LDiamonds are a girl’s best friend, it’s well known. At least that’s what Marilyn Monroe sang in 1953 in Men prefer blondes. It’s no surprise, then, that the actress wore one a few months later, during the film’s promotional tour. And not just any diamond: a spectacular 24.04 carat yellow diamond, pear cut and simply attached to a leather lace. The gem, well known to enthusiasts, is called the Moon of Baroda.
Discovered in the Indian mines of Golconda around the 12th centurye century and kept for a long time in the coffers of the maharajas of Baroda, this yellow diamond was found a few centuries later, without us really knowing how, in Marie-Antoinette’s jewelry box. It then passed through many hands before ending up in those of the American diamond merchant Meyer Rosenbaum, who presented Marilyn with the famous necklace in 1953.
Seven years later, it’s another star of the big screen who dazzles photographers with the yellow diamond she wears around her neck. Audrey Hepburn is promoting the film Diamonds on sofa (Breakfast at Tiffany’s) and, for the occasion, the jeweler of the Ve Avenue agreed to take her famous Tiffany diamond out of the safe.
Cheaters, traitors and other fools
Extracted from the mines of Kimberley, in South Africa, in 1877, it is monitored like milk on fire by the American company, which very rarely authorizes its release. Alternately mounted as a brooch or necklace by the French jeweler Jean Schlumberger, who was collaborating at the time with Tiffany & Co., this 128.54-carat canary yellow diamond was in fact only worn five times in addition to ‘a century.
Historically, man and yellow have always had a complicated relationship. Even if everything begins under the best auspices: in Antiquity, it evokes light, heat and prosperity. Greeks and Romans made it one of their favorite shades which they wore during religious ceremonies or weddings, while the Celts associated it with gold and immortality. From the Middle Ages, this bright color became a sign of stigma, associated with cheats, traitors and other crazy people. It will take many years before yellow once again becomes a symbol of power, joy and abundance, but also of victory – with, among other things, the famous yellow jersey worn by the winner of the Tour de France.
But nothing to scold jewelers, who have always cultivated a fascination for fine and precious stones evoking the solar star, giving yellow diamonds evocative names: Delaire Sunrise, Star of Bombay, The Golden Empress or Soleil d’or . And who, even today, work to make them shine in flamboyant jewelry.
