Diamond composed of Beethoven's hair

The next time you think about Ludwig van Beethoven, forget about the piano or his famous lilting Moonlight sonata or even his powerful Symphony No. 9.

Think of his shock of gray hair. Then think diamonds.

Blue ice.

And $1 million. One million dollars?

One of three diamonds created from a lock of Beethoven's hair was posted Tuesday on eBay by an Elk Grove Village company. They're the first ever diamonds created from carbon using human hair of a historical celebrity.

The auction's target: $1 million.

And you have nine more days to bid on the .56 carat, round-cut blue diamond.

All proceeds will go to a children's charity, such as Make A Wish, said Dean VandenBiesen, a co-founder of LifeGem, a five-year-old company that creates diamond memorials from cremated remains. A new process now uses hair, from the living or the dead.

"We started thinking about doing a diamond from someone famous, like Elvis, but the licensing fees were enormous," said VandenBiesen.

Beethoven doesn't have a licensing empire. The 18-century German pianist and composer who slowly turned deaf was usually depicted as a passionate artist with flailing whitish-gray hair.

The musician would hardly recognize his hair now, after a new process took 20 strands, each about 3 inches long, and made them into three diamonds.

The year-long process used pressure, reaching about 800,000 pounds per square inch, and temperatures as high as 3,000 degrees to create a rough diamond. It was then faceted and polished by a gem specialist.

Beethoven's hair was obtained from John Reznikoff, president of Westport, Conn.-based University Archives Inc., which has about 20,000 items. Reznikoff holds the Guinness World Record for the most valuable collection of celebrity and historical hair, including from Napoleon, Albert Einstein, Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy. He has appeared on Good Morning America and CNN.

Reznikoff said he saw a frame containing locks of hair from Beethoven and Italian violinist Nicolo Paganini at a small auction in Cape Cod about 10 years ago.

He declined to say how much he paid for the framed hair at the time but said his research to authenticate the strands led him to Ira F. Brilliant, an avid Beethoven collector and expert who died last year. He was the founder of the Ira F. Brilliant Center for Beethoven Studies at San Jose State University.

"We had discussed the nature of the hair, its color and other factors and we agreed it was taken near the time of Beethoven's death," said Reznikoff.

Reznikoff said no DNA tests had been performed on his strands because such tests would be inconclusive compared to those taken on body tissue. Still, he also researched the frame and placed the age of its wood from the time of Beethoven.

So why give up a portion of that prized hair? "I liked the charity angle," said Reznikoff. "It struck me as a very creative and interesting thing."

Reznikoff will get one of the three diamonds in exchange for the hair. The second is being auctioned on eBay. The third diamond will remain at LifeGem to start a special "chain of fame" that could tour at museums.

Besides doing more diamonds with hair of historical figures, LifeGem would also like live celebrities to step forward with their locks.

"Raising money for charity is a good way to do this," said VandenBiesen.

Hair to diamonds

LifeGem creates diamond memorials from cremated remains. The cost can range from $2,199 to $42,999 for loose diamonds. Now, the company has created a manmade diamond from hair in about a year.

Step 1. Carbon capture: A delicate procedure captures almost all of the available carbon in a lock of hair. It works only in a special high-nitrogen, low-oxygen atmosphere.

Step 2. Purification: Once captured, this carbon is heated up to extremely high temperatures under special conditions. While removing the existing ash, this process converts the carbon to graphite with unique characteristics and elements that will create your one-of-a-kind diamond.

Step 3. Creation: The graphite is now placed in a unique diamond press that replicates the forces deep within the earth. Heat gradually goes up to about 3,000 degrees. Pressure goes up to 800,000 pounds per square inch.

Step 4. Certification: Finally, skilled diamond cutters facet and polish the diamond, laser etch a unique identifier on the girdle and certify it for authenticity. All LifeGem diamonds are individually inspected, graded and identified by gemologists trained by the Gemological Institute of America.

Source: LifeGem