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Graff Buys 21-Carat Yellow Diamond from Russia
Called the “Firebird,” it is part of the same collection as the nearly 15-carat pink “Spirit of the Rose” diamond.
Alrosa just sold this 20.69-carat fancy vivid yellow diamond to Graff Diamonds. CEO Sergey Ivanov said of the stone: “Without a doubt, it could be a heart for a magnificent, exclusive jewelry piece.”
Moscow—Graff Diamonds is the new owner of a 20.69-carat fancy vivid yellow diamond mined in Russia and dubbed the “Firebird.”
Alrosa announced the diamond’s sale to the high-end jewelry house on Dec. 24.
Though the company did not disclose the purchase price, it said the Firebird “achieved one of the highest prices per carat for such a stone in recent years.”
Alrosa, which is looking to carve out a place for itself as a miner and cutter of large natural colored and colorless diamonds, cut and polished the Firebird in Russia from a 34.17-carat rough diamond recovered from the Ebelyah mine in Yakutia in 2017.
It was the largest yellow diamond found by Alrosa that year. 
Alrosa CEO Sergey Ivanov said the company hopes the sale of the Firebird to Graff will mark “the beginning of a new phase of our work.”
“We are pleased to see the trust of major industry players, which, among other things, was made possible thanks to our efforts in the field of business transparency, diamond provenance guarantees and our high contribution to society.”
The Gemological Institute of America, which graded the Firebird in March, deemed the stone a square emerald-cut diamond of VS1 clarity with even color distribution, and excellent polish and symmetry.
GIA Chief Quality Officer John King said it is “extremely rare and very special … to see a unique yellow diamond like this.” 
The Firebird is one of three large natural colored diamonds in a collection of unique diamonds Alrosa is calling “The Spectacle.”
The Spectacle collection is dedicated to the Russian ballet, which is why all the stones have dance-related names.
Firebird is a Ballets Russes production that premiered at the Grand Opera in Paris in 1910. The 34-carat rough the diamond was cut from was dubbed “Stravinsky” after Igor Stravinsky, the famous Russian composer.
Another “Spectacle” diamond, a 14.83-carat fancy vivid purple-pink, is called “The Spirit of the Rose” after a Ballets Russes production from 1911.
Alrosa said last summer the Rose was expected to sell for $60 million or more, but no further details about its sale have been disclosed since that time. It did not respond to request for comment on the diamond by deadline.
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Alrosa is not releasing any details about the third diamond in the Spectacle collection until it is cut and polished.
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