Vargas Diamond

  Joaquim Venancio Tiago and Manoel Miguel Domingues, two prospectors, discovered Brazil’s largest diamond on August 13, 1938. The diamond weighed 726.6 carats and was discovered in the San Antonio River in Minas Gerais. It was given the name President Vargas Diamond in honor of the president of Brazil from 1930 to 1945 and 1951 to 1954; his name was Getulio Dornelles Vargas. Tiago and Domingues sold the President Vargas Diamond for $56,000 to a broker; the broker later sold it for over $235,000. A Dutch organization then bought the diamond; the Dutch Union Bank of Amsterdam, where it was stored, represented the organization. Harry Winston was soon after introduced to the existence of the President Vargas Diamond through his brokers; he was informed of its atypical quality and outstanding size. Winston then traveled to Amsterdam and purchased the diamond; although it was mailed to New York City by ordinary mail for a cost of seventy cents, it was insured for $750,000. The President Vargas Diamond was eventually cleaved due to its bizarre formation. A total of twenty-nine diamonds were cut, ten small diamonds and nineteen large ones. The largest of these diamonds, a 48.26 carat emerald cut, still maintains the name of the original President Vargas Diamond. In 1989 a 28.03 carat diamond, which was a piece of the original President Vargas, sold for $781,000 at Sotheby’s in New York. In 1992, a 25.4 carat diamond, which also originated from the President Vargas, sold for $396,000.