World’s most expensive purseworth $3.8 million

This heart-shaped bag made of 4,517 diamonds is sure to be a girl's best friend

If diamonds are a girl’s best friend, then there will be few women in the world who won’t swoon over this handbag. Crowned by the Guinness Book of World Records as the world’s most expensive, the "1001 Nights Diamond Purse" is valued at $3.8 million.

The heart-shaped bag is encrusted with more than 4,517 diamonds  – 105 yellow, 56 pink and 4,356 colorless. The diamonds on the bag weigh a whopping total of 381.92 carats.

“The Mouawad 1001 Nights Diamond Purse is designed to mesmerize with its lavish attention to detail and elaborate workmanship incorporating thousands of diamonds,” said Pascal Mouawad, co-guardian of the House of Mouawad, which was founded in 1890.

The bag was handcrafted from 18-carat gold. It took 10 artisans, working over a period of four months, an incredible 1,100 hours to create the purse.

But this isn't the first time that Dubai-based designer Mouawad has gone out on a limb with its diamond creations. The Dubai-based jewelry design house has created several bras made out of diamonds, including the Very Sexy Fantasy Bra for Victoria’s Secret.The bag was handcrafted from 18-carat gold. It took 10 artisans, working over a period of four months, an incredible 1,100 hours to create the purse.

The purse was on display at the Doha Jewellery and Watches Exhibition over the weekend of Feb. 20. There has been no word yet if anyone has bought the purse.

GIA Diamond Grading Report Provides Most Respected Diamond Analysis

Items of significant value typically come with important documentation. Houses have deeds. Vehicles have titles and registration. Purebred pets have pedigree papers. And a college education is validated with a diploma. But what about something as important as a diamond? The answer is that independent support documentation is available for diamonds, too, to verify their quality and provide positive identification.

The most widely used and recognized means of verifying a diamond’s quality is with a GIA Diamond Grading Report™ or GIA Diamond Dossier®, provided by the internationally recognized, nonprofit Gemological Institute of America (GIA).

A report from GIA provides an expert analysis of the quality of a diamond based upon the 4Cs of diamond grading: color, cut, clarity, and carat weight. The GIA Diamond Grading Report also includes a plotting diagram which depicts the diamond’s unique clarity characteristics, such as inclusions.  In addition, since GIA is not affiliated with any commercial enterprise, the public is assured the world’s most impartial and accurate analysis of a diamond.

The GIA Laboratory employs hundreds of highly trained diamond graders, gemologists, and research technicians and scientists to ensure the highest caliber of analysis for every diamond submitted for grading. Some of the world’s most famous diamonds have been graded by GIA Laboratory experts, including the legendary Hope Diamond (45.52 carats) and the De Beers Centenary Diamond (273.85 carats).

GIA only grades unmounted diamonds, and the fee for services varies based on the weight of the diamond. For an additional fee, the unique GIA Report Registry number can be micro-laser inscribed onto the diamond’s girdle (thin outer edge). This unique number provides added security to the diamond’s owner. The owner can also choose to inscribe a personal message, such as “I Love You,” a special date, or any message of choice. The number or wording is permanently registered in GIA’s archive database.

Diamonds weighing 1.99 carats or less can be issued a GIA Diamond Dossier®. This report provides the same information as the GIA Diamond Grading Report, except for the plotting diagram. The micro-laser inscription of the diamond’s unique GIA Report number is included for each diamond receiving a Dossier at no additional charge.

The most convenient way for the public to obtain a GIA Diamond Grading Report or Diamond Dossier, or to request laser inscription services from the GIA  Laboratory, is to request services through a local fine jewelry retailer. Retail jewelers are more familiar with the care and handling of diamonds and jewelry, are better equipped to facilitate service arrangements, and are uniquely qualified to advise the public on the importance and interrelationship of features discussed in a GIA Grading Report.

A consumer information report in The Wall Street Journal noted, “Every diamond should come with a grading certificate from an accredited gemological laboratory; the jewelers we talked to agree that the Gemological Institute of America (GIA), an independent nonprofit organization, is the most trustworthy.”

GIA, established in 1931 and regarded as the world’s foremost authority in gemology, is noted for such achievements as inventing the modern jeweler’s loupe (1934), creating the 4Cs (late 1930s), and establishing the International Diamond Grading System™ (1953) – which is recognized worldwide as the standard for diamond grading.

The GIA 4C's grading system

Because diamonds are so valuable, it’s essential to have a universal grading system for comparing their quality. In the 1940s and ’50s, GIA developed the 4Cs and the GIA International Diamond Grading System™ to objectively compare and evaluate diamonds.

The Four Cs of diamond quality will give you a multitude of information about a diamond’s characteristics and value, but they can’t begin to describe one elusive quality – beauty. To do that, you’ll need to experience the diamond with your own eyes.

Carat Weight

Carat weight is the most intuitive of the 4Cs – you expect a larger diamond to be worth more when assigning diamond values.

Diamonds and other gemstones are weighed using metric carats with one carat weighing about the same as a small paper clip, or 0.2 grams. Just as a dollar is divided into 100 pennies, a carat is divided into 100 points which means that a diamond of 50 points weighs 0.50 carats. But two diamonds of equal weight can have very different values depending on the other three characteristics of a diamond’s 4Cs: clarity, color, and cut.

Because even a fraction of a carat can represent a considerable difference in cost when purchasing diamonds, exact precision is crucial. In the diamond industry, weight is measured to a thousandth of a carat and rounded to the nearest hundredth. Each hundredth is called a point (a 0.25 ct. diamond would be called a “twenty-five pointer”). Diamond weights greater than one carat are expressed in carats and decimals. (For instance, a 1.08 ct. stone would be described as “one point oh eight carats,” or “one oh eight.”)

