When Crown Prince Hussein of Jordan proposed to Rajwa Al Saif last year, he presented her with an exceptional pear-cut diamond ring by the jewellery house, Harry Winston.
The American luxury jewellery brand, named after its founder who was also known as the King of Diamonds, has forged a reputation for offering some of the finest white and coloured diamonds money can buy.
Al Saif’s ring is pear cut, which means it has a distinctive tapered shape that allows for it to be worn two ways, with the point facing up or down on the hand. She has been seen wearing the ring both ways.
Tradition dictates that a pear-cut stone should be worn with the point facing away from the wearer, so admirers can see the stone point-side first. However, as rules associated with jewellery wearing increasingly shift away from the formality of the past, the owner can decide how and when to wear a piece.
Harry Winston is known for using the brightest D, E, and F colour diamonds, a grading system created by the Gemological Institute of America. Beginning with the letter D, which denotes colourless, it is a sliding scale to the letter Z, where a light yellow or light brown shade is present.
Likewise, the clarity of stones is graded via a system of letters and numbers, which ranges from FL, for flawless (meaning the stone has zero internal flaws or inclusions), to I3 (meaning there are significant inclusions that are easily visible and affect the beauty and value of the stone).
Available in oval and pear shapes, as well as the classic cushion or emerald-cuts, Harry Winston stones are widely accepted as being of exceptional quality.
The largest Harry Winston engagement ring made was for Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. Weighing 40.42 carats, it was presented by the Greek-Argentine businessman Aristotle Onassis, and was one of 18 stones cut from the 601-carat Lesotho III diamond. Two years after her death, it was sold at auction in 1996 for $2.6 million, while today it is valued closer to $20 million.
Pear-cut diamonds have increased in popularity. The largest in the world is The Rock, which weighs 228.31 carats and has been described as a once-in-a century find. It was sold by Christie's auction house in Geneva last year for 21,681,000 Swiss francs ($24 million).
A brilliant-cut gem, it is certified by the GIA as G colour, VS1 clarity, with excellent polish and symmetry and is the "largest existing D-to-Z colour range pear-shaped diamond" graded by its laboratory. Measuring 5.4cm by 3.1cm (approximately the size of a chicken egg) it weights 61.3 grams. It was displayed at Christie’s in Dubai before auction.
