Portuguese diamond

There’s something so exciting about these incredibly large and perfect stones. Sometimes they have well-documented histories and we know where they came from and who owned them and when. But others have a past that’s not as well-known, and that only adds to the romance and mystique surrounding them.

One such diamond is called the Portuguese Diamond and is a 127-carat, cushion-cut diamond, shaped in an octagonal emerald shape. It’s nearly flawless. While it’s called the Portuguese Diamond, with a story that it was mined in Brazil and became part of the Portuguese Crown Jewels, there’s really no true documentation that says definitively that that’s where the diamond was mined. Must of the diamond’s history is pure legend and conjecture. One can only imagine who wore this incredible stone!

One part of the diamond's history that is well-documented is that in February 1928 Peggy Hopkins Joyce traded a $350,000 pearl necklace for the diamond and $23,000 in cash. According to New York newspaper accounts, it was mounted on a diamond-studded platinum choker to be worn close around the throat (probably the same necklace described above). Miss Joyce performed in the Ziegfeld Follies, and had six husbands, at least five of whom were wealthy. She was said to be almost as fond of jewels as of men. Sometime prior to 1946 Miss Joyce placed the diamond on consignment to the group of jewelers mentioned above, in an unsuccessful attempt to sell it.

Harry Winston acquired the Portuguese Diamond from Miss Joyce in 1951, and for the next several years it traveled the country as part of his "Court of Jewels" exhibition. In 1957, Winston sold the diamond to an international industrialist, who then traded it back in 1962. In 1963, the Smithsonian acquired the Portuguese Diamond from Mr. Winston in exchange for 2,400 carats of small diamonds.