Origin of name
The "de Young Red" diamond gets its name from the
onetime owner of the diamond Sidney de Young, a jeweler from Boston, who
later donated the diamond to the Natural History Museum of the Smithsonian
Institution, at Washington DC.
Characteristics of the
diamond
The de Young Red diamond, is a 5.03-carat, round
brilliant-cut, red colored stone with a slightly brownish hue, giving it the
appearance of a rhodolite garnet. In fact the stone was mistakenly sold as a
red garnet at the beginning.
Being a red diamond, the de Young Red is a rare Type IIa
diamond. Type II diamonds are nitrogen-free or contain undetectable
quantities of nitrogen. Type II diamonds are sub-divided into two :- Type
IIa and Type IIb
Type IIa - Free of all impurities. In other words they
are chemically pure diamonds. 1-2 % of natural diamonds belong to this
group.
Type IIb - Contain trace amounts of another impurity,
boron, which imparts a blue color to the diamonds. However only 0.1 % of
natural diamonds belong to this group.
Type IIa diamonds can fall into three categories :-
1) Structurally perfect 2) Structurally imperfect
3) Naturally irradiated
1) Structurally perfect :- Type IIa diamonds that are
chemically pure and structurally perfect are absolutely colorless, and
constitute about 1-2 % of all naturally occurring diamonds. D, E, and F
color grades of diamonds, which are colorless, may fall within this
category.
2) Structurally imperfect :- These are Type II diamonds,
that are chemically pure, but have plastically deformed crystals. The
crystals were plastically deformed following their formation in the earth's
mantle, or during their ascent to the surface. The deformed areas in the
crystal, change it's absorption spectrum causing the rare fancy colors such
as red, pink, purple, and also brown color. The occurrence of red, pink, and
purple colors is much less than 0.1 % of all natural diamonds.
3) Naturally irradiated :- These are Type II diamonds,
that have been exposed to natural radiation such as alpha, beta and gamma
rays, over a long period of time, causing distortion in the crystal lattice
that produces a green color. The occurrence of these diamonds are also very
scarce and much less than 0.1 % of all natural diamonds.
Thus, the de Young Red diamond, is a plastically deformed
Type IIa diamond. The 5.03-carat de Young Red diamond is the third largest
red diamond in the world.
History
The de Young Red diamond was in the possession of Sidney
de Young, a jeweler from Boston for quite a long time. The stone had been
acquired by his establishment as part of an estate sale. The item that
included the stone had been labeled as a garnet hat pin. But one day, Sidney
de Young happened to examine the garnet hat pin a little more closely. He
noticed the so-called garnet just didn't look quite like a garnet. Moreover,
he observed that for an old stone, it was remarkably clean and wasn't
scratched up. This observation aroused his suspicions, and he took the stone
for testing by a gem-testing laboratory. His suspicions were confirmed, and
it turned out that the so called garnet was in fact not a garnet, but
a red diamond, the 3rd largest in the world.
Sidney de Young later donated the rare 5.03-carat red
diamond to the Natural History Museum of the Smithsonian Institution, to be
added to the National Gem and Mineral Collection. He also donated a 3-carat
intense pink diamond that came from the Williamson mine in Tanzania, to the
Institution. The two diamonds are exhibited side by side at the Natural
History Museum.
The world's first largest red diamond is the Moussaieff
Red, a 5.11-carat, trilliant-cut, fancy red, internally flawless diamond. In
the rough state, this diamond weighed 13.90 carats, and was discovered by a
farmer in Brazil in the mid-1990s. The rough diamond was acquired by the
William Goldberg Diamond Corporation of New York, who transformed it into a
spectacular triangular brilliant. The color of the diamond is a fine
ruby-red, and was initially given the name "Red Shield", by the Goldberg
Corporation. The diamond was later acquired by the Moussaieff jewelry firm,
around the year 2001, for a rumored $ 8,000,000, and after this transaction
the diamond acquired the name Moussaieff Red.
The second largest red diamond was discovered as a rough
in South Africa, in 1927, and after cutting and polishing, weighed 5.05
carats. The cut employed was an emerald-cut. This diamond had no particular
name, and was simply known as the "Red Diamond," and was purchased by an
anonymous diamond connoisseur for his private collection. The whereabouts of
this diamond is not known.
The world's 1st, 2nd and 3rd largest red diamonds, the
Moussaieff Red, the "Red Diamond," and the "de Young Red," have weights of
5.11 carats, 5.05 carats, and 5.03 carats respectively. In comparison, the
world's largest colorless diamonds of the same rank, Cullinan I, Cullinan
II, and the Centenary diamonds have weights of 530.20 carats, 317.40 carats,
and 273.85 carats respectively. These statistics clearly show that the
rarity of the red color is combined with the restricted size of the
diamonds. In terms of size, the above red diamonds would not get anywhere
near the world's famous large diamonds, yet they are famous for the fact
that they are red, one of the rarest colors in diamonds.
20-year old world record
for price per carat broken- October 8,2007
The combined characteristics of rarity and beauty, make
red diamonds the most expensive of all diamonds in the world. The Hancock
Red diamond, which has an extraordinary deep ruby-red color, and having a
weight of only 0.95 carats sold for $ 880,000 at a Sotheby's auction in
1987. This works out to a record price of $ 926, 000 per carat. This record
had been sustained for the last 20 years, and appears to have been broken
only in October 8, 2007, when a 6.04-carat, internally flawless, fancy vivid
blue diamond fetched a price of $ 7.98 million-which works out to a new
world record of $ 1.32 million per carat-at a Sotheby's auction held
in Hong Kong. Sotheby's said that the buyer was Moussaieff Jewelers from
London, which has a reputation for acquiring extremely rare and costly
gemstones, like the Moussaieff Red diamond. The seller of this diamond is
said to be a private Asian collector.
