Late last fall, the American jewelry house Tiffany & Co. debuted its annual collection of high jewelry, this time putting the focus squarely on all the ways that colored gemstones come together to create unexpected, artful, and innovative designs.
The line, entitled Extraordinary Tiffany, additionally features several vintage creations by Jean Schlumberger, the French designer who mounted the famed Tiffany Yellow Diamond—one of the largest yellow diamonds in the world at 287.42 carats when it was discovered—on two occasions. The first was for a necklace worn by Audrey Hepburn in publicity photographs for Breakfast at Tiffany’s in 1961; the second was in 1995, for a whimsical bird brooch cheekily entitled “Bird On a Rock,” which was shown in Schlumberger’s 1995 retrospective exhibition at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris.
Henry B Platt, great-grandson of the founder of Tiffany’s, adjusts the Jean Schlumberger necklace set with the 128-carat Tiffany Diamond for Audrey Hepburn. Photo courtesy Getty Images.
Unsurprisingly, yellow diamonds feature prominently in this latest Extraordinary Tiffany collection. Perhaps the best example is the Golden Star necklace, a platinum and 18-carat yellow gold necklace featuring layers of mixed-cut white diamonds (totaling over 70 carats) that collect around a whopping 21-carat Fancy Intense Yellow diamond. Hand-sourced from Botswana, the stone traveled to Antwerp where it was cut and polished before arriving in the United States to be set as the focal point of the piece.
Additionally, the surrounding white diamonds were carefully cut in alternating styles—in pear-shaped, marquise, and round brilliants—to enhance the color of the center stone, catching and reflecting its light at various angles.
A behind-the-scenes look at the making of the Golden Star necklace. Photo courtesy Tiffany & Co.
In many ways, the piece pays homage to the evolution of the Tiffany Diamond, which was also most recently set at the center of a white diamond-laden necklace totaling over 100 carats for Tiffany’s 175th anniversary in 2012. The piece was later worn by Lady Gaga to the 2019 Oscars and will appear again—this time worn by Gal Gadot—in the latest film adaptation of Agatha Christie’s Death On The Nile this September.
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