It's 'The Pumpkin' & It's GREAT!

Linus won't find this Great Pumpkin in his pumpkin patch. It will outshine any harvest moon on Halloween. On the eve of Halloween in 1997, Sotheby's auction house auctioned this very rare 5.54 ct. cushion cut, natural Fancy Vivid Orange diamond. It was purchased by the Harry Winston Company and was christened the 'Pumpkin Diamond'.

The diamond was discovered in 1997 in the Central African Republic, and it displayed brown hues in the rough state. William Goldberg and Joe Gaddie purchased it and took a leap of faith that paid off when after cutting, it lost the brown and radiated a vivid orange color. Less then one percent of all diamonds are orange and fewer are considered 'pure orange' without modifying hues. Those diamonds are known as 'Fire Diamonds' and command high prices equal to their rarity. The mystery of this orange diamonds is, what exactly contributes to making the color? Is it the Hydrogen or the Nitrogen? It remains a mystery still today.

Winston set the Pumpkin with two crescent shaped diamonds and offered the ring on loan in 2002 to actress Halle Berry. It brought her good luck when she wore it at the Oscar Awards, because she won Best Actress, for her role in Monster's Ball. A first for an African American Actress. The ring was valued at that time at 3 million dollars.

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