Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Saturday Morning News
Lots of Sparkle: Priceless Diamonds Exhibit
Aired June 28, 2003 - 09:48 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCOR: OK, so get ready to set your eyes on the rarest and most precious diamonds in the world. They are now on display at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History in Washington.
CNN's Kathleen Koch gives us a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They are the seven wonders of the gem world, gathered together in one place for the first time in history.
JEFFREY POST, EXHIBIT CURATOR: For these three months, this will be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see these together.
KOCH: In the heart of the Museum of Natural History, past cabinets of artifacts, they're stored temporarily in a vault few people enter. We did interviews locked inside, next to the seven perfect, priceless diamonds.
POST: Internally flawless, externally flawless. Probably...
KOCH (on camera): It's incredible, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) the weight, just simply touching it.
POST: Two hundred and three carets...
KOCH: The weight (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...
POST: ... about 40 grams.
KOCH: ... so heavy.
POST: Yes, it's got a good heft to it.
KOCH (voice-over): A hefty diamond that thieves took a stab at in London in 2000, breaking into an exhibit using a bulldozer, sledgehammers, and nail guns. Police, tipped off, were waiting.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They would have committed the largest robbery ever to take place anywhere in the world.
KOCH: The jewels in the Smithsonian exhibit include the finest colored diamonds in the world, colors created when impurities replaced the carbon. POST: This beautiful yellow, the Olnut (ph) diamond, gets its color from nitrogen impurities. The blue color comes from boron.
KOCH: The 59.6-carat pink diamond, just unveiled in Monaco, is on display for the first time, its owners confident it is secure.
(on camera): This exhibit is every jewel thief's dream, you know, their Mount Everest to conquer. Isn't that a frightening prospect?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a very frightening prospect. And hopefully it will remain as a prospect and as a nightmare but will never take place.
KOCH (voice-over): Assured, because the collection will be housed in the same room as the Hope diamond.
Kathleen Koch, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired June 28, 2003 - 09:48 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCOR: OK, so get ready to set your eyes on the rarest and most precious diamonds in the world. They are now on display at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History in Washington.
CNN's Kathleen Koch gives us a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They are the seven wonders of the gem world, gathered together in one place for the first time in history.
JEFFREY POST, EXHIBIT CURATOR: For these three months, this will be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see these together.
KOCH: In the heart of the Museum of Natural History, past cabinets of artifacts, they're stored temporarily in a vault few people enter. We did interviews locked inside, next to the seven perfect, priceless diamonds.
POST: Internally flawless, externally flawless. Probably...
KOCH (on camera): It's incredible, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) the weight, just simply touching it.
POST: Two hundred and three carets...
KOCH: The weight (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...
POST: ... about 40 grams.
KOCH: ... so heavy.
POST: Yes, it's got a good heft to it.
KOCH (voice-over): A hefty diamond that thieves took a stab at in London in 2000, breaking into an exhibit using a bulldozer, sledgehammers, and nail guns. Police, tipped off, were waiting.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They would have committed the largest robbery ever to take place anywhere in the world.
KOCH: The jewels in the Smithsonian exhibit include the finest colored diamonds in the world, colors created when impurities replaced the carbon. POST: This beautiful yellow, the Olnut (ph) diamond, gets its color from nitrogen impurities. The blue color comes from boron.
KOCH: The 59.6-carat pink diamond, just unveiled in Monaco, is on display for the first time, its owners confident it is secure.
(on camera): This exhibit is every jewel thief's dream, you know, their Mount Everest to conquer. Isn't that a frightening prospect?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a very frightening prospect. And hopefully it will remain as a prospect and as a nightmare but will never take place.
KOCH (voice-over): Assured, because the collection will be housed in the same room as the Hope diamond.
Kathleen Koch, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
