Few guests at first notice the seven small stones, shimmering icily in the corner of this Ginza reception hall. The little shards catch a beam of light for the briefest instant, before flicking it gaily away.
Who but a connoisseur could imagine that these seven tiny rocks possess a combined value of nearly $4 million? Or that objects of such delicacy could be crafted from the hardest natural substance known to man?
The crowd finally notices the diamonds and, suitably impressed, turns to toast the man who gave them their glitter, renowned Belgian diamond-cutter Gabriel Shraga Tolkowsky. Sixty-two-year-old Gabi, as he is known, is so skilled at reducing rough stones to geometric perfection that one industry insider called him "the god of diamonds," an artisan who bewitches -- and is bewitched by -- each gem he touches.