On Tuesday, April 1, the Winston Red Diamond and 40 other fancy-color diamonds will make their debuts at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC. Tipping the scale at 2.33 carats, the Winston Red Diamond ranks among the largest diamonds ever bestowed with the coveted “Fancy Red” color grade by the Gemological Institute of America (GIA).
Gifted by Ronald Winston, the son of distinguished jeweler and gem collector Harry Winston, the Winston Red Diamond and the Winston Fancy Color Diamond Collection will be featured in the museum’s Winston Gallery, offering visitors the rare opportunity to witness one of the finest collections of fancy color diamonds ever amassed.
The Winston family enjoys strong ties with the Smithsonian. In 1958, Harry Winston donated the iconic Hope Diamond to the museum, laying the foundation for the National Gem Collection.
According to the Smithsonian, Winston envisioned the institution assembling a gem collection to rival the royal treasuries of Europe — “Crown Jewels” that would belong to the American public.
“Other countries have their Crown Jewels,” Winston reportedly said. “We don’t have a Queen and King, but we should have our Crown Jewels, and what better place than here in the nation’s capital at the Smithsonian Institution.”
Natural red diamonds are among the rarest gemstones on Earth, and the Winston Red Diamond stands out as exceptional. Researchers estimate that less than one in 25 million diamonds is a Fancy Red, and the Winston Red Diamond is one of the most exquisite in existence.
“The red diamond is the highlight of my career, and I have never seen anything else like it,” Ronald Winston said. “This donation to the museum represents my life’s achievements in this domain, and I am so happy to share this collection with the Institution and the museum’s visitors.”
It is believed that red diamonds get their striking crimson hue from a molecular structure distortion that occurs as the jewel forms under immense pressure in the Earth’s crust. By contrast, other colored diamonds get their color from trace elements, such as boron (yielding a blue diamond) or nitrogen (yielding yellow), in their chemical composition.
The Winston Red Diamond features an old mine brilliant cut, a style that predates the round brilliant cut used in engagement rings today. With fewer, larger facets, this distinctive cut suggests the stone was fashioned before the mid-1900s.
A study on the science and history of the Winston Red Diamond is forthcoming in the spring 2025 issue of Gems & Gemology, the quarterly professional journal of the GIA.
The Winston Red Diamond will be displayed alongside 40 other gems from the Winston Fancy Color Diamond Collection. The diamonds will be arranged in a radiant rainbow of color, featuring every shade imaginable from deep teal to soft peach.
“In this collection, we have diamonds in colors I could never have dreamed of,” said mineralogist Gabriela Farfan, the Coralyn W. Whitney Curator of Gems and Minerals. “These gems give us the opportunity to share with our visitors the full range of colors in which diamonds occur.”
The Winston Red Diamond and Fancy Color Diamond Collection are the result of 60 years of dedicated acquisitions by Ronald Winston. Alongside the Hope Diamond, the new display will honor the legacy of the Winston family and showcase the brilliance and rarity of these exceptional gems.
Credits: Photo of the Winston Red Diamond by Robert Weldon, courtesy of Ronald Winston. Diamond group photo by Robert Weldon, arranged by Gabriela Farfan, courtesy of Ronald Winston.