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Details
THE PRESIDENT VARGAS DIAMOND NO. IV
The unmounted rectangular-cut diamond weighing 27.33 carats, with presentation box
With report no. 10247749 dated 13 November 1997 from the Gemological Institute of America stating that the diamond is G colour, internally flawless clarity
Accompanied by a letter from the GIA Tem Trade Laboratory dated 13 November 1997, stating 'Let this letter serve to report that upon examination, prior to and after recutting, we have confirmed that the 27.33 carat diamond described in GIA Diamond Grading Report 10247749, dated November 13, 1997, was cut from the diamond previously weighing 28.03 carat described in Report 10189810, dated August 14, 1997.
The unmounted rectangular-cut diamond weighing 27.33 carats, with presentation box
With report no. 10247749 dated 13 November 1997 from the Gemological Institute of America stating that the diamond is G colour, internally flawless clarity
Accompanied by a letter from the GIA Tem Trade Laboratory dated 13 November 1997, stating 'Let this letter serve to report that upon examination, prior to and after recutting, we have confirmed that the 27.33 carat diamond described in GIA Diamond Grading Report 10247749, dated November 13, 1997, was cut from the diamond previously weighing 28.03 carat described in Report 10189810, dated August 14, 1997.
Provenance
Sold by Harry Winston to Mrs Lydia (Buhl) Morrison, circa 1945
Sotheby's New York, The Jewels from the Estate of Lydia Morrison, 13 April 1989, lot 587
Lydia Morrison, born in 1906, was the only child of Louis Mendelssohn, the American industrialist whose fortune was made during the early years of the automobile industry when his business, Fisher Body Company, merged with General Motors. After her debut in Detroit and marriage to C. Henry Buhl, she married Dr Thomas J. Morrison, a prominent New York physician in 1956.
Accompanied by a photocopy of an illuminated certificate of authenticity, signed by Harry Winston and Lydia Morrison (then Lydia Buhl).
The illuminated certificate reads 'The President Vargas Diamond, weighing 726.60 carats was the third largest rough diamond ever discovered throughout the world and the largest found in Brazil, South America. Two brothers, Joaquim and Manoel Evancio, prospectors, found it in the riverbed of the Rio Santo Antonio, Brazil, in August 1938. They sold it to a broker in Rio de Janeiro who named it after General Getulio Vargas, President of Brazil. It then passed to the Hollandsche Unie Bank of Rio in Amsterdam.
Its desirable quality and adaptability to be fashioned into gem stones were commended in Amsterdam by experts from all over the world who pronounced it to be absolutely perfect and of blue white color. Harry Winston, New York gem dealer, purchased and shipped it to the United States. After many months of careful study, it was cleaved in July of 1941 and subsequently cut into twenty-nine stones.
Portrayed hereon, are exact facsimile of the Vargas Diamond, the rough of one of said twenty-nine stones after cleaving and the finished diamond from said rough.
The undersigned (Lydia Buhl and Harry Winston) do hereby certify that the diamond accompanying this certificate is the same as portrayed hereon and is one of the twenty-nine stones cut from the original President Vargas Diamond.'
Sotheby's New York, The Jewels from the Estate of Lydia Morrison, 13 April 1989, lot 587
Lydia Morrison, born in 1906, was the only child of Louis Mendelssohn, the American industrialist whose fortune was made during the early years of the automobile industry when his business, Fisher Body Company, merged with General Motors. After her debut in Detroit and marriage to C. Henry Buhl, she married Dr Thomas J. Morrison, a prominent New York physician in 1956.
Accompanied by a photocopy of an illuminated certificate of authenticity, signed by Harry Winston and Lydia Morrison (then Lydia Buhl).
The illuminated certificate reads 'The President Vargas Diamond, weighing 726.60 carats was the third largest rough diamond ever discovered throughout the world and the largest found in Brazil, South America. Two brothers, Joaquim and Manoel Evancio, prospectors, found it in the riverbed of the Rio Santo Antonio, Brazil, in August 1938. They sold it to a broker in Rio de Janeiro who named it after General Getulio Vargas, President of Brazil. It then passed to the Hollandsche Unie Bank of Rio in Amsterdam.
Its desirable quality and adaptability to be fashioned into gem stones were commended in Amsterdam by experts from all over the world who pronounced it to be absolutely perfect and of blue white color. Harry Winston, New York gem dealer, purchased and shipped it to the United States. After many months of careful study, it was cleaved in July of 1941 and subsequently cut into twenty-nine stones.
Portrayed hereon, are exact facsimile of the Vargas Diamond, the rough of one of said twenty-nine stones after cleaving and the finished diamond from said rough.
The undersigned (Lydia Buhl and Harry Winston) do hereby certify that the diamond accompanying this certificate is the same as portrayed hereon and is one of the twenty-nine stones cut from the original President Vargas Diamond.'
Literature
L.S. Krashes, Harry Winston, The Ultimate Jeweler, New York, 1984, p. 125
I. Balfour, Famous Diamonds, London, 2000, p. 220
I. Balfour, Famous Diamonds, London, 2000, p. 220