... in a galaxy far, far away.

Have you ever heard the song, Lucy in the sky with diamonds? Well, it plays a fair amount on our office radio station and it was playing this morning when I stumbled upon an interesting article. Apparently, not only is the sky full of diamonds, some of them are emerald cut. If you’re now envisioning a zillion ton emerald cut diamond floating by the moon, you’re a bit off, but it’s ok, because that was the first thing I thought of too. It seems that this emerald shaped phenomenon is a small dwarf galaxy, named LEDA 074886 about 70 million light-years away. I’m not exactly sure how far away that is but it’s a lot more than the star ship Voyager had to contend with and it was going to take them a lifetime to get home. So, pretty far I would say.

Photo : Alister Graham

So what’s so exciting about a rectangular galaxy anyways? Well it seems that most galaxies come in one of three shapes : a disk with spiral arms like our own humble galaxy, a football shaped ellipse, or a regular old irregular lumpy blob. Well that’s just super romantic. Can you imagine telling interstellar space travelers, “Oh, I’m in that last lumpy blob on the left, can’t miss it”. Doesn’t sound like a desirable zip code to me. But blob shaped galaxies aside, this new galaxy has astronomers really excited. Alister Graham, remembers his excitement well. He stumbled upon the new galaxy in an image taken for a completely unrelated project. “I thought it was a mistake”, he said. “And then I couldn’t stop smiling.”

It seems hard to believe that an entire galaxy, located in a viewable part of space would stay invisible for so long. But all of that can be explained by its size, or lack thereof. LEDA contains 50% fewer stars than the Milky Way which is pretty tiny in the grand scheme of things. And as far as that unusual emerald cut shape? Well, we may not be able to see the whole picture. Scientists speculate that what we are actually seeing is the side profile of a cylindrical galaxy. Kind of like looking at the side profile of a case of CDs. No offense to the scientists, but for today, I’m going to assume that this galaxy is shaped precisely like an emerald cut diamond so that I can spend the rest of this blog focusing on emerald cut goodness. Because who doesn’t like an emerald cut?

Photo : Sotheby's

And I would be remiss if I didn’t pay a small amount of homage to one of the most famous emerald cut diamonds of all time, the Elizabeth Taylor Diamond, previously the Krupp Diamond. Weighing in at a staggering 33.19 carats, D in color, and Internally Flawless, it’s hard to find a diamond that is more perfect, or more awe inspiring. It was given to Elizabeth Taylor by her then husband Richard Burton and she wore it nearly every day. She was even quoted as saying, “My ring gives me the strangest feeling for beauty”. “With its sparks of red and white and blue and purple, and on and on, really, it sort of burns with its own beatific life.” And burn it did, when it was sold at auction late last year it blew away its estimated sale amount of 2.5 to 3.5 million dollars and sold for a jaw dropping 8.8 million, more than doubling its estimate.

It’s hard to wear a 33 carat diamond without looking a bit gaudy, but Elizabeth Taylor could have pulled of a rock twice that size. The cut though, no matter how large an emerald cut is, they always seem to exude a sense of class and sophistication. Even Kim Kardashian’s monster emerald was beautiful, although she looked more than a little silly wearing it. Emerald cuts also translate extremely well to smaller stones.

We have this ring in our showroom right now and it has just under 2ctw spread across three stones. Isn’t it gorgeous? Each one of the stones is beautiful and captivating, throwing big, bold flashes of light to the eye. And yes, I know, because I tried it on, market research you know. I tell you, I could get lost in those steps. The diamonds in this ring have the presence of stones far larger than their size, but yet they radiate a demure sense of class. And emerald cuts of any size are so versatile as well. This ring would feel just as at home at the Opera as it would at a family cookout complete with BBQ ribs. Although, if you do wear this ring to a cookout, I would suggest taking it off before you eat. Somehow, imagining this gorgeous piece of jewelry coated in BBQ sauce seems like some kind of sacrilege. Or it could just be me, if slathering your rings with sauce makes your heart sing, then go right ahead! That’s what steam cleaners are for!

So now we’d like to know what you think. Is the emerald cut your favorite? What is it about them that you like best? Can’t decide? Well, while you’re mulling it over, drop by our showroom and take a look at this gorgeous ring. It’s sure to jog your memory!