The 128.54-carat cushion shape brilliant Fancy Yellow Tiffany Diamond. (Courtesy of Tiffany & Co.)
Just Four Women Have Ever Worn the Iconic Tiffany Diamond
One socialite. One Hollywood icon. One Mother Monster. One Sasha Fierce. Meet the legendary yellow diamond that has only ever been worn by four famous women.
The Tiffany Diamond is chief among some of the largest and finest Fancy Yellow diamonds in the world. Seeped in history, the stone has become as synonymous with Tiffany & Co. as the jeweler’s trademarked color, Tiffany Blue. The massive yellow diamond has only been publicly worn four times ever, by four extraordinary women.
Meet the 128-Carat Tiffany Diamond
The Tiffany Diamond is a 128.54-carat cushion-cut Fancy Yellow diamond and one of the most celebrated gemstones in the world. Discovered in 1877 in South Africa and acquired by Charles Lewis Tiffany, it became a symbol of Tiffany & Co.’s legacy of excellence. With 82 precisely cut facets, the diamond is renowned for its unmatched brilliance and has never been sold—only worn by a select few women throughout history.
The rare, fancy yellow Tiffany Diamond was unearthed in 1877. Then, a 287.42-carat rough diamond was discovered in the Kimberly mines of South Africa. Charles Lewis Tiffany purchased it for approximately $18,000, earning him the nickname “The King of Diamonds.” At the time, only royalty was known to have owned diamonds this large.
Why the Tiffany Diamond Has 82 Facets
George Frederick Kunz, the firm’s chief gemologist at the time, oversaw the year-long cutting process of the gem. The rough diamond was cut in Paris in 1878. The stone was transformed into a 128.54-carat cushion-shaped brilliant with a whopping 82 facets, revealing the diamond’s extraordinary nature.
Instead of the traditional 58-facet cut for a round diamond, Tiffany exceeded the standard by 24 facets to assure peak ‘fire’ and radiance – radiant enough for Charles Lewis Tiffany to give the diamond his name. Rather than sell it, the Tiffany founder decided to keep the stone for posterity. Remaining an integral part of the Tiffany legacy, the diamond has never been offered for sale, even nearly 150 years later.
Throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, the diamond traveled the world through global exhibitions as a loose stone. It was showcased at the 1893 Chicago World Columbian Exposition and then at the 1939 World’s Fair in New York. The diamond has also been displayed at the Field Museum in Chicago and New York’s American Museum of Natural History. Now, the diamond can typically be found at the Tiffany New York flagship.
The First Person to Wear the Tiffany Diamond
It traveled through exhibits until it was mounted in a lavish white diamond necklace for socialite Mary Whitehouse to wear at the 1957 Tiffany Ball in Newport, Rhode Island, where she became the first person to wear the astounding diamond. Since then, the Tiffany Diamond has been mounted into three other pieces of jewelry, two of which were designed by Tiffany’s famed in-house jeweler, Jean Schlumberger.
Audrey Hepburn Gives the Tiffany Diamond Its Close-Up
In 1961, Audrey Hepburn began filming Breakfast at Tiffany’s in New York City. Based on Truman Capote’s best-selling novel, the movie marked the first time motion picture cameras were allowed inside a Tiffany & Co. boutique.
Hepburn’s character Holly Golightly and her love interest Paul Varjak (played by George Peppard) stroll through the store together when she says, “It isn’t that I give a hoot about jewelry, except diamonds, of course…Like that.” The camera pans to the 128.54-carat Tiffany yellow diamond necklace, sitting prominently inside the jewelry case.
In promotional photos for the film, Hepburn teamed her little black dress and evening gloves with the 128.54-carat Tiffany Diamond set within the Jean Schlumberger-designed Ribbon Rosette necklace, making her the second woman to ever wear the stone. The great-grandson of Charles Lewis Tiffany, Henry B. Platt, was even photographed adjusting the jewel for Hepburn.
Then, the Tiffany Diamond Took Flight
In 1995, the Maison mounted its famed Tiffany yellow diamond into Schlumberger’s unique Bird on a Rock setting. The piece was revealed at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs Jean Schlumberger retrospective in Paris that year, gaining notoriety as it traveled the world on exhibition. Thanks to the diamond’s notoriety, the Bird on a Rock would go on to be one of Tiffany & Co.’s most recognizable motifs to date.
