Every diamond is a story as old as the earth and will outlast us all. Diamonds are, indeed, forever, but they are not forever in view.
每顆鑽石都有著和地球一般古老的故事，也都會比我們所有人存在得更久。鑽石的確恆久遠，卻不是永遠都展現在世人眼前。

For more than a half-century, the whereabouts of one of the world’s most celebrated diamonds, the fabled Wittelsbach blue, was obscure. Every person with knowledge of great gems was likely to be familiar with the stone: A grayish blue diamond taken to Europe in the 17th century from India, it was given in 1664 to the Infanta Margarita Teresa by her father, the king of Spain, eventually becoming a fixture of both the Austrian and Bavarian crown jewels. In 1964 the stone passed into private hands, and afterward its whereabouts had been a mystery.
曾有超過半世紀之久，世上最有名的鑽石之一，極富傳奇色彩的維特爾斯巴赫鑽石下落不明。每一個懂得頂級珠寶的人，大概都對這顆鑽石的來歷知之甚詳：一顆灰藍鑽，17世紀被人從印度帶到歐洲，1664年由瑪格麗特．泰瑞莎小公主的西班牙國王父親送給她，後來成為奧地利王朝和巴伐利亞王朝鑲在皇冠上的御寶。1964年這顆鑽石流入私人手中，從此下落成謎。

In December 2008, the Wittelsbach blue suddenly turned up at auction, centerpiece of Christie’s London sale of important gems. Expected to fetch $15 million, the cushion cut stone, described as a fancy deep grayish blue, was fought over by rival diamond dealers and hammered down in a matter of minutes for the extraordinary price of $24.3 million – the most ever paid for a diamond at auction and a sum that may also have rendered the Wittelsbach blue, by weight, the most valuable commodity on earth.
2008年12月，維特爾斯巴赫藍鑽突然出現在拍賣會上，是倫敦佳士得頂級珠寶拍賣會的主賣品。這顆枕形切割的鑽石預估可賣得1500萬美元，被描繪成擁有珍貴的深灰藍色澤，在商場上競爭的鑽石商爭相搶標，不出幾分鐘就以2430萬美元高價落棰，創下鑽石拍賣最高價，這個數目也讓維特爾斯巴赫藍鑽成為以重量而論地球上最昂貴的商品。

The buyer was Laurence Graff, the billionaire diamond dealer whose clients run to other newly minted billionaires, and in short order its new owner made a series of startling decisions about the stone. First, he had it recut, reducing it from 35.52 to just over 31 carats, to eliminate the chips and “bruises” inevitable in a stone of its age but also to improve its clarity, brilliance and grade. Then he renamed it the Wittelsbach-Graff and struck an agreement with the Smithsonian Institution in Washington to display it.
買家是數十億美元身價的鑽石商勞倫斯．葛拉夫，他的客戶也不乏億萬新貴富豪。很快地，鑽石的新主人做了一連串令人震驚的決定。首先，他把它送去重新切割，從原本的35.52克拉切割成31克拉多一點，切掉鑽石因年代久遠不可避免的小裂痕和「碰傷」，卻也提高了它的淨度、亮度和等級。接著他把它重新命名為維特爾斯巴赫─葛拉夫鑽石，並與華盛頓的史密森博物館簽約展出。

Beginning January 28, it will go on view alongside the legendary Hope, a larger stone but a slightly more drab one, and yet a rock whose allure remains potent enough to have drawn five million visitors to the national collection last year.
從今年1月28日起，這顆鑽石將與傳奇的「希望之鑽」一起展出，後者更大一些，但比較樸實無華，不過它仍有驚人魅力，去年吸引了500萬人前來參觀這件國家收藏品。

By recutting it, some critics suggest, Mr. Graff has not so much improved it as altered it out of all recognition.
一些評論家說，葛拉夫重新切割這顆鑽石，改善有限，卻讓它變得認不出來了。

