Earth has been traveling through the universe for billions of years. During these eternal eons the planet has been subjected to radiation from a myriad of sources, although none greater than the Earth itself and this intense contact with radioactivity is what turns diamonds into the second rarest of colors "green'. The process actually alters the crystal structure of the diamond to allow the absorption of color, mostly on the surface same as anger turns mild-mannered Bruce Banner into the Hulk.
In my 20 years of selling diamonds on 47th street I've never had a call for a green diamond.
Pink, yes.
Yellow, many times.
Green, red, or blue.
Never until a Japanese gentleman walked into our store at the Plaza. He was accompanied by a friend, who said Mr. K was looking for something unusual.
"White diamonds are too common." Mr. K was dressed in a fine cashmere suit. I figured him for 58, healthy, and wealthy. A good combination for a buyer of rare gems.
"White diamonds are as rare as light bulbs, except when you're talking about triple-X stones." I had a 5-carat D Internally Flawless round stone in the safe. Its price was the same as a same house in North Palm Beach.
"I know D color stones, but I'm more talking about something more rare. A green diamond. Red diamonds I buy in Singapore, but I want a green diamond now."
"I have access to several green diamonds." None in my safe. Several associates dealt in these precious goods. "Would you care to look at some?"
"When?"
"Tomorrow." It was already 4 O'clock. Colored stone dealers go home early, because their stones have a special beauty best revealed in the afternoon light, so I bullshitted the customer with the partial truth. "I can get 5-7 diamonds for you. You have any idea about a shape or size?"
"One carat and shape is not important." Mr. K waved his hand in the air, as if he bought and sold diamonds on a daily basis. Customers like to bullshit too. We scheduled a rendezvous for 12:30 the next day for our Plaza store and after he left I got on the phone with Richie Boy.
"You think he's serious?" Richie Boy is suspicious of all tough calls.
"Yeah."
"You have an idea of how much he wants to spend?" Richie Boy liked to qualify the customers so you don't waste your time.
"He didn't say, but I'd figure around $300-500,000." This was simply a hunch based on his attire. Tailored imported cashmere and Bally loafers.
"That's a guess, right?" Richie Boy was no stranger to my hunches.
"Yep."
"Then we'll show him what we got." Richie Boy hung up the phone. He would call every fancy color dealer in the city. I only knew two. Namash had a .50 pointer Vivid intense for $650,000 and the other had nothing.
"A half-carat for that much?" I knew that they were expensive but not that expensive.
"That's the price to sell it for. You want it or not?"
"Why the hell not?" Namash had probably been sitting on this stone for years. Waiting for a call just like this. No one knows what the dealers paid for these stones. It doesn't matter. They could have found it on the street. Such things do happen.
That evening I researched colored diamonds on the internet.
The Dresden Green diamond is the most famous.
41 carats bombarded by alpha, beta, and gamma rays. The original gem weighed nearly 100 carats and first surfaced in the capitol of Saxony in the early 1700s. I read the information about this stone several times until I had mangled the facts into a good spiel for tomorrow's meeting with Mr. K, then went to sleep early. A little short of midnight. Dealing with big stones required a sober mind. Not all the time, but I also only had $20 in my pocket. Hardly enough to get messed up on.
Monday was my off-day, so I took my time going to the Plaza. I arrived thirty minutes early. Richie Boy was already waiting. Mr. K was at Demel's Coffee Shop. they had the most excellent chocolate in Manhattan.
"Where you been?" Richie Boy was accompanied by two dealersm. I knew both. They hadn't seen me for 6 years. We traded our histories in less than 100 words and moved onto the stones.
There were 7.
The biggest a 1.11 ct. Vivid Fancy Intense Green and the smallest a .50 Vivid. In total the seven stones cost about $3 million. The better stones displayed strong fluorescence, which was noted on the GIA certificates.
"Why's that?" Richie Boy asked the dealers.
Neither knew, so I said, "They were irradiated by radioactivity during their voyage to the surface. Just like Hulk."
The three of them stared at me as if I were crazy. Namash came into the store and I asked him why the better stones were fluorescent.
"Radiation."
"See." I liked being right.
"Go get your customer." Richie Boy hated not knowing more than me, but he would always be a better closer than me. The hammer was in his blood. I walked across the Plaza Retail Collection to Demel's Cafe. Mr. K was having a coffee.
"We're ready for you." I returned to the store and we waited. Mr. K. was on the phone and walking around the Retail Collection with purpose.
"What's his story?" Richie Boy was impatient. "We have $3,000,000 here and he acts as if it was important. Go get him and tell him either get his ass into the store or else we're leaving."
I returned to the cafe and Mr. K lifted his finger to indicate he was coming and then walked off to the men's room. Richie Boy wasn't happy.
"We don't have to put up with his shit. I'm out of here."
"He's playing a game. He wants to make you nervous. Once the Saudis had Namash fly to Paris. They gave him a VIP pass to their hotel and said they'd be with him later. Later was two days. So cool your jets, he'll be with us soon enough."
Richie Boy and I ordered expressos at Demel's.
As soon as we were served our coffees, Mr. K entered our store, tapping his watch to say he didn't have much time. Richie Boy put down his coffee in one gulp. I sipped at mine.
"Gimme two seconds and I'll be with you."
Richie Boy had little patience. I had a hang-over. I needed the coffee and finished it with pleasure. Mr. K saw the seven stones. He liked two. Not the one for $2.6 million.
"I like the two half-carat stones."
"They are the best on the face of the earth right now. The rest are either in vaults or still working their way to the surface." Richie Boy had a nice way with words.
We exchanged addresses, telephones, and emails and then discussed how to pay. This sale wouldn't be completed until late-January. I could have used the commission right now. I would have packed my bags and flown to Thailand for a week. Instead I have to stick around for a while. Pierre of the Plaza for 2009 too.
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