Origin of name
The Strawn-Wagner diamond gets its name from the
founder/owner of the diamond Shirley Strawn of Murfreesboro, Arkansas, who
discovered the diamond in the Crater of Diamonds State Park, in Arkansas,
the only diamond mine in the world where visitors are allowed to search for
diamonds for a nominal fee and keep what they find. The second part of the
name Wagner is derived from the name of her great-great-grandfather Lee
Wagner.
Characteristics of the
diamond
The diamond is a 1.09-carat, round brilliant-cut,
D-color, internally flawless diamond. It was graded at the laboratories of
the American Gem Society (AGS) in 1998, who certified the diamond as having
a perfect grade of 0/0/0, which is equivalent to ideal cut/ideal color/ideal
clarity or ideal cut/D-color/flawless. Triple zero is the highest grade that
can be attained by a diamond. This unique diamond is said to be the most
perfect diamond ever certified in the laboratory of the American Gem
Society.
Being a D-color diamond, the Strawn-Wagner is undoubtedly
a Type IIa diamond. These diamonds are free of nitrogen and other impurities
that can cause color in diamonds. They also have perfectly formed crystals,
without any plastic distortions, that can also induce rare fancy colors to
diamonds. Such diamonds are said to be chemically pure and structurally
perfect, and therefore they are absolutely colorless. They are also referred
to as the "purest of the pure" of all diamonds.
History
The Strawn-Wagner diamond was discovered in 1990 by park
visitor Shirley Strawn of Murfreesboro, Arkansas, in the Crater of Diamonds
State Park of Arkansas. The rough white diamond weighed 3.03 carats. Under
the policy of the "finders are keepers" of the park, Shirley Strawn became
the owner of this rough white diamond. She kept the diamond for almost seven
years, when in 1997, Bill Underwood, the first certified gemologist of
Arkansas, recommended that she send the rough stone to Lazare Kaplan
International of New York City, for cutting.
Mr. Lazare Kaplan was an outstanding cleaver and cutter
of diamonds, who had learnt the craft of diamond cutting in Antwerp,
Belgium. He descends from three generations of jewelers and diamond cutters.
He always insists on the quality of a diamond sometimes at the expense of
quantity, trying to obtain the maximum fire and brilliance. He transferred
his business activities to North America in 1914, and pioneered the
establishment of the diamond cutting industry in Puerto Rico. Mr. Lazare
Kaplan had cut most of the famous diamonds acquired by Harry Winston.
Mr. Lazare Kaplan transformed the rough stone into
an ideal-cut round brilliant diamond weighing 1.09 carats. The ideal-cut has
a culet angle of 90˚, which causes all the light
entering the diamond through the table facet, to be totally and internally
reflected twice at the culet facets, and then leave the diamond through the
table facet again. This brings out the maximum brilliance of the stone.
In 1988, the American gem Society
certified the diamond, giving a triple zero grade, which is the highest
grade that can be attained by a diamond. The triple zero refers to
ideal cut, D-color, and flawless, with respect to its cut, color and
clarity. It was said to be the most perfect diamond ever certified in the
laboratory of the American Gem Society. A diamond this perfect is a
one-in-a-billion diamond, according to Peter Yantzer, the AGS Laboratory
Director.
The State of Arkansas purchased the
diamond from Shirley Strawn, and now it is on permanent display in the
exhibit gallery at the Crater of Diamonds State Park visitor center. A
special mounting made up of pure platinum and pure 24-carat gold was hand
crafted by Underwood's Fine Jewelers of Fayetteville, Arkansas. The platinum
shank has a thin inlay of gold in the middle. Two gold apple blossoms on
each side of the crown represent the state flower of Arkansas.
In spite of its relatively small
size compared to other famous diamonds, the Strawn-Wagner diamond, yet, has
become a notable diamond for two reasons. (1) Its triple zero grade given by
the American Gem Society which stands for ideal cut, D-color, and flawless
clarity grade. (2) The fact that the rough diamond was discovered in a
non-commercial site, the Crater of Diamonds State Park, Arkansas. The
diamond received much national attention, and is now the proud possession of
the State Government of Arkansas, and is on permanent display at the Crater
of Diamonds State Park.