The necklace is featured in the brand’s “Rebel Heart” campaign starring Adam Levine and Behati Prinsloo.
The Biggest Diamond in Washington
It weighs nearly 188 carats and it’s not on Melania Trump’s hand. Our Editor-in-Chief reports from the nation’s capital.
As I write this, I am on an Amtrak train bouncing, tilting and clattering its way to Washington, D.C., where I have been invited to the inauguration as a personal guest of our 45th president, Donald J. Trump.
Just kidding.
I am actually going to speak at the D.C. chapter of the GIA alumni association tonight at a Holiday Inn in Arlington, Virginia, giving the PowerPoint version of the blog post I recently wrote on my retail prognostications for the year.
Since I am on my way to our nation’s capital, however, I feel like it’s a good time to catch readers up on my last trip to D.C. As they say, there’s no better time than the present to finish a story you should have written two months ago.
Back in November, I was invited to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History for a dinner welcoming the 187.63-carat Foxfire Diamond as a temporary resident of the museum’s Harry Winston Gallery, which is also home to the 45.52-carat Hope Diamond.
Discovered at Canada’s Diavik Diamond Mine in August 2015, the Foxfire is the biggest diamond ever known to be found in North America.
Rio Tinto, which owns a 60 percent stake in Diavik, had the diamond in New York back in May and I got my little, grubby, never-polished fingers on it then. The following month, the stone went up for auction and Deepak Sheth of Amadena Investments/Excellent Facets Inc. placed the winning-but-never-disclosed bid for the diamond.
As I reported in November, Sheth has opted to keep the diamond in its rough state for now, lending it first to the Smithsonian and very kindly inviting me to the above-mentioned dinner welcoming the stone.
Held after hours in the gallery itself, the event presented the perfect opportunity for a private, albeit self-guided, tour of the two rooms that house the museum’s mineral collection.
It also gave me the chance to meet Sheth and Jeffrey Post, geologist, chair of the museum’s Mineral Sciences department and the curator-in-charge of the museum’s mineral collection.
Post spoke to the crowd on two separate occasions that evening, first addressing why he’s excited to have (and why it may be difficult to separate from) the diamond in the museum’s collection, and then talking a little bit more about the scientific properties of this special stone.
The Foxfire, he said, has strong fluorescence; he compared the shade of blue it turns when under UV light to blue glacier ice. It also exhibits bright-orange phosphorescence when the light is turned off that fades away slowly.
“We’ve never actually seen it stop. We just finally get tired and walk away from the diamond,” he joked.
Post--who, admittedly, has not seen a ton of diamonds in his lifetime but has examined some extraordinary stones--said he’s never seen a diamond that fluoresces so blue and then phosphoresces so orange. They are studying the Foxfire while they have it to get a better idea of what it means and “really, what’s going on inside this diamond.”
He also remarked on how this big rough diamond fits into the museum’s mission of educating and creating an experience for its visitors, saying, “How often do any of us get to see a large diamond that’s been found and mined anywhere in the world, and the public--never. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for most of our visitors.”
Listening back to my recording of that evening’s remarks, I was reminded of what Larry West told me when I was interviewing him about his company’s natural colored diamonds that are now on display in Los Angeles: The general public does not get to see these types of stones very often, which is something that you tend to forget when you work around jewelry every day.
Yes, people can walk through jewelry stores and see showcases filled with row after row of 1-carat diamonds but it’s not very often, if ever, that they get to see truly rare and wonderful stones, like West’s colored diamonds or a big diamonds in it rough form like the Foxfire.
The Foxfire Diamond will remain on display at the Smithsonian, housed in a glass case just feet from the Hope, until Feb 16. After that, Sheth plans to take it on a “world journey” to share it with other admirers.
We’ll let you know where it’s headed.
The Latest
The two organizations will host a joint event, “Converge,” in September 2025.
Big changes appear to be on the horizon for the diamond miner and its parent company, Anglo American.
Meet Ben Claus—grand prize winner of For the Love of Jewelers 2023 Fall Design Challenge.
Padis succeeds Lisa Bridge, marking the first time the organization has had two women board presidents in a row.
The Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar "John Mayer" was celebrated at a star-studded party in LA last week.
The announcement came as the company reported a 23 percent drop in production in Q1.
With Ho Brothers, you can unlock your brand's true potential and offer customers the personalized jewelry experiences they desire.
The three-time Pro Bowler continues to partner with the retailer, donating to a Detroit nonprofit and giving watches to fans.
A double-digit drop in the number of in-store crimes was offset by a jump in off-premises attacks, JSA’s 2023 crime report shows.
Inspired by the Roman goddess of love, the designer looked to the sea for her new collection.
The luxury titan posted declining sales, weighed down by Gucci’s poor performance.
The selected nine organizations have outlined their plans for the funds.
The mining company’s Diavik Diamond Mine lost four employees in a plane crash in January.
The crown introduced a dozen timepieces in Geneva, including a heavy metal version of its deep-sea divers’ watch.
Emmanuel Raheb recommends digging into demographic data, customizing your store’s communications, and retargeting ahead of May 12.
Located in the town of Queensbury, it features a dedicated bridal section and a Gabriel & Co. store-in-store.
A 203-carat diamond from the alluvial mine in Angola achieved the highest price.
Ruser was known for his figural jewelry with freshwater pearls and for his celebrity clientele.
The “Rebel Heart” campaign embodies rebellion, romance, and sensuality, the brand said.
The overhaul includes a new logo and enhanced digital marketplace.
The money will go toward supporting ongoing research and aftercare programs for childhood cancer survivors.
A new addition to the “Heirloom” collection, this one-of-a-kind piece features 32 custom-cut gemstones.
Last month in Dallas, David Walton pushed another jeweler, David Ettinger, who later died.
The move will allow the manufacturing company to offer a more “diverse and comprehensive” range of products.
From now through mid-May, GIA will be offering the reports at a 50 percent discount.
De Beers’ rough diamond sales were down 18 percent year-over-year in its latest round of sales.