The incredible transformation of De Grisogono’s $33 million diamond

Back in May 2016, Fawaz Gruosi won the red carpet jewelry game at the Cannes Film Festival, with a recent acquisition of incredible proportions. It took the De Grisogono team more than a year to obtain a final 163.41 carat D Flawless, emerald-cut diamond for the 404 carat raw stone. Now mounted on a unique fine jewelry necklace, it sold for $33 million at Christie’s, November 14.

It took De Grisogono’s master craftsmen 11 months to analyze, understand and map out the 4 de Fevereiro, the 404-carat raw diamond acquired by the house in 2016, painstaking work that started with a first cut by hand before a laser cut and final polish. It was the 27th biggest white raw diamond in the world and the resulting stone, an emerald-cut D Flawless diamond of 163.41 carats, the biggest of its size ever presented to the Gemological Institute of America; is now the focal point for a unique emerald and diamond fine jewelry necklace that required more than 1,700 hours of work. After a world tour, it will go up for auction at Christie’s this week. How much it will sell for is anybody’s guess, but we’re expecting a record-breaker.

At Johantgen Jewelers we love diamond jewelry and the excitement that can surround certain pieces! We thought we would share this fascinating story which was originally posted on Vogue.