Graff and the World’s Most Famous Diamonds

Graff Diamonds, founded in 1960 by Laurence Graff, is a British multinational jeweler creating high-end designer jewellery. After over five decades at the heart of the gemstone jewellery industry, Graff himself is still involved in every step of the creation process, from start to finish. In this article, we will be looking at some of the world’s most famous diamonds and discussing exactly what makes each of them so special.

The Graff Sweethearts

Discovered within the same mine, the Graff Sweethearts had done everything together before being crowned in unison as the most exquisite diamond pair in the world. When found in the Letseng Mine in Lesotho, the rough diamonds weighed 196 and 184 carats and both displayed the rare ‘type IIa’ classification. This, of course, left the Graff gemologists in great excitement; type Ila diamonds contain little to no nitrogen in their structure, making them the purest and most valued diamonds in the world.

After finding a unique natural fingerprint on each of the stones, it became apparent that they may have stumbled across a matching pair. It was decided that the two separate stones be cut into heart shapes, each a perfect match for the other. Graff’s master cutters, combined with advanced technologies which came together to cut and polish the stones perfectly, examining them at each stage of the process to ensure the quality was holding up.

After a long, pressure-filled process, the stones revealed their diamonds, which turned out to be gorgeous 51.53ct, D-colour Flawless type IIa and a magnificent 50.76ct D colour Flawless type IIa diamonds. For the first time in history, two separate stones had been used to create a matching pair of diamonds, over 50 carats. Knowing that the pair was destined to always stay together, Graff decided that the diamonds were to be turned into a matching set of beautiful earrings, becoming known as the “Graff Sweethearts”.

The Delaire Sunrise

Even in its rough form, Laurence Graff knew they had stumbled across something special when the stone was discovered at an alluvial mine in South Africa. Measuring at 221.81 carats, a stone of such intriguing colour and sizeable mass was something that until that moment, was yet to be found. After truly examining the size and quality of the rough stone, it was clear that it was destined to be transformed into a perfect square, emerald cut diamond.

Carried out by Nino Bianco, one of Graff’s Master Cutters, the process was long and hard and required months of studying, working out the specific angles the stone was to be cut at in order to release the beautiful golden hue, currently locked under the stones rough surface. The perfect emerald cut destined for the stone was one of incredible complexity, requiring the making of exact calculations of each cut prior to it being carried out. The end goal weight of the stone at completion, was to be kept at more than 100 carats, making the process that little bit more difficult ensuring that only the absolutely necessary parts of the stone were carved away.

After a year of working on it, the stone was finally ready to be released from the wheel. Coming in at a final 118.08 carat, the size of the diamond pleasantly astounded even Graff himself. Knowing such a special diamond should have a special name, the stone was named after the Delaire Graff Estate, celebrating Graff’s love for Africa and his incredible store.

The Graff Pink

A perfect diamond exceeding over 5 carats with a strong pink hue is something of an incredible rarity. The Graff Pink, hidden away in a private collection for over 60 years, measured an insane 24.78 carat at completion. Coming into Graff’s possession in 2010, although already mesmerising, he knew instantly that the stone held such greater potential if only given the right care and attention. The task of increasing the intensity of the stones vivid pink colouring could only be carried out by a few cutters in the world, but Graff knew this process was a necessity in the journey to the stone reaching its full potential. The stone currently held a couple of imperfections, which would need to be removed to increase the final value. Being incredibly fragile, the process involved taking some risks, as there was constantly the worrying potential of the diamond shattering if one wrong cut was made. On completion, it was revealed that less than 1 carat had been removed in the restoration of the jewel. The beautiful pink diamond was renamed “The Graff Pink” in celebration of its new, gorgeous colouring.

The Perfection

Discovered in an Angolan mine, when Graff came in possession of this stone, he knew from the get-go that there was the possibility for an incredible diamond to be revealed. The stone came in at 225 carats but, unfortunately, a considerable amount would have to be removed, due to a top protrusion the stone held. After excessive cutting and polishing, the protrusion was removed, consequently reducing the weight of the stone to 160.9 carats.

Graff, still not yet satisfied that the stone had reached its full potential, recruited Nino Blanco, his Master Carver, to work his magic on the diamond with the end goal of keeping it above 100 carats. After six months of work, the diamond was finally transformed into a perfect pear shape, measuring an incredible 102.44 carats. In the world of luxury jewellery, an exact 100-carat diamond is something that is almost unheard of to come across, but Graff believed his Master Cutters had the skills to be able to achieve this. After putting the diamond back onto the wheel, 2.44 carats were able to be removed, crowing the Perfection the very first 100-carat pear shape D Internally Flawless diamond, awarded by the Gemological Institute of America.

The diamonds talked about here are not all that Graff has to be proud of, said to have handled more diamonds of an incredible rarity than any other jeweller, Graph continues to inspire and excite the world’s most disconcerting clientele with his jewellery, to this very day.