The Fabulous Padparadscha...

There was a time when the word sapphire was synonymous with the color blue because the only gems one saw in jewelry were a variation of that hue. In more recent times, we've become a lot more adventurous and use sapphires in just about every color imaginable so I assumed, since I've been covering fine jewelry and gems for such a long time, that I was familiar with all of them. Hubris!
The world of gem stones is vast and it wasn't until I read John Burdett's latest off-beat mystery (set in Bangkok as usual) that I ran across the incredibly colored padparadscha sapphire. Pads, as they are known to the cognoscenti, are transparent rocks whose color falls between the luscious pink of a lotus blossom and the vibrant orange of a tropical sunset. The true and rarest Pads exhibit delicate shades of both colors in the same stone and are the most expensive, running as high as $30,000 per carat.
Should you set off on a padparadscha hunt, don't be swayed by stones ranging in color from pale yellow to orange or pink. There's a lot of doctored stones about, many heat-treated to bring out their color and there's even a long-running argument among jewelers as to what really deserves the designation padparadscha. What you want is a Pad from a Sri Lankan mine with flashes of both pink and orange that looks like a candy as much as a gem.
Try checking out your friendly neighborhood Cartier shop since they did several pieces using padparadschas in a 2008 collection, such as the stunning 22.4 carat ring shown below. If wearing this beauty doesn't blow away your friends, nothing will... plus you'll have the evil pleasure of explaining what kind of gem you're wearing.
Photo: Katel Riou...Cartier 2008

The Diamond Vandal....

Sorry for the long lapse between posts but real life, in the fo

rm of trying to sell off an estate, has kept me very occupied. The whole process has only reinforced my belief that buying quality is a wise investment while anything less is just "stuff" which in the end has no value at all.

As any luxury diva should, I do have my pet diamonds. Among them is the fabled Wittelsbach Blue, the impeccably provenanced stone that resurfaced from obscurity at a Christies auction and sold for the highest price per carat ever achieved at auction.

In the spirit of full disclosure, I must admit that the Wittelsbach Blue exists in a price galaxy far, far away from mine own.

Nevertheless, I've taken a fond interest in it and when it was bought by billionaire diamond dealer Lawrence Graff, I assumed he was going to ultimately flog it off to some filthy rich guy in a burnoose sitting on a lake of sand-covered crude. Instead, the poor Wittelsbach has been vandalized by a nouveau riche jeweler who thought he had the right to mess with it.

The Wittelsbach Blue, as I related in my very first post (check it out for the whole history) was not only rare because of it's gray/blue color and it's great 35.52 carat size, but because of it's royal lineage. It was the most historically important diamond in the world. Still, Mr. Graff decided to "refurbish" it by cutting away the chips and "bruises" the stone had acquired over the centuries since it's discovery in the 1600's. In the process, he reduced the diamond to a tad over 31 carats, claiming to have also enhanced the clarity and brilliance. He then added his own name to those of Spain and Bavaria's royal families and worked out a deal to display the recut, renamed stone at the Smithsonian as a companion to that other great blue, the spooky Hope diamond.

According to a disgruntled museum expert on the gem's history, Mr Graff's shameful diamond is no longer the Wittelsbach...it is nothing but a big grayish blue stone...the Wittelsbach is gone forever. So what, my fellow luxury lovers, do you think? Should the great blue diamond have been left in it's historical form, chipped edges and all, or modernized? Post your comments and let's discuss it...

Photo shows the Wittelsbach Blue in it's Bavarian royal period.