The Gemological Institute of America (GIA) recently examined the Winston Red, a rare red diamond weighing 2.33 carats, prior to its premiere in a public exhibition at the Smithsonian Museum.
The stone is the fifth-largest diamond of its color and hue and one of just two dozen pure red diamonds over 1 carat existing in the public record, the institute said Monday. Its submission for grading was part of a collaboration with the Smithsonian and the curator from the Paris School of Mines, the GIA noted.
“When the Winston Red was recently submitted to GIA for grading, I immediately recalled examining it in 1987 — it is an unforgettable diamond,” said Tom Moses, GIA executive vice president and chief laboratory and research officer. “Its old mine cut, deep red hue and inclusions tell a story that can be traced back to September 1938 when Jacques Cartier sold the stone to the Indian maharaja of Nawanagar.”
The GIA determined the stone most likely originated from Brazil or Venezuela, based on its mineral characteristics and history, and its color was caused by plastic deformation — subtle changes to the diamond’s crystal structure following a long and stressful history under tremendous heat and pressure deep within the earth.
Harry Winston’s son Ronald, who now owns the Winston Fancy Color Diamond Collection to which the stone belongs, donated it to the Smithsonian. The diamond is the centerpiece of a new exhibition of fancy-color natural diamonds that debuted at the museum April 1. The display also includes 40 other gems from the collection, including the Hope Diamond. The group will be on show in the museum’s Winston Gallery, the Smithsonian added.
Image: The Winston Red. (Photo by Robert Weldon, courtesy of Ronald Winston)
