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One
of the rarest, priciest, and most coveted gemstones is the pink diamond.
With its frothy powder puff pale pinks to rich purplish reds, these
diamonds are always fascinating. Each year, Rio Tinto’s Argyle Mine in the
remote north of Western Australia produces just a handful of these
treasures, which are sold through the Rio Tinto Diamonds Argyle Pink
Tender. Scientists believe that pink diamonds get their color due to a
phenomenon in the crystal lattice structure of the stone. Just how rare
are pink diamonds? For every 1 million carats of rough diamonds
produced at the Argyle Mine, which is the world’s most reliable source of
pink diamonds, only 1 carat of rough is of the quality to qualify for the
tender. The rough is polished at the Argyle Mine’s factory in Perth,
Australia. The diamonds are graded and certified by the Gemological
Institute of America (GIA), The Diamond High Council (HRD) in Antwerp and
the AGT Gem Laboratory in Japan. This year, there were 65 diamonds in the
tender, two of which were blue and one of which was a purplish red. The
gems range in size from 49 points to 2.03 carats. Only 29 of the stones
weighed more than 1 carat.
The 65
stones totaled 61.43 carats. These rare and precious diamonds comprise the
tender, which travels from Perth to New York City, Tokyo, Hong Kong,
London and Geneva during the fall. There are 120 dealers invited to the
tender, where they examine the diamonds and then make a closed bid one or
more stones or even all the stones. The winners and prices are never
disclosed, but it takes a lot of green to be in the pink. According to
Jean Marc Lieberherr, general marketing manager for Rio Tinto Diamonds,
while one good quality, 1 carat white diamond may go for $20,000, it is
possible that a good quality, 1 carat pink diamond could command as much
as $400,000. |