What are "magic sizes"?
Some weights are considered "magic sizes" - half carat, three-quarter carat, and carat. Visually, there's little difference between a 0.99ct. diamond and one that weighs a full carat. But the price differences between the two can be significant.

Color

The Color of the diamond is all about what you can't see.

Diamonds are valued by how closely they approach colorlessness – the less color, the higher the value. Most diamonds found in jewelry stores run from colorless to near-colorless with slight hints of yellow or brown. The only exceptions are the fancy-color diamonds that lie outside of this range.

GIA's diamond color-grading scale is the industry’s most widely accepted grading system. The scale begins with the letter D, representing colorless, and continues, with increasing presence of color, to the letter Z. Diamonds are color-graded by comparing them to stones of known color under controlled lighting and precise viewing conditions.

Many of these color distinctions are so subtle that they are invisible to the untrained eye. But these slight color differences make a very big difference in diamond quality and price.

Clarity


Diamond Clarity refers to the absence of internal inclusions or external blemishes.

Because they are created deep within the earth, most diamonds contain unique birthmarks called inclusions (internal) and blemishes (external). Diamonds with very few birthmarks are rare and, of course, rarity affects a diamond’s value. Using the International Diamond Grading System™, created by GIA, diamonds are given a clarity grade that ranges from flawless (FL) to diamonds with more prominent inclusions (I3).

Every diamond is unique. But none are absolutely perfect even though some come close, even under 10x magnification. Known as flawless diamonds, they are exceptionally rare.

The GIA Clarity Scale contains 11 grades, with most readily available diamonds falling into the VS or SI categories. In determining a clarity grade, GIA considers the size, nature, position, color or relief, and quantity of clarity characteristics visible under 10x magnification.

• Flawless (FL) - No inclusions or blemishes are visible to a skilled grader using 10× magnification
• Internally Flawless (IF) - No inclusions and only minor blemishes are visible to a skilled grader using 10× magnification
• Very, Very Slightly Included (VVS1 and VVS2) - Inclusions are difficult for a skilled grader to see under 10× magnification
• Very Slightly Included (VS1 and VS2) - Inclusions are clearly visible under 10× magnification but can be characterized as minor
• Slightly Included (SI1 and SI2)- Inclusions are noticeable to a skilled grader using 10× magnification
• Imperfect (I1, I2, and I3) - Inclusions are obvious under 10× magnification and may affect transparency and brilliance

What causes inclusions?
Small crystals can become trapped in a diamond when it’s forming. Sometimes as a crystal grows it can develop irregularities in its atomic structure.

Cut

Cut fuels the diamond’s fire, sparkle, and brilliance.

It seems miraculous that the traditional 58 tiny facets in a diamond, each precisely cut and sharply defined, may be only two millimeters in diameter. But without this precision, a diamond wouldn’t be near as beautiful as it is. Without a doubt, the allure of a particular diamond depends more on cut than anything else.

Though extremely difficult to analyze, the cut of a diamond has three attributes: brightness (the total light reflected from a diamond), fire (the dispersion of light into the colors of the spectrum), and scintillation (the light flashes – or sparkle – when a diamond moves).

An understanding of diamond cut begins with the shape of a diamond, with the standard round brilliant dominating the majority of diamond jewelry. All other diamond shapes are known as fancy shapes or fancy cuts and include the marquise, pear, oval, and emerald cuts. Hearts, cushions, triangles, and a variety of other new shapes are also gaining popularity in many forms of diamond jewelry.

As a value factor, though, cut refers to a diamond’s proportions, symmetry and polish. For example, look at a side view of the standard round brilliant. The major components, from top to bottom, are the crown, girdle and pavilion. A round brilliant cut diamond has 57 or 58 facets, the 58th being a tiny flat facet at the bottom of the pavilion that’s known as the culet. The large, flat facet on the top is the table. The proportions of a diamond refer to the relationships between table size, crown angle and pavilion depth. A wide range of proportion combinations are possible, and these ultimately affect the stone’s interaction with light.

In early 2005, GIA unveiled a diamond cut grading system for standard round brilliants in the D-to-Z color range. This system, the product of more than 15 years of intensive research and testing, assigns an overall diamond cut grade ranging from Excellent to Poor.

GIA Diamond Grading Guide: How to Buy a Diamond

GIA - Gemological Institute Of America

A TRADITION OF SCIENCE AND EDUCATION

If you'r in the market to purchase a diamond or a gem one of the first and foremost things you must do is get to know GIA and their science behind it all. If your looking for an unbiased and reliable source of education before you venture out into the diamond world you must visit the Gemological institute of America web site.

Established in 1931, the Gemological Institute of America is the world's foremost authority on diamonds, colored stones, and pearls.

GIA exists to protect all purchasers of gemstones, by providing the education, laboratory, research, andinstruments needed to accurately and objectively determine gemstone quality.

Ensure the public trust

A nonprofit institute, GIA's mission is to ensure the public trust in gems and jewelry by upholding the highest standards of integrity, academics, science, and professionalism through education, research, laboratory services, and instrument development. GIA attained its leadership role through decades of integrity and ingenuity, and everything they do is still driven by this mission.

A Place to Turn to for Unbiased Analysis of Gemstone Quality
GIA is the world's most respected gemological laboratory, entrusted with grading and identifying more gems than any other lab including the Hope, the Taylor-Burton, the De Beers Millennium Star, and the Incomparable. Located in major gem and jewelry centers around the world, GIA laboratories are staffed by expert diamond graders and gemologists, whose work sets the standard for grading practices worldwide.

The bottom line is if you'r in the market to buy your special someone that dream engagement ring make sure it is certified by the people who invented the grading system.