Word: diamonds
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...rare pink diamond set for auction last week in Sotheby's New York City gallery was, like the venerable institution, one of a kind. Appraisers at the 239-year-old auction house had estimated the value of the nearly flawless 9.58-carat gem at more than half a million dollars. But the day before the diamond was due to be auctioned, Sotheby's officials had a problem: the stone was missing...
...owned by a consortium of Japanese businessmen, had been protected by armed security guards and videocameras that snapped pictures every ten seconds. Nonetheless, when a customer asked to examine Lot 296 more closely, a startled Sotheby's clerk found in its place a cheaper diamond substitute (value: $10,000), apparently dabbed with pink nail polish...
Aside from the firm's employees, the only people who had access to the stone were a number of "very special clients," who were allowed to handle the diamond briefly while examining it. One of them may have been a little too special. FBI investigators believe that the switch was probably made during one of the intervals when the gem was out of the display case. They are now studying the videotapes to try to determine who did it. Said FBI Spokesman Joseph Valiquette: "It was a very professional...
...major theft is one of the worst disasters that can befall an auction house, since it tends to undermine the trust placed in the institution by the owners of the fine art and other collectibles that it sells. But the missing diamond is only one of several problems now besetting the London-based Sotheby's. Last year the company lost $4.6 million on revenues of $80 million, and now it is fighting a formidable takeover attempt...
...chilly morning in March 1965, a highly unusual gathering took place at Dow Chemical Co.'s headquarters in Midland, Mich. Without any corporate fanfare, Dow scientists met with colleagues from three rival firms, Hooker Chemical, Diamond Alkali and Hercules Powder. On the agenda that day was a discussion of the effects on human health of a family of chemicals known as dioxin. The chemicals, including Agent Orange, later used by the U.S. to defoliate the jungles of Viet Nam, are an unwanted byproduct in the making of herbicides. At the time, most chemists were only vaguely aware of dioxin...