Laurence Graff (born 1938) is an English jeweller. He is best known as a supplier of unique jewellery and rare jewels to the wealthy. In 2008, he bought the Wittelsbach Diamond for £16.4 million ($24.3 million). He recut the diamond, removing 4 carats (800 mg) and receiving criticism for altering the historic jewel.[1] In 2010 he set a record for the highest price ever paid for a jewel at auction, $46 million dollars/£29m, for a pink diamond.[2] Graff is estimated to be worth US$2.5 billion as of 2011.[3]
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Graff was born in Stepney (the London East End) in 1938 into a Jewish family, the son of a Romanian mother (Rebecca Segal) and Russian father (Harry Graff).[4][5] His father made suits off the Commercial Road while his mother ran a tobacconist and newsagents.[6] His brother Raymond was born in 1947. Around 1962, he married his wife Anne-Marie. In 2009 the Graffs were in the process of divorcing[7] but became reconciled.[8]
Graff left school and became an apprentice when he was 15. He was fired from that job after three months. His next job trained him to repair rings and create small pieces of jewellery. That jewellery shop went out of business. Graff began selling his jewellery designs independently to jewellers all over England. By 1962, he had two jewellery shops, including his first in Hatton Garden[9][10] - the centre of London's jewellery trade since medieval times. In 1960, he founded the Graff Diamonds company. By 1974, he had begun specializing in selling to newly rich buyers from the Middle East. In particular, he supplied many jewels for Hassanal Bolkiah, the 29th Sultan of Brunei.[6][11]
In 2008, Graff purchased the Wittelsbach Diamond for £16.4 million Sterling, which was a considerable premium over the £9 million guide price.[12] Almost two years later, Graff revealed he had had three diamond cutters repolish the stone to eliminate the chips and improve the clarity, reducing the diamond from 35.52 carats (7.10 g) to 31 carats (6.2 g). This action has been compared by critics to making the Mona Lisa prettier.[13] However, according to gemologist Richard W. Wise, "At a cost of only 4.45 carats the recut and renamed Wittelsbach-Graff Diamond has been raised from a GIA grade of Fancy Deep Grayish Blue to a Fancy Deep Blue. Its clarity grade has been likewise elevated from VS2 to Internally Flawless (IF). This is a substantial upgrade." Further, the "Graff recut retained the original double stellate brilliant facet pattern thus retaining the overall look of the original stone." [14] The renamed Wittelsbach-Graff Diamond and the Hope Diamond will be on display together at the Smithsonian Institution beginning the end of January 2010.[15] n).