Photo Credit: David Moore. Golden Eye Diamond.COM
A rare yellow diamond is to be auctioned by the United States Government. The diamond known as the Golden Eye Diamond is said to have a history of over 100 years.
The Golden Eye Diamond is a 43.51 carat cushion cut, internally flawless , intense fancy yellow diamond (Canary yellow).
Natural fancy intense yellow diamonds are extremely rare. There are only a few known yellow diamonds of this caliber or grade, example Tiffany Yellow diamond, Red Cross diamond, Mouna diamond, Shepard diamond and the Peacock Diamond
The presence of trace amounts of nitrogen is responsible for the color of yellow diamonds. Nitrogen has a relatively small atomic size comparable to that of carbon atoms and can therefore replace some of the carbon atoms in the crystal structure. Diamonds can be divided into two types depending on the concentration of trace amounts of nitrogen in them. If nitrogen is in detectable quantities it is called Type I. If the nitrogen is in undetectable quantities it is called Type II. 98% of all naturally occurring diamonds are Type I. The remaining 2% are Type II.Type I diamonds can be further classified into different groups. Canary yellow or fancy intense yellow diamonds are classified as Type Ib because nitrogen is scattered throughout the diamond as single atoms which absorb light at the blue end of the visible spectrum.
Fancy intense yellow diamonds account for less than 0.1% of all naturally occurring diamonds. Therefore the Golden Eye diamond is an extremely rare diamond.
The diamond has not yet been formally appraised, but it is widely believed to be worth as high as 15 to 20 million US$.
The diamond was confiscated during an undercover FBI operation to investigate drug dealings and money laundering . Miller (68) and Monia (62) were arrested in 2006 after a three year long undercover operation. Monia told the undercover agent that he didn’t need to know the buyers background .
“So anyhow … the point is, I don’t have a problem doing any business with rug dealers, do you?”
The man replied: “Rug dealers? No, I love rug dealers.”
-according to court documents.
Monia was sentenced to 13 years in prison after been convicted for 4 counts of money laundering.
Miller pleaded guilty to 37 counts of money laundering, but was given a reduced term (57 months) in exchange since he decided to testify against his friend Monea.
On Monday the 11th of May 2009 , the U.S. District Judge John R. Adams ruled that the federal government can keep the diamond.
The U.S. Marshals service is to sell the diamond. The administrative officer for the U.S Marshals northern district of Ohio, Denise Bortnick , is stated to have said that they will not use the regular auction house or online bidding that sells most of the forfeited property.20% of the proceeds will go to the U.S. Marshals service. The remainder will go to the federal and local agencies that have assisted in the investigation.
External Link: Golden Eye Diamond. COM
