Gabi Tolkowsky - Master Diamond Cutter
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No trip to the Diamond District in Antwerp would be complete without a visit to Gabi Tolkowsky. Gabi is arguably the most famous diamond cutter in the world, having been selected to cut some of the largest and most expensive diamonds ever, including the Centenary Diamond, the Golden Jubilee and the Pink Sunrise.
Buying Gabi's diamonds is a truly pleasurable experience. It is more like catching up with a good friend rather than doing business. His passion for diamonds though is unsurpassed and one cannot get as excited listening to his enthusiastic recollections of some very historic moments in his-story of diamonds.
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Gabi's Great Uncle invented the "Tolkowsky Cut" in the early 1920's. This cut is in fact the round brilliant cut used for most diamonds today.Since 1920 millions of dollars have been spent trying to find an even better way of cutting diamonds to improve their reflection of light and brilliance. These efforts have failed and the Tolkowsky, or round brilliant cut, diamond is still the most popular today.
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The image to the left is inside Gabi's offices in the Diamond District of Antwerp. This gives an indication of scale of The Centenary Diamond. Johnny holds a scaled replica of Gabi's before the diamond is cut. Patricia is holding a scaled replica of the diamond cut and polished.
The Centenary started as a 599 carat piece of rough and ended up as a polished D/ Flawless 273 carat stone with 247 facets. This diamond is acknowledged as the largest top colour, flawless modern cut diamond with excellent symmetry and finish grades, certified by the GIA. It is rumoured to have been sold in 1989 for $US100 million.
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