84 November 2016 www.bahrainthismonth.com During his school years Andrew would visit his military diplomat father in Rio De Janeiro during the holidays. His prime responsibility would be to stop his mother buying baubles at the Copa Cabana beach jewellery shop, where they stayed. “The jeweller distracted me by pouring out sacks of semi-precious stones and asking me to pick out the ones I thought would transform well from rough to polished. Days later he showed me brilliant cut aquamarines and tourmalines from the rough stones I’d picked and told me I was good at this,” says Andrew of his introduction to his field. This hobby became his great interest and eventually he took up the jeweller’s suggestion to write to De Beers. “At the age of 16, I started off as a trainee diamond buyer with the company and studied gemology while I worked,” he says. This was back in 1968, and Andrew got to see diamonds from all over the world, including very rare, big ones. When the company partnered with Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton in 2001, Andrew’s passion progressed from rough and polished diamonds to retail jewellery. His current role is to set the diamond standard for De Beers Diamond Jewellers and make sure that whether he is buying the rarest, or the least rare stones, the beauty is the best possible. “We understand that the secret of every brilliant polished diamond starts with a beautiful rough one and that there is a world of difference between how two diamonds with the exact same grading report can look.” De Beers recently completed five years of a fruitful partnership with AJM Kooheji Group in Bahrain, about which Andrew says: “Finding good business partners is almost as difficult as finding a good diamond. The Kooheji Group was selected for its excellent reputation and we have complete confidence in the group in every respect.” For those wanting to select a piece of nature’s brilliance for themselves, Andrew has some important pointers: “It’s the eye-brain-heart connection. Know what the specifications of the diamond are, like its quality and cut. But remember, that the diamond trading report is only a trade report, not a certificate of beauty or good value. At De Beers, every diamond we sell not only matches its report, but is cut for beauty and not for its weight. “When you look at diamonds, you’ll fall for a particular one immediately. Just like your partner in life, it may be something completely different from what you wanted, but when you put it on, you won’t want to take it off.” Ironically, Andrew bought his own wife a giant rock on their 17th wedding anniversary. “I found her staring at a diamond I’d picked for the company, and knew that her diamond had ultimately found her,” he says. Having paid an enormous sum for it, Andrew jokes that it’s all worthwhile when he just has to remind her of the gift to get out of trouble. There are a few incidents in his illustrious career that Andrew will always remember, one of them being an 007like experience of handing over the coveted 203.04-carat Millennium Star diamond to a buyer. “I carried the real diamond in my jeans pocket, with the fake one in the briefcase. At Cannes airport, a helicopter emerged from the sea for us to hop on. Shortly, a superyacht loomed in front of us and we landed on its back. The situation would have made James Bond jealous. Not even the buyer could decipher between the real and fake stones. When I asked him if he was going to gift it to his wife, he said ‘No, I’m going to keep it in my pocket, just like you.’” For those who want to experience the brilliance of nature’s centuries-old gift to mankind, Andrew suggests they see the De Beers’ Talisman collection. “Our store is the only place in Bahrain where you can see and feel the mystical wonder of a rough diamond. Go see it for yourself, even if you do not want to buy it, to feel the power of a raw, uncut gem of the earth.” BEHNAZ SANJANA Diamond luck; some people have it and others don’t. BTM sat down with Andrew Coxon, president of the De Beers Diamond Institute to trace his exciting professional journey in the world of high value. jewellery&watches An Eye for Magnificence DE BEERS Andrew Coxon
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