Word: diamond
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...like every other little girl in this country, I was raised on a solid serving of Disney princesses. I grew up dreaming of falling in love in a storybook fashion; my glance would fall upon the doting eyes of my soul mate—love at first sight! A diamond ring, gorgeous white wedding dress, “’til death do us part,” and we’d walk together, hand in hand, happily ever after. Or at least, we’d be high school or college sweethearts, maybe even meet through friends...
Graff, 65, one of the greatest diamond dealers in the world, started in the business at 14, peddling Victorian rings for a few dollars in London's East End. It didn't take long for him to realize that dealing, not creating, was his forte. So he started buying diamonds and slowly, over several years, they got bigger and bigger...
...close-knit diamond community, Graff is also known for his ability to spot unique stones and snap them up, seemingly without a moment's hesitation: ?I know the minute I see a stone whether I want it or not.? It's an assurance he says he has honed over the 40-odd years he has been dealing with diamonds, buying and selling some of the most expensive and famous stones in the world, including the 100.57-carat Star of America, an octagonal certified D-flawless; La Favorite, a historic 50.15-carat D-color, and the Idol...
Indeed, he is known for diamond dealing on the highest level, jumping on his private jet to sell stones to heads of state and, once, jetting off to his yacht in the Mediterranean with $150 million worth of stones in his pocket to rendezvous with a U.S. businessman on a less traveled stretch of sea between Italy and France. Of course, he sold all three of the famous stones he was carrying that...
...Graff's favorite stones is the Graff blue, an extremely rare, 3-carat round blue diamond that he has bought and sold three times over the past 25 years. The first time he saw it was at auction, where it sold to someone else for $180,000. Years later he spotted it on the hand of a client but couldn't buy it until after the client died, and his widow offered it to Graff for a much higher price. He eventually sold it to a Japanese client who offered $1.5 million. Fifteen years later, the same client wanted...