After 170 years in the industry, the DeYoung family continues to support GIA with each passing generation

By Emily Stegman

Joseph H. Samuel Jr. can perfectly recall the history of the Nassak Diamond, a more than 80-ct. stone that was originally set in the forehead of a temple statue of Shiva, the Hindu goddess of destruction and reproduction. He can tell you how this diamond was part of the British army's spoils when they took control of India after the third Mahratta war in 1818, how the Duke of Westminster mounted it in the hilt of his sword in 1837 and how Harry Winston helped bring it through New York customs in 1927.

Jacob DeYoung (far right) stands with the four other original diamond cutters from the Morse factory in 1882. He and his son Sydney formally established J. & S.S. DeYoung, a company still well-known for its dealings in valuable period jewelry and gemstones, in the 1920s. GIA file photo

He can even tell you what the GIA Diamond Grading Report said when his company received this Indian gem in 1964: Internally Flawless.

For Samuel, history has always been the foundation for the future.

"If you can appreciate the individual gemstones, the rarity of them, there's a certain kind of pleasure that's going to come from your vocation," Samuel told GIA in an oral history video in 2000.

"In addition to the scientific and gemological knowledge you can gain at GIA, if you have the time, try to acquire the historical perspective that exists in many of the works that have been written about the industry," he said.

Samuel's enthusiasm for history and affinity for fine period jewelry stem from his family's influential past in the industry and a long-time connection to GIA.

"Our family has had a close relationship with GIA since its inception, but our company's history goes back a lot further," Samuel said. "In total, we have been involved in this industry for 170 years and have spanned five generations."

"Henry Morse observed that beauty was being sacrificed for weight and set out to reverse that thinking," Samuel said. "He once told a Boston newspaper that 'shopping for diamonds by the carat is like buying a racehorse by the pound.'"

Simon DeYoung supported Morse as he invented a gauge to measure angled diamond proportions that replaced crude methods of the past and witnessed Charles Field, the factory's foreman, create a patented steam-driven-diamond-cutting lathe that enabled cutters to create diamonds with a round circumference.

Samuel's grandfather, Jacob DeYoung, joined his father in the 1870s as an apprentice at the Morse factory and later became an active diamond broker in Boston. Samuel's uncle, S. Sydney DeYoung, joined the trade in 1921 and worked with Jacob to form J. & S.S. DeYoung, Inc. and expand their business beyond diamonds to include jewelry and colored stones.

The DeYoung family's relationship with GIA began 10 years later when Robert M. Shipley established the Institute in 1931.

"The DeYoung family's intimate understandings of how gems and jewelry were used as personal treasure and investment in different cultures and economies have made them a source of information to several industry experts," GIA Research Associate Al Gilbertson said.

"It's their passion for the industry that has led them to help with fundraising for various GIA-related projects over the years," he said.

S. Sydney DeYoung was a very early supporter of the GIA Gem Trade Laboratory in New York and helped G. Robert Crowningshield, longtime director and vice president of the Laboratory, collect and analyze pertinent data about colored diamonds.

Samuel graduated from Yale in 1945 and, after serving in the Navy, became the fourth generation to join the family business. The family has since contributed to several funds at the Institute and donated a gem-quality 29.15-ct. faceted pink morganite to GIA's collection in 1976. Samuel himself served on the Institute's Board of Governors from 1985 to 2000 and was elected Governor Emeritus in 2001.

"Joe has always been willing to share his knowledge of the industry," said Dona Dirlam, director of GIA's Richard T. Liddicoat Gemological Library and Information Center. "Whenever I encountered a topic that would stump the librarians, I could call Joe and he would answer any of my questions about antique jewelry. He has been one of my favorite mentors."

Former GIA Board of Governors member Joseph H. Samuel Jr. has upheld a long family history of service to the industry and the Institute. GIA file photo

Generosity Continues Today
The DeYoung family's most recent donation to the Institute includes two historic manuscripts containing Morse's personal notes and business letters from 1877 to 1888 that detail his thoughts on day-to-day business.

Gilberston, who discovered these documents with Dirlam while researching his work, Evolution of the American Round Brilliant, described them as a "treasure trove" of information about the industry that was formerly unknown.

"With personal letters about re-cutting diamonds, buying and selling colored stones from London, Africa and Brazil, as well as letters to many important industry names, this is a truly valuable addition to GIA's Collection," Gilbertson said.

Samuel said he has great respect for the Institute's library and couldn't imagine his books going anywhere else.

"GIA is a very unique institution that serves the industry and the public through its activities, which people from all over the world can honor and respect," he said.

"It only makes sense that these books, which have great historical value, be in a place where they will best be used by gemological researchers."

Samuel's daughter and son-in-law Janet and Alan Levy, vice president and president of J. & S.S. DeYoung, Inc., respectively, also recently established a scholarship fund for GIA Education. The DeYoung Family Scholarship Fund will help two On Campus Graduate Gemologist students attend classes in Los Angeles, New York or Carlsbad. It is offered exclusively to those who are the first members of their families to enter the gem and jewelry industry.

Page 221 of Henry D. Morse's personal notes and business letters is part of the two historic manuscripts recently gifted to GIA's library by Joseph H. Samuel Jr. GIA file photo

"It's important for us, being the fifth generation of the DeYoung family in the industry, to continue the family's tradition of giving to GIA," Janet Levy said.

"We knew we were very fortunate to already have an established family business and experienced people to teach us about jewelry and wanted to support someone without that family history," she said. "We wanted to make a gesture toward the industry's next generation."