It remained in the setting until 2012, when the diamond was re-set in a necklace featuring over 100 carats of white diamonds in celebration of Tiffany’s 175th Anniversary. It was slightly modified before its red carpet debut, seven years later.
Lady Gaga Brings the Tiffany Diamond to the Oscars
Lady Gaga made a splash at the 2019 Oscars, wearing two classic black gowns reminiscent of Hepburn’s Givenchy ensemble in Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Walking the red carpet in a strapless custom Alexander McQueen gown and leather opera gloves, the pop star changed into a scoop-neck Brandon Maxwell creation to perform “Shallow” from A Star Is Born before accepting her very first Academy Award for Best Original Song. Both dresses served as the ideal canvas for the huge rock on her neck.
Lady Gaga donned the cushion-cut canary yellow diamond to accompany her two classic gowns and new golden trophy in what is now considered one of the most memorable Oscar jewelry moments of all time. Released from the Tiffany vault, especially for Lady Gaga, the last time this priceless, 146-year-old gemstone was worn was in 1961 by Hepburn while promoting Breakfast at Tiffany’s.
At the time, Gaga took to Instagram to express her gratitude. “For the Oscars, @tiffanyandco offered to go into their vault and let me wear their iconic, 141-year-old Tiffany diamond,” she wrote. “The last person to wear this was Audrey Hepburn while promoting Breakfast at Tiffany’s 😭 It was an honor to wear it and made my unforgettable night even more special.”
Beyoncé Becomes the Fourth Woman to Wear the Tiffany Diamond
Beyoncé became the fourth person and first Black woman to ever wear the celebrated gem. She wore the Tiffany diamond necklace in the 2021 Tiffany “About Love” campaign, alongside her husband Jay-Z. Photographed in front of Jean-Michel Basquiat’s 1982 painting “Equals Pi,” Beyoncé emulated Audrey Hepburn’s Breakfast at Tiffany’s costume, wearing a black Givenchy gown with the Tiffany Diamond. She even sits down at a piano and performs her own rendition of “Moon River,” the song made famous by Hepburn in the 1961 film.
The campaign marked the first time the power couple has appeared in an ad campaign together, as well as the first time the Tiffany Diamond has ever been included in a Tiffany & Co. campaign.
The next time this incomparable diamond was integrated into the pop culture oeuvre, it seemed to have made its way to the silver screen. Or did it?
The Tiffany Diamond Lands a Movie Role
Based on the 1937 Agatha Christie novel, 20th Century Studios adapted the murder mystery, Death on the Nile, with a star-studded cast including Kenneth Branagh, Gal Gadot, Rose Leslie, Annette Bening, and the Tiffany Diamond. A sparkling stunt-double recreation of the stone took center stage in the film. Linnet Ridgeway Doyle, portrayed by Gadot, receives the astonishing jewel as a wedding present from her husband before it goes missing.
The film’s costume designer, Paco Delgado, told British Vogue how surreal it felt to have access to the Tiffany Diamond. “For security reasons, and because of the nature of the plot, Tiffany & Co. made various replicas for us [to use] for the film. The level of security required to protect the original is just remarkable,” he explained. Delgado described the necklace as “a star of the production in its own right.”
So, Where Is It Now?
Nearly 30 years after the Tiffany yellow diamond took flight from within the Bird on a Rock setting, it has now been rejoined with the bird design. The diamond has been set within a new transformable pendant in celebration of the reopening of The Landmark on Fifth Avenue in 2023. Five diamond birds take flight, encircling the legendary yellow stone.
“The Tiffany Diamond is the cornerstone of our House. It embodies our unwavering commitment to pursuing beauty over size,” said Tiffany & Co. Chief Gemologist, Victoria Wirth Reynolds. “When the diamond was discovered, few had witnessed a yellow diamond so remarkable. Today, the Tiffany Diamond remains unrivaled in scintillation and beauty. Its intense sparkle can be seen from far across the room.”
“The latest design to uplift the Tiffany Diamond is a breathtaking homage to the Bird on a Rock. It’s a modern incarnation of a legacy that began in 1995, when the legendary diamond was mounted on Schlumberger’s diamond-encrusted bird,” Reynolds explained.
“Rather than a single bird resting on top of the diamond, our designers reimagined the motif to evoke five birds encircling the diamond midair,” said Reynolds. “The new design can be worn as a brooch or a pendant using the innovative clasp on the reverse side of the brooch.”
