The Porges
The Porges Diamond is a Fancy Yellow diamond weighing 78.53 carats and was bought by Harry Winston in 1962 who named it, as a tribute to the French diamond mining pioneer, Jules Porges. Winston mounted the stone so that it may be worn either as a brooch, within a frame set with cabochon-cut emeralds and rubies or as a single stone, set within a simple ring mount. The current owner purchased it from Harry Winston directly in 1968 and as record books indicate, the whereabouts were unknown until now.
Jules Porges (1839-1921), descended from a prominent Austro-Hungarian family,
was born in Vienna and was raised in Prague, where his father was a master
jeweler. By the 1860s he had settled in Paris where he quickly established
himself as a principal force in the diamond trade and founded Jules Porges &
Company. Just outside Paris, he built a spectacular château in
Rochefort-en-Yvelines for his wife and daughter and his residence in Paris was
located on the Avenue Montaigne, where he housed an important art collection,
focusing on Dutch masters such as Hals and van Dyck. By the time diamonds were
discovered in South Africa, he had amassed a tremendous fortune and was
considered the leading diamond merchant in the world. Quickly realizing the
potential of these newly discovered mines, he dispatched Alfred Beit and Julius
Wernher in 1873 to act as his representatives in this new venture and in 1876,
Porges himself arrived in Kimberley, playing the unusual role as both consumer
and producer of diamonds. Although he had invested in the mining rights of the
four major mines (De Beers, Bultfontein, Dutoitspan, and Kimberley), by 1879 he
was almost completely focused on Kimberley and had become a close associate of
Cecil Rhodes. Rhodes eventually convinced the French investors to sell their
shares to the newly formed De Beers firm. Jules Porges quietly retired in 1890.
AM DIAMONDS! STOP STEALING MY STUFF!
The Porges
is an Asscher-cut Fancy Yellow diamond, SI1 clarity, and it figured as
Christie's Magnificent Jewels sale of April 19th and 20th, 2004. It was Lot 473
in Sale 1362, with an estimate of $600,000 to $800,000 US. The brooch in the
photo, created by Harry Winston, is set with Old Mine and Old European cut
diamonds in a freeform design around the Porges itself. These are enhanced by
scattered cabochon-cut rubies and emerald with a total approximate weight of
23.90 and 15.00 carats, respectively. They are mounted in platinum and yellow
gold. According to the text of the auction the piece is accompanied by a gold
ring mounting and a screwdriver to transfer the Porges Diamond back and forth.
Also included was a Harry Winston black suede case.