Harry Winston was just 12 when spotted a two-carat emerald in a tray of costume jewelry at a pawn shop, bought it for 25 cents, and sold it two days later for $800.
That's just one of the many remarkable stories about the late King of Diamonds, who went on to amass a collection of historic jewels second only to that owned by the British royal family.
Winston, born in New York City in 1896 to Jewish immigrant parents from Ukraine, was an icon in the industry.
There are few diamonds of note that he did not own at some point in his career. He was also the first to recognize the value of lending prized jewels to leading ladies at the Oscars (a practice that's still very much alive).
But one of the most enduring stories about Winston was when he donated the 45.52-carat Hope Diamond to the Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC, in November 1958.
Winston was a great believer in the US postal system, so he placed the diamond - insured for $1m ($9m in today's money) - in a box, wrapped it in brown paper and sent it by registered mail from New York via Railway Post Office train car.
I'm re-telling the story now because his son, Ronald Winston, has just made his own remarkable diamond donation, to the same museum (although there are no reports that it was sent by post).
Ronald worked alongside his father for many years, took over the business when Harry died in 1978, and built up Harry Winston Inc from a highly successful business into a prestigious international luxury brand.
He also co-wrote King of Diamonds: Harry Winston, the Definitive Biography of an American Icon.
As a side note, there was a long and bitter legal battle between Ronald and his late brother Bruce, which culminated in Bruce selling his share of the business to Ronald in 2000 for $44m and the two remaining unreconciled. But that's another story.
The more cheerful news is that Ronald, now aged 84, is following in his father's footsteps with his own priceless and unique gift to The Smithsonian.
It's a collection of 41 fancy color diamonds that he acquired during his 60 years in the diamond industry.
They feature every imaginable shade from deep teal to soft peach, and will be displayed, from 1 April, in a rainbow formation.
The undoubted highlight of the collection is the 2.33-carat Winston Red, one of the largest fancy color red diamonds in the world, with a striking crimson hue.
Little is known publicly of the stone's provenance, though the old mine brilliant cut, with fewer, larger facets, suggests it dates back to some time before the mid-1900s.
Fancy red is the rarest of all color grades, and fewer than 30 such diamonds over 0.20 carats are known to exist. The largest of all is the 5.11-carat Moussaieff Red Diamond, unearthed by a Brazilian farmer in the 1990s, and also a one-time exhibit at The Smithsonian.
The Winston Fancy Color Diamond Collection will be displayed, appropriately enough, in the museum's Winston Gallery.
"This ranks among the most significant gifts ever received by the Smithsonian," said Kirk Johnson, the Sant Director of The Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History.
"The red diamond is the highlight of my career, and I have never seen anything else like it," said Ronald Winston.
"This donation to the museum represents my life's achievements in this domain, and I am so happy to share this collection with the institution and the museum's visitors."