Graff Pink Supreme Diamond

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Origin of name

The name seems to reflect both the name of the owner and the rare pink color of the diamond. The Graff Pink Supreme is not included among the 36 diamonds listed on the web pages of the Graff website. Perhaps this may be because the diamond has already been disposed of.

Characteristics of the diamond

The Graff Pink Supreme, is a 10.83-carat, pear-shaped diamond, with unknown color and clarity grades. However going by the photographs of the diamond, it appears to be internally flawless, having a saturated pink color that may qualify for a fancy pink grade. In the table of known famous pink diamonds given below the Graff Pink Supreme occupies the 13th position, just above the famous and historic diamond, the Conde Pink. See table below.

List of famous pink diamonds

Being a pink diamond the Graff Pink Supreme is a type IIa diamond, unless the diamond originated in the Argyle diamond mines, in Western Australia, where all pink diamonds discovered have been found to be Type Ia, containing detectable quantities of nitrogen. But, this is highly unlikely, because almost all the pink diamonds discovered in the Argyle mines are smaller in size, having an average weight of only about 1.0 carat.

Type IIa pink diamonds, are nitrogen free, but unlike the absolutely colorless Type IIa diamonds, the crystal structure of these diamonds are plastically deformed, caused by the twisting and bending of the crystal units during their formation or subsequent rise to the earth's surface from deep inside the earth's crust. The crystal is highly strained or stressed in these areas, as apparent when observed with crossed polarizing filters. It is believed that the pink color is caused by these deformed areas in the crystal, which changes the absorption spectrum of the diamond. However, the occurrence of pink diamonds  is extremely rare and much less than 0.1 % of all naturally occurring diamonds.

History

Being a new discovery, the diamond doesn't seem to have much of a history associated with it, but it is hoped the diamond will acquire it's own history, as it passes down from generation to generation. Apart from the fact that the diamond was acquired by Laurence Graff, the founder of the international business empire, Graff Diamonds, at a Christie's auction in Geneva, in November 1993, for about 6,000,000 Swiss francs, nothing is known about the early history of the diamond, such as the country and mine of origin, the date of discovery, the original owners of the diamond, etc.

The diamond has been set in a platinum ring, probably in Graff's own workshop in London, that specializes in turning out handmade fine jewelry, for all Graff Outlets worldwide.

For the processing of smaller diamonds, Graff has a state-of the-art diamond processing factory in Johannesburg, South Africa, which employs over 300 expert craftsmen. For processing larger diamonds, some of which may eventually become famous one day, Graff has two factories, one at Antwerp and the other at New York, employing 30 cutters and 10 cutters respectively, each headed by a master cutter. These cutting centers have already processed some of the world's most notable diamonds. Besides this, Graff has a diamond processing and jewelry manufacturing workshop, in the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius, employing over 80 local craftsmen. Other cities where Graff has locations are, Moscow, Geneva, Monte Carlo, and Dubai.

The Graff business empire was founded by Laurence Graff, "the King of Diamonds", who is said to have had a passion for diamonds from an early age. Graff is reported to have made the  following comments on one occasion. "Diamonds excite me, diamonds are my life. I see inside the stone, look at the color and cut and asses it's natural beauty and value. I was born to be among diamonds."

Pink diamonds, like other fancy colored diamonds, such as red, purple, green orange and blue are extremely rare. A statistical analysis of the occurrence of pink diamonds in the Argyle mines in Western Australia, has shown that only a single cart of pink diamond is produced for every 1,000,000 carats of gem-quality rough diamonds produced. This works out to an extremely low percentage of 0.0001 %. Yet, the Argyle mines is the most consistent source of pink diamonds in the world today, producing about 50 carats of these small diamonds every year.

Prior to the 18th century, the main source of pink diamonds in the world, was the Kollur mines, near Golconda, in Southern India. The Darya-i-Nur, the Nur-ul-Ain, Shah Jahan, Agra, Hortensia, and the Conde Pink, may have originated in these mines. After the discovery of diamonds in South Africa, in the late 19th century, the diamond mines of South Africa, became the main source of pink diamonds. The World's largest, fancy vivid pink diamond, the Steinmetz pink, was discovered in the diamond mines of South Africa. The two eponymous pink diamonds of the Mouawad's magnificent collection of diamonds, the Mouawad Lilac and the Mouawad Pink, may also have originated in these mines. But, today the world's main source of pink diamonds is the Argyle diamond mine in Australia, even though the diamonds produced are much smaller in size. In terms of color intensity however, the Argyle pink diamonds are superior to the Indian pink diamonds, and perhaps even the South African pink diamonds.

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