has been a privilege to work on
the marketing and sale of this magnificent stone, which ranks among the most
beautiful diamonds I have ever seen."
Comments by Ron Cohen,
the CEO of Clean Diamonds Inc. Los Angeles, California.
Ron Cohen, the seller of the diamond, said, "I am
absolutely delighted with the fantastic results achieved tonight by
Sotheby's for this phenomenal, 84.37-carat stone. Having taken over two
years to plan and cut the stone, I decided to consign it with Sotheby's for
the amount of exposure that I was confident the auction house will be able
to provide internationally. Tonight's sale price has vindicated my
decision." He further said, "I congratulate Georges Marciano for his
purchase and wish him all the best with the stone." Cohen is pleased that
Marciano bought the stone, and that he named it after his daughter. The two
spoke by phone shortly after the sale. "It's funny, we both live in Beverly
Hills but we went to Geneva for this ! We talked and said we're going to
drink some champagne together this week, to celebrate."
Total sales achieved at
the auction
The total sales achieved at the magnificent jewels sales
of Sotheby's at Geneva, Switzerland, on November 14, 2007, which included
the Chloe diamond, was approximately $ 57 million, bringing the total for
the year 2007 for magnificent jewels sold at Sotheby's, Switzerland, to $
106,019,622, the highest total for annual sales of jewelry in Switzerland
since 1995.
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