A New Ambassador for the Tiffany Diamond is Born

One of the worlds most well known yellow diamonds, the Tiffany Diamond made a rare appearance earlier this year at the 91st Annual Academy Awards. Lady Gaga, the diamond’s new ambassador and that night’s Oscar winner for best original song,  rocked the red carpet wearing a necklace which featured the breathtaking 128.54-carat natural fancy yellow diamond set in platinum with 16 cushion-cut diamonds and 46 round brilliant diamonds. When people weren’t busy talking about the unabashed chemistry with her fellow co-star and fellow Oscar nominee, Bradley Cooper, they were talking about that canary yellow diamond necklace!

The 287.42-carat yellow "Tiffany diamond" was mined in the Kimberley Mines of South Africa in 1877. Tiffany's founder, Charles Lewis Tiffany, purchased the rough diamond and the gemologist George.F. Kunz, for whom the pink stone Kunzite is named, was asked to cut the stone. The 128.54-carat cushion, with its 82 radiant facets (24 more facets than a traditional 58-facet brilliant),  has remained with Tiffany & Company ever since. 

This was the first time that the iconic diamond, normally on display on the main floor of Tiffany's Fifth Avenue flagship store, was worn to an award show.  In fact, it has only ever been worn twice before! The first time was 1957, at the Tiffany Ball in Newport by Mrs. Mary Whitehouse, and then in 1961, Audrey Hepburn wore it in a promotional photo for the classic movie,  Breakfast at Tiffany's.  

In 1961 it was set in Schlumberger's Ribbon Rosette necklace

to promote film 'Breakfast at Tiffany'. Credit Tiffany & Co.  

Credit:Gravitas Ventures / Quixotic Endeavors / Matthew Miel

In 1995 it was set  in the  'Bird on a Rock' setting for the Schlumberger retrospective

at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris. Credit Tiffany & Co.  

In 2012 the diamond was set in its current diamond-necklace setting

for Tiffany’s 175th anniversary. Credit Tiffany & Co.  

Although normally on display at Tiffany's Fifth Avenue flagship store, the Tiffany Diamond  does occasionally make special appearances as it did in this year, for the opening of Tiffany’s flagship store in Sydney, Australia. Who knows where it will next be seen...

Sources: Tiffany and Co, Wikepedia, The Gilded Age Era, The Oscars, ABC 

Images Credit: Carlton Davis for Tiffany and Co, Gravitas Ventures / Quixotic Endeavors / Matthew Miel, Instagram, Mario Anzuoni/ Pinterest