“That stone has a pedigree that is incomparable,” Daniela Mascetti, a senior global specialist in jewelry at Sotheby’s, said by phone from London. “The provenance of a gem is important in ways that are not true of other things. With the Wittelsbach blue, you knew how it came into existence and in a rather exciting way. You know who has worn it, what kinds of historical events it has gone through and what social upheavals it was present for.”
蘇富比拍賣公司的資深國際珠寶專家丹妮拉．馬斯塞提在倫敦接受電話訪問說：「這顆鑽石的來歷可是舉世無雙的。鑽石不同於其他物品，出處有獨特的重要性。以維特爾斯巴赫藍鑽為例，你知道它的來歷，這已令人興奮。你知道誰戴過它，它經歷過什麼歷史事件，曾見證什麼樣的社會動盪。」

Like the Hope, the Wittelsbach is thought to have originated in India, at the Golconda mines, and was also likely to have been brought to the West by Jean-Baptiste Tavernier, the 17th-century traveler and trader.
一般相信維特爾斯巴赫藍鑽與「希望之鑽」一樣，源自印度的戈爾孔達礦區，可能也同樣是由17世紀的旅行家商人尚．巴蒂斯特．塔維尼耶帶到西方。

In 1664, King Philip IV of Spain gave it to the Infanta Margarita Teresa to mark her engagement to Leopold I of Austria; in 1722, the diamond passed to the Wittelsbachs, members of Bavaria’s ruling house. In the upheaval after World War I, Bavaria became a republic and the crown jewels of the House of Wittelsbach were dispersed. Except for the exhibition preview for the Christie’s auction the stone was last seen in public at the 1958 Brussels World’s Fair.
1664年，西班牙國王菲利浦四世把這顆鑽石送給泰瑞莎公主，作為她與奧地利利奧波德一世訂婚的賀禮。1722年，這顆鑽石傳到巴伐利亞的統治王朝維特爾斯巴赫家族成員手中。在一次世界大戰後的動盪中，巴伐利亞成為共和國，而維特爾斯巴赫王朝的御寶四散，除了在佳士得拍賣會的記者會上展示過，這顆鑽石上次公開亮相是1958年在布魯塞爾的世界博覽會上。

“The stone is heavily chipped around the edges,” Mr. Graff said. “The stone was cut in the 1600s. I think we know more about polishing diamonds today. It will come back to the market as a more beautiful stone.”
葛拉夫說：「這顆鑽石的切角有嚴重裂痕，它是在1600年代切割的。我想現在我們更懂得鑽石的拋光技術。它重回市場時會變得更美。」

By refashioning the stone, Mr. Graff undoubtedly improved its value in a market that has seen the prices of colored diamonds soar over the last decade, so much so that a 5-carat vivid pink diamond his company sold for $3.8 million in 2007 last month brought $10.8 million at a Hong Kong auction.
葛拉夫更動鑽石的外形，無疑會提高它的市場價值，十年來，彩鑽的市場價格飆高，他的公司2007年以380萬美元賣出的一顆閃亮動人的粉紅鑽，上月在香港拍賣會上以1080萬美元被人買走。

Yet, as Ms. Mascetti said: “In a way, it is a shame to have altered what has been preserved for so many years. Do you still have the original stone found by Tavernier or cut in his time? Will that stone still be the Wittelsbach? In my opinion, it’s not.”
不過，就如馬斯塞提所說的：「改動保存了這麼多年的鑽石，多少總令人惋惜。你手上保有的還是塔維尼耶當年發現，或在他那個時代切割的那顆鑽石嗎？這顆鑽石還能算是維特爾斯巴赫鑽石嗎？在我看來，都不是了。」

原文參照：
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/07/fashion/07DIAMONDS.html

Slideshow: On the Trail of a Diamond http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2010/01/06/fashion/20100107-DIAMOND-slideshow_index.html 

2010-01-26/聯合報/G9版/UNITEDDAILYNEWS 田思怡 原文請見1月26日紐時周報十二版右