Vip Gioielli presents its exclusive Tiffany & Co. jewelry collection.
Tiffany & Co. , commonly known as Tiffany's , is an American company founded in 1837 in New York , which sells jewelry through thousands of stores located in many countries.
The company was founded by Charles Lewis Tiffany and John B. Young in Manhattan. Initially the shop sold a wide variety of items, including stationery, and operated only under the Tiffany name. Subsequently, when John B. Young became a partner of Charles Lewis Tiffany, the name changed to Tiffany & Co.
The first store opened on September 20, 1837 at 259 Broadway.
In 1848, Charles Lewis Tiffany purchased the Crown Jewels of France and in 1845 the first Blue Book was published which, since then, has been published annually to present the autumn collection of Tiffany & Co.
In 1878, Tiffany participated in the Universal Exposition in Paris and, a few years later, thanks to the collaboration of the gemologist George Kunz, introduced new materials for the creation of his jewels: Kunzite, morganite, blue tanzanite, tsavorite. In 2012, the 175th anniversary, Tiffany introduces a new metal alloy called rubedo .
Throughout its history, Tiffany & Co. boasts of having:
- produced ceremonial swords during the Civil War;
- created, in 1968, the White House china service commissioned by President Lyndon B. Johnson;
- redesigned, in 1880, the coat of arms of the United States, reproduced on the one dollar bill;
- produced, from 1900 to 1910, the American Flag pin;
- designed, from 1917 to 1942, the Congressional Medal of Honor, known as the Tiffany Cross;
- from 1860 to today, created sports trophies for races such as the baseball world championship, the Indianapolis 500, the NASCAR Sprint Cup, the Super Bowl, the PGA Tour and the US Open Tennis.
Diamonds
The tradition of Tiffany diamonds dates back to 1848, when New York newspapers crowned Charles Lewis Tiffany as "The King of diamonds" (a pun untranslatable into Italian in which "diamonds", which literally means "diamonds ", is also used to indicate the suit of Diamonds in French cards; we could therefore also interpret the epithet in the sense of "King of Diamonds"), thanks to the purchase of the French Crown Jewels. In 1886 Charles Lewis Tiffany introduced a classic engagement ring still used today, the "Tiffany Setting", the diamond ring. Tiffany & Co. has a periodically certified laboratory (Tiffany Gemological Laboratory) for the evaluation of diamonds. The gemological laboratory relies on professionals with diplomas in gemology who must pass a training course before being able to proceed with the evaluation of a Tiffany diamond. The evaluation of a diamond is carried out according to the "4 Cs":
- Cut (cut) ;
- Color (color) ;
- Clarity (purity) ;
- Carat weight (carat weight) ...
Furthermore, for superior quality, Tiffany also evaluates diamonds based on "presence", i.e. the symmetry and polish of the stone. The cut serves to obtain maximum brightness and sparkle from the diamond, at the expense of size. The color is due to impurities that may be present within the diamond and is classified on a scale from D to Z, where "D", "E" and "F" stand for colorless, "G", "H" and "I" stands for almost colorless and from "L" to "Z" we have the shades "light yellow", "very light yellow" and "light yellow". Tiffany only accepts diamonds that fall within the D to I range.
Purity means the absence of imperfections in a diamond; Tiffany standards prohibit diamond enhancements with artificial techniques such as heat treatment and color adjustment. Tiffany & Co., in addition to a high standard of the products it deals with, also has a high standard regarding ethics: the mining companies it collaborates with must guarantee respect for the environment and social responsibility.
Furthermore, Tiffany & Co. purchases diamonds only from states that participate in the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS), created to certify the origin of diamonds and, consequently, eliminate their smuggling from war zones.
Tiffany Yellow Diamond
The Tiffany yellow diamond was found in 1878 in Kimberley, South Africa. At 287.2 carats it is one of the largest yellow diamonds ever discovered. The diamond was cut by George Frederick Kunz in the "cushion" shape until it weighed 128.54 carats with a total of 90 facets. The diamond was on display at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington DC from April 18, 2007 to September 23, 2007.
Except for special events, such as the exhibition at the Washington museum in 2007, the yellow diamond is exhibited in the Tiffany & Co. store in New York. The diamond has only been worn twice in its history: by Mrs. Sheldon Whitehouse at the Tiffany Ball in 1957 mounted, for the occasion, in a necklace of white diamonds and by Audrey Hepburn in 1961 to advertise the film Breakfast at Tiffany's.
In 1995, the diamond was mounted on “Bird on a Rock,” a creation of Jean Schlumberger and remained that way for 17 years. In 2012, the Tiffany yellow diamond was mounted on a necklace to celebrate the 175th anniversary of the birth of Tiffany & Co.
