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- May 3, 2001
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I had the occasion in Vegas to attend a luncheon hosted by the company that is now marketing the Gabrielle cut by Gaby Tolkowsky.
It was a great luncheon and in explaining just how great a personage Sir Gaby is (he was recently knighted for his work in the diamond world) the following story was told.
I suppose I may have heard some of it before, but it truly was memorable as I had just spoken to the man to introduce myself a few minutes before he gave the presentation.
Paul Slegers and Lieve Peeters, his partner, had assured me that he was one of the World''s kindest men as well as a great cutter and told me to talk with him if I got the chance so I did, but only for about thirty seconds. (Which I used to tell him that his friends Paul and Lieve had said I should be sure to meet him as he is such a kind man.)
Here is the story:
When the Centenary Diamond was found, there was really only one man that DeBeers wanted to cut the diamond, Gaby Tolkowsky. The diamond was stored in a very well protected underground bunker, and it was there that Gaby studied the magnificent diamond for more than a year to learn its secrets and to speak with the diamond to see what it should become.
At the end of the year Gaby knew he could not cut it with the current state of the art equipment, so he designed some new equipment and had it made. That took probably another year, but I did not get that written down exactly so I do not know for sure how long it was.
He then went to DeBeers and asked Mr. Oppenheimer for a large stone to practice on as he did not want to experiment with the Centenary Diamond, as it was the largest colorless flawless diamond ever found and was said at the time to be worth ONE HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS.
Mr. Oppenheimer went to the safe and came out with an "ugly duckling" the Unnamed Brown", a 755 ct golden brown diamond. He spent some good amount of time studying this diamond and then cut the Golden Jubilee which finished at 545.67cts and the stone was then named the Golden Jubilee. (Later this diamond was presented to the King of Thailand to memorialize his 50 years of being King and the name was changed to The Magnificent Swan) At this time I believe The Magnificent Swan is the world''s largest faceted diamond.
After thus confirming that the equipment and techniques he had developed worked properly Gaby cut the World''s Largest Colorless Flawless diamond with a finished weight of 273.85cts.
Wow! A year studying the diamond in an underground bunker to best understand every secret of this flawless diamond, then at least another year to develop the techniques and the equipment that would be used to fashion her into a magnificent gem, then a "practice" gem that ended up being the world''s largest faceted diamond.
This story alone was worth coming to the luncheon for.
What happened three hours later made my day very special.
I went buy the booth where the Gabrielle cut was being marketed. I was approached by the sales reps who were obviously wanting me to look at and buy in to the line, which was not in the cards for me. I am completely loyal to the wonderful diamonds I sell for Paul and Lieve.
When they finally realized I really was not interested they left me to wait for the opportunity to thank Mr. Tolkowsky for his wonderful presentation.
When he was finally free I approached him and he looked up and recognized me from earlier and invited me to sit with him. We talked for nearly thirty minutes. He told me stories of his childhood and visits with his Great Uncle, Marcel Tolkowsky to whom we all owe so much. We talked of love and about his best friend, a Muslim from Lebanon whom he met about ten years ago. We talked of running barefoot in the sands. We talked of nothing important to anyone but us, and in what seemed like seconds I knew it was time to go and let this wonderful man go back to work.
He was as kind and as gentle as Paul and Lieve had said, and I felt like an old friend when I left and he took this picture with me. Today, he may not remember who I am, but I will always remember him and how this great man made time to chat with an admirer. It was truly a blessed event in my life.
Wink
It was a great luncheon and in explaining just how great a personage Sir Gaby is (he was recently knighted for his work in the diamond world) the following story was told.
I suppose I may have heard some of it before, but it truly was memorable as I had just spoken to the man to introduce myself a few minutes before he gave the presentation.
Paul Slegers and Lieve Peeters, his partner, had assured me that he was one of the World''s kindest men as well as a great cutter and told me to talk with him if I got the chance so I did, but only for about thirty seconds. (Which I used to tell him that his friends Paul and Lieve had said I should be sure to meet him as he is such a kind man.)
Here is the story:
When the Centenary Diamond was found, there was really only one man that DeBeers wanted to cut the diamond, Gaby Tolkowsky. The diamond was stored in a very well protected underground bunker, and it was there that Gaby studied the magnificent diamond for more than a year to learn its secrets and to speak with the diamond to see what it should become.
At the end of the year Gaby knew he could not cut it with the current state of the art equipment, so he designed some new equipment and had it made. That took probably another year, but I did not get that written down exactly so I do not know for sure how long it was.
He then went to DeBeers and asked Mr. Oppenheimer for a large stone to practice on as he did not want to experiment with the Centenary Diamond, as it was the largest colorless flawless diamond ever found and was said at the time to be worth ONE HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS.
Mr. Oppenheimer went to the safe and came out with an "ugly duckling" the Unnamed Brown", a 755 ct golden brown diamond. He spent some good amount of time studying this diamond and then cut the Golden Jubilee which finished at 545.67cts and the stone was then named the Golden Jubilee. (Later this diamond was presented to the King of Thailand to memorialize his 50 years of being King and the name was changed to The Magnificent Swan) At this time I believe The Magnificent Swan is the world''s largest faceted diamond.
After thus confirming that the equipment and techniques he had developed worked properly Gaby cut the World''s Largest Colorless Flawless diamond with a finished weight of 273.85cts.
Wow! A year studying the diamond in an underground bunker to best understand every secret of this flawless diamond, then at least another year to develop the techniques and the equipment that would be used to fashion her into a magnificent gem, then a "practice" gem that ended up being the world''s largest faceted diamond.
This story alone was worth coming to the luncheon for.
What happened three hours later made my day very special.
I went buy the booth where the Gabrielle cut was being marketed. I was approached by the sales reps who were obviously wanting me to look at and buy in to the line, which was not in the cards for me. I am completely loyal to the wonderful diamonds I sell for Paul and Lieve.
When they finally realized I really was not interested they left me to wait for the opportunity to thank Mr. Tolkowsky for his wonderful presentation.
When he was finally free I approached him and he looked up and recognized me from earlier and invited me to sit with him. We talked for nearly thirty minutes. He told me stories of his childhood and visits with his Great Uncle, Marcel Tolkowsky to whom we all owe so much. We talked of love and about his best friend, a Muslim from Lebanon whom he met about ten years ago. We talked of running barefoot in the sands. We talked of nothing important to anyone but us, and in what seemed like seconds I knew it was time to go and let this wonderful man go back to work.
He was as kind and as gentle as Paul and Lieve had said, and I felt like an old friend when I left and he took this picture with me. Today, he may not remember who I am, but I will always remember him and how this great man made time to chat with an admirer. It was truly a blessed event in my life.
Wink
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