A look at the founding of Tiffany & Co. and founder Charles Lewis Tiffany

Diamonds are a girl’s best friend, but ask any girl from New York’s Upper East Side and she will tell you, its not just any diamond, its a Tiffany diamond that is the prized possession. Whether it’s a diamond pendant or an iconic engagement ring, to be gifted a beautiful bauble in the highly-coveted little blue box, is a girl’s dream come true.

This year marks the 175th anniversary of the founding of Tiffany & Co. It should be no surprise that one of the most brilliant diamonds in the world is the Tiffany Diamond. At 287.42 carats, the canary yellow diamond was discovered in the Kimberley diamond mines in South Africa in 1877.

A year after the mammoth stone was unearthed, founder Charles Lewis Tiffany – known as the King of Diamonds – acquired the rare gem and it was cut into its current shape at 128.54 carats.

Tiffany designer Jean Schlumberger set the yellow damond in a Ribbon Rosette necklace to promote the 1961 film “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” starring Audrey Hepburn, one of only two women to wear the Tiffany Diamond. In 1995, Schlumberg mounted the diamond into the “Bird on a Rock” setting for a retrospective at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris.

Resetting the Tiffany Diamond represents a committment to the future and design innovation. The diamond is the most important gemstone in the world and honors the vision of our founder, whose acquisition of the stone established Tiffany’s diamond heritage. ~ Jon King, Tiffany & Co. Executive Vice President

In honor of Tiffany’s anniversary, the Tiffany Diamond has been reset into a necklace with more than 120 carats of white diamonds and is on tour visiting Japan, Bejing, and Dubai. When the anniversary tour concludes, the diamond will retun to the New York Fifth Avenue store.