Behind every billionaire there is a story!

Meet The King Of Bling

How a poor boy from London’s East End became the most exclusive diamond merchant you’ve never heard of.

British billionaire Laurence Graff, the man jewelry business insiders call the new Harry Winston, swears this story is true: A woman and her husband walk into Graff’s shop on London’s swanky New Bond Street and ask to see the stunning diamond-and-ruby necklace in the window. It’s the woman’s birthday and hubby wants to buy her a bauble. At $2 million, however, he feels the price is too steep. Instead he offers $1 million and exits the store, giving the jeweler 24 hours to cash the check. Later that day the lady returns with a second man, her lover. He, too, admires the necklace but finds the price too high. Another $1 million check is written and left on Graff’s desk

Graff grew up on Commercial Road in London’s gritty East End, where he spent his first seven years living in a single room with his Jewish Rumanian immigrant mother, behind the corner sweet shop his Russian father opened just before leaving to fight in World War II. At age 14, in 1952, he was getting such poor marks in school that his family urged him to drop out and start a trade. Graff’s first job: apprentice

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http://www.forbes.com/free_forbes/2007/0813/084.html