Sold for well over its estimate at auction a year ago, the historic Wittelsbach Diamond bears a striking resemblance to the most famous of true blues, the 45.52-carat deep-blue Hope Diamond. A side-by-side exhibition of both stones at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History from January 29 through August 1, 2010, will help decide if they are passing strangers or share a deeper connection.
An Auction WinnerThe Wittelsbach was already famous when it was offered for sale at Christie’s auction house in London on December 10, 2008. The stone, then described as a 35.56-carat cushion-shaped, fancy deep grayish blue diamond, was expected to fetch $15 million, according to François Curiel, head of Christie’s international jewelry division. Instead, two determined dealers pushed the price sky-blue high, with the ultimate winner, Laurence Graff, paying $24.3 million for the stone. Immediately, he announced that he would recut the diamond.
“The stone is heavily chipped around the edges,” Graff said following the auction. “We will close the culet by 30 percent. We will add a lot of light and luster. The true color material is there. The stone was cut in the 1600s. I think we know more about polishing diamonds today. It will come back to the market as a more beautiful stone.”
Upon its recutting under Graff’s direction, the stone was pared down to 31.06 carats, upgraded to internally flawless, type IIb, deep blue and renamed the Wittelsbach-Graff. The Gemological Institute of America (GIA) also noted, “It is the largest flawless or internally flawless, fancy deep blue, natural color we have graded to date.” The exhibition at the Smithsonian marks its first public appearance in more than 50 years, although it was on view prior to the December 2008 auction.
A Royal HistoryThe Wittelsbach has been known since 1664, when it was given to Infanta Margarita Teresa by her father, King Philip IV of Spain, upon her engagement. In 1722, the diamond passed to the Wittelsbachs, who were members of the ruling House of Bavaria. Following the upheaval of World War I, Bavaria became a republic and the crown jewels of the House of Wittelsbach were sold at a Christie’s auction in 1931.
The diamond disappeared for the next 20 years, eventually reappearing in Belgium in 1951. It was shown, without its royal pedigree, at the World Exhibition in Brussels in 1958 and was identified by Belgian gem expert Joseph Komkommer as the Wittelsbach blue in 1962. But can its origin be traced further back to the Hope?
HypothesisAccording to Jeffrey Post, curator of the National Gem Collection, the two diamonds “have been described separately, but they have never been put next to each other, to be able to compare them. Much of what makes these stones interesting is their history. We know that these two historic blue diamonds can be traced to India, from the same time period. There is speculation that they were cut from the same rough. It’s unlikely they came from the same piece of rough, but the question is out there. Could they have cleaved naturally? Could two of the largest blue diamonds be just a coincidence? They have parallel histories.”
Raymond Sancroft-Baker, jewelry expert at Christie’s, sums up the connection: “It is likely that the Wittelsbach was brought back from India by Jean Baptiste Tavernier.” So, too, was the grandfather stone that eventually become the Hope. During his meanderings in the mid-1600s, Tavernier acquired a 112-carat diamond believed to be from the Kollur mine in Golconda, India. Tavernier described the crudely cut stone as a “beautiful violet” color. In 1668, he sold it to King Louis XIV of France. Within five years, the court jeweler had recut the stone to some 67 carats, and it was now described as “steely blue.” It eventually became known as The French Blue.
The stone was lost during the violent upheavals in France, re-emerging only in 1839 in the collection of Henry Philip Hope, from which it took its new name. Eventually, the stone moved through the Hope family and ultimately was sold to Pierre Cartier. He set it and eventually sold it to Evalyn Walsh McLean, who owned it until 1947. Upon her death, the Hope, along with her entire jewelry collection, was purchased by Harry Winston. After exhibiting the stone for some ten years at various charitable events, Winston donated the Hope to the Smithsonian Institution on November 10, 1958.
While in the possession of Harry Winston, Post says, “There is some indication that Winston touched it up in the 1950s, mostly to improve nicks, but there was no noticeable change in the weight.”
Testing the TheoryRecutting notwithstanding, Post relishes this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to put all the theories to the test. “We will do side-by-side comparison, using ultraviolet, visible light absorption. Most blue diamonds show phosphorescence. We can do spectroscopy to see if they both exhibit a distinct spectra.” The Hope was examined with just such a light recently and revealed not only the expected red phosphorescence, but a particular spectrum.
Post says the recutting of the Wittelsbach, and the loss of some 5 ½ carats of weight, has not taken anything away from the charm of the historic cut. He was impressed, he said, by “how faithful the cut is now to the old, overall shape. I was concerned how much weight was lost but when I saw it, I was impressed that the stone still looks like the Wittelsbach in its overall appearance.” And, he adds, “In the recutting, the properties of the diamond itself didn’t change; it should not affect the spectroscopy.”
If the Wittelsbach-Graff exhibits the same spectrum, that would be strong proof that the two stones are not only soul mates, but possibly womb mates.
Article from the Rapaport Magazine - January 2010. To subscribe click here.