Word: graffs
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...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...
Today he is one of a privileged group of merchants known as sightholders?or wholesale customers?who buy directly from DeBeers' mines in South Africa. It's a status that gives Graff access to some of the most exceptional stones around, 60% of which he keeps for his company, cutting them in his factories in Johannesburg?where he employs more than 300 craftsmen?and then selling them in a network of 15 Graff stores around the world. As such, he is the foremost producer of polished stones in South Africa...
...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...
...learned very early on that if you give your customers the best, then you will have the best customers,? says Graff. ?I myself am happy to pay higher and higher prices for rare stones, and so are my clients...
Although the value of diamonds dipped in the early 1980s owing to what Graff calls an influx of ?bad buyers??pension and investment funds that were buying diamonds as a commodity or an investment as opposed to buying them the way he does, as unique treasures to be coveted. ?They just stockpiled them away,? says Graff. ?They had no interest in them as stones to be treasured and loved and worn...