black diamond

Black Orlov Diamond reportedly to be worn by nominee Huffman during Academy Awards

The curse of the Black Orlov Diamond may be put to rest forever if “Desperate Housewives” star and Best Actress nominee Felicity Huffman wins an Oscar at the Academy Awards.

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The $2 million Black Orlov Diamond owned by Johnstown businessman J. Dennis Petimezas, has been linked to the deaths of three

Johnstown businessman J. Dennis Petimezas, owner of the famed diamond and president of Watchmaker’s Diamonds and Jewelry, is in Hollywood in anticipation that Huffman will choose his necklace to wear at Sunday’s ceremonies.

“I will just say she has been approached,” a secretive Petimezas said by telephone from his Los Angeles hotel room.

While Petimezas wouldn’t confirm Huffman will be wearing the necklace, reports in USA Today said the actress is tempted to don the $2 million treasure. People will just have to tune in Sunday night to see if Huffman is wearing the Johnstown jewel.

Comedy Central’s Jon Stewart will host the 78th annual awards show, which will be broadcast at 8 p.m. on ABC. It will be preceded by a one-hour red-carpet arrivals show.

The curse of the diamond is said to be responsible for three deaths.

If Huffman chooses to wear the necklace and wins the Oscar, the curse theory could vanish.

Petimezas said black diamonds are rare. Only one of every 10,000 diamonds that are mined has color.

“It’s not the largest black diamond in the world, but it is the most famous,” the jeweler said.

Perhaps it also is the most infamous.

Known as the Black Orlov, or “The Eye of Brahma,” the jewel is haunted by a curse that reportedly began when the original 195-carat diamond was removed from a Hindu shrine in southern India.

The diamond is tied to the deaths of three former owners who apparently killed themselves.

In an attempt to break the curse, the diamond was re-cut into three separate gems and since has been owned by a succession of private owners, all of whom seem to have escaped the curse.

Petimezas’ research has found no reported tragedies linked to the diamond since 1947.

The legend of the 67.5-carat Black Orlov may scare off some, but Huffman has shown her mettle in her acclaimed performance of a pre-operative transsexual – the part for which she received the Oscar nomination.

Huffman, the star of “Transamerica,” received her first Academy Award nomination for her portrayal of Bree Osbourne, who has been living successfully as a woman and is preparing for her sexual reassignment surgery.

Her chances of winning an Oscar are considered favorable because she won a Golden Globe this year for the performance.

Petimezas said the necklace was on display Thursday and today during pre-Oscar festivities at the Mondrain Hotel Penthouse, where celebrities could view more than $12 million worth of glitter provided by 25 jewelers.

The jewelry displayed in the Platinum Guild jewelry suite is intended to give celebrities an opportunity to borrow pieces for the weekend’s festivities.

The jeweler said he had no plans to attend the awards in person.

“My itinerary is full while here in L.A.,” Petimezas said.

The Black Orlov will not be difficult to spot when Huffman walks the red carpet with her husband, actor William H. Macy – who was nominated in 1996 for Best Supporting Actor for his role of Jerry Lundegaard in “Fargo.”

The black diamond is set in a 108-diamond brooch suspended from a 124-diamond necklace.

Petimezas dismisses the curse and said the necklace has brought him nothing but good luck since he purchased it more than a year ago.

“Since I have owned it,” he said, “I have married my longtime sweetheart, we have moved into our dream home and enjoyed continued growth in the diamond business.”

The stone has been on loan prior to being transported to Hollywood by an independent security firm.

The black Indian diamond was added to a show Sept. 21 at London’s Natural History Museum that featured some of the world’s most valuable diamonds.

Among the priceless treasures on display were the flawless white 203-carat Millennium Star and the Steinmetz Pink, which is graded as the finest pink diamond in the world and weighs 59.6 carats.

Call it a curse or bad luck, but the London show – which opened in July and was due to run until February – closed three months early.

The exhibit was cut short after urging from police.

“The show closed abruptly as a result of a plot uncovered by Scotland Yard of an imminent robbery,” Petimezas said.

Would Petimezas sell the Black Orlov?

“If someone would come forward and offer in excess of $2 million,” he said, “I would be inclined to let it go.”

found at wikipedia.org

The Black Orloff diamond was discovered in India in the early 1800s. It originally weighed 195 carats. It was allegedly cursed - as were all its future owners - when a monk removed the gem from the eye of the idol of Brahma at a shrine near Pondicherry, India.

At least three former owners have apparently killed themselves. In 1932, J W Paris, the diamond dealer who imported the stone to the United States, jumped to his death from one of New York's tallest buildings shortly after concluding the sale of the jewel. And 15 years later, a pair of Russian princesses, Nadia Vyegin-Orlov and Leonila Galitsine-Bariatinsky, leapt to their deaths within a month of each other.

In an attempt to escape the curse, the diamond was re-cut into three separate stones, which have since been in the possession of a succession of private owners.

The 67.5 carat stone known today as the Black Orlov is set in a 108-diamond brooch suspended from a 124-diamond necklace. When the diamonds exhibition closes in February, the necklace will travel to California where a star, whom Petimezas refused to name, will wear it to the 2006 Oscars ceremony.

Black diamonds are very rare and get their colour from the presence of tiny mineral traces, mainly the iron-oxide minerals magnetite and haematite. Only one in 10,000 diamonds mined is coloured.

This diamond is currently owned by Dennis Petimezas, a diamond dealer from Pennsylvania, who bought it for an unspecified sum last year.

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