Ronald Winston is the son of the famed celebrity jeweler Harry Winston (his jewelry is worn by the stars at Academy Award presentations). Over a lifetime of dealings a barter trade Harry Winston made years ago may have been his best business decision ever.

It was back in 1940 that Harry Winston pulled off a barter deal by moving a $50,000 diamond necklace for a Colonial-style clapboard estate built in 1911.

The property is a working farm as well as a vacation home for Ronald, who now runs the New York-based jewelry business his late father founded.

The 15-acre estate with 12 bedrooms, 6-1/2 baths, and 7 fireplaces is just thirty minutes from midtown Manhattan. Its present market value is $30 million.

Diamond Industry Undergoing Change

The Gemological Institute of America, known for diamond judging the four Cs of diamonds…color, clarity, cut and caret…has ended its long-standing practice of grading only natural diamonds. And they will, over the objections of the powerful diamond mining lobby, rate gemstones created in a lab.

Laboratory diamonds, even though they’re labeled by the Carlsbad, Ca.-based institute as synthetic, are not to be confused with cubic zirconia or other shopping-channel substitutes.

Controversy comes when technology disrupts an industry, and diamonds are a $60-billion industry. The Gemological Institute, however, is not taking sides. One kind of diamond is a geological wonder, the other a triumph of human ingenuity.

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