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Chapter 31: The Pink Diamond
🕑 Added 2024-11-28 15:21:17 +0000 UTCIn the bedroom, Margaret, dressed casually in a silk robe, was leaning against the bed's headboard, absorbed in a book.
Margaret wasn't exactly a literature freak, so the book she was reading wasn't some profound essay or poetry collection, but rather an ordinary, popular novel.
She was so engrossed that she didn't notice that Josh had spent a little longer than usual in the study that evening.
It wasn't until Josh opened the door that she looked up, startled.
However, she immediately saw Josh carefully closing and locking the door before mysteriously approaching the window.
"What's going on, honey?" Margaret asked curiously.
"Nothing much! I just came by to give you a gift," Josh said, feigning mystery.
"A gift? Let me guess... jewelry?" Margaret said with surprise, followed by excitement.
"Oh dear, you guessed right!" Josh exclaimed, genuinely surprised at how accurate her guess was.
"Is it really jewelry? That's wonderful! Let me see!" Margaret said, excited and full of anticipation.
Josh could tell, however, that while Margaret was genuinely excited, her level of anticipation wasn't particularly high.
This was understandable. As a wealthy woman whose father had once been a major jeweler, Margaret had seen and handled countless pieces of high-end jewelry.
Aside from the large diamond ring she had already put away, Josh had seen her other jewelry - each a collectible masterpiece.
So it was unrealistic to expect her to be overly enthusiastic about typical jewelry.
That was also why, despite knowing Margaret for so long and becoming so close, Josh had rarely given her a formal gift - he simply didn't have anything impressive enough.
On the other hand, Margaret showered Josh with gifts all the time.
From cars to houses, from clothes to accessories.
She even seemed willing to give Josh her vast fortune all at once.
There was a natural disparity in their initial financial positions.
So Margaret's anticipation was less about the value of the gift and more about it being Josh's first formal gift to her.
Realizing this, Josh felt even more indebted to her and found himself appreciating this woman even more.
As it turned out, Margaret's assumptions were wrong today.
The jewelry Josh was about to present to her was, in fact, far more precious than she could have imagined. Not just precious - absolutely unique in the world.
Without deliberately heightening Margaret's curiosity for fear of overwhelming her, Josh simply reached into his coat and pulled out the gift.
The moment Josh revealed it, Margaret froze.
Her eyes widened as she clasped her hands tightly over her mouth, her gaze fixed on the dazzling brilliance of the crystal under the dim table lamp.
The gift Josh was presenting was both ordinary and extraordinary.
It was ordinary in that it was a diamond. Thanks to her upbringing and her father's jewelry business, Margaret quickly recognized it as a real diamond-an incredibly rare pink diamond, no less.
But an ordinary pink diamond wasn't enough to leave Margaret speechless.
What really shocked her was the extraordinary size of this diamond.
"Pigeon egg" was often used as a term for large diamonds, but had she ever seen one the size of a chicken egg? And a pink one at that!
Until today, the largest diamond Margaret knew of was the famous Cullinan Diamond, discovered in South Africa in 1905 and presented to the British Royal Family.
How big was it?
About the size of an adult woman's palm, it was 10 cm long, 6.5 cm wide, and 5 cm high, and weighed 3,106 carats. It was transparent with a faint blue tint and was graded FL (Flawless, the highest grade).
However, in 1908, this diamond had been cut into nine large pieces and 96 smaller ones.
In comparison, the diamond before Margaret was smaller, but still amazing. It was much larger than the second-largest Koh-i-Noor, with a slightly lower clarity rating of IF (internally flawless, the second-highest grade), but weighed well over 1,000 carats.
And it was a pink diamond!
A pink diamond!
A pink diamond!
Important things are worth repeating.
Let's not dismiss diamonds as a 'scam'.
In the 21st century, diamonds have become something of a scam due to their abundance and the rise of synthetic diamonds.
But in 1943, things were different.
Although diamonds were abundant around the world, only a fraction - those of gem quality - were considered valuable.
Within that fraction, diamonds that met the highest 4C standards (carat, clarity, color, cut) were extremely rare.
This rarity justified their value in the marketplace.
Synthetic diamonds didn't become a factor until the 1970s, and even then, gem-quality synthetic diamonds didn't appear until around 2000.
In this era, the diamond Josh held in his hand was a real, unique treasure.
"Is this really for me? Where did you get it? Does anyone else know about it?" Margaret asked in a soft, trembling voice.
Despite her excitement, Margaret couldn't ignore the implications.
The value of such a treasure was the least of her worries.
The real danger was that its existence would become known. Margaret feared that she and Josh might one day meet a tragic end because of it.
Such a treasure could cause a worldwide frenzy. Without the power of the pre-World War I British Empire, no one could protect it.
Even the British royal family had chosen to cut the Cullinan Diamond, not because they didn't know that bigger was better, but because they feared it would attract too much attention.
Margaret wasn't sure if Josh was showing her his deep love or setting her up for trouble.
Fortunately, there was a way to mitigate the risk: as the British royal family had done, the diamond could be cut.
And that was exactly what Josh had in mind when he gave the diamond to Margaret - she had learned to cut diamonds from her jeweler father, though she had only ever worked with smaller stones.
But this? This was in a league of its own.
