In the world of fancy coloured diamonds, pinks and reds are among the rarest and the most valuable. Pink diamonds appear sporadically in India, Russia, Brazil and Indonesia, while the only consistent and dominant source of pink diamonds is Rio Tinto’s Argyle mine in Western Australia which accounts for 90 percent of the world’s pink diamond supply. Since 1984 Rio Tinto has sold its polished pinks and reds via its exclusive sale ‘Argyle Pink Diamond Tender’. At the viewing of its 2015 tender in Hong Kong in September, Hong Kong Jewellery had a chat with Josephine Johnson, manager of Argyle Pink Diamonds on the exceptional stones and trends.
The 2015 tender, named ‘The Connoisseur’s Collection’, comprised of 65 diamonds with 61 pinks and four fancy reds, totaling 44.14 carats. “That is about the carat weight we have each year of the truly special single stones. Literally, there are a handful of stones each year,” said Johnson on the rarity of the Argyle pinks over half a carat. The sale highlighted five ‘hero’ stones including the 1.20-carat SI1 pear-shaped fancy red Argyle PrimaTM, the largest fancy red diamond of a kind ever offered at the tender.
“We are delighted with this year’s results,” Johnson said. “The Argyle Pink Tender diamonds continued their double-digit price growth trajectory in 2015, achieving the highest average price per carat since the tender began in 1984.”
Whilst total values of the tender remain confidential, she told Hong Kong Jewellery that the top lot went to Argyle PrimaTM for its unique combination of size, shape, colour and clarity which is seldom seen in the rarefied world of red diamonds.
“It is a reflection of the collectability of Argyle pink diamonds and global appreciation of their rarity, provenance and beauty. Whilst bids came from all corners of the globe, China remained an important market and Lao Feng Xiang were successful once again this year in securing one of the hero diamonds with Argyle ÉlevéTM, an elegant 1.44-carat fancy intense pink emerald-shaped diamond,” she added.
It is said that one tenth of one percent of diamonds from the Argyle mine is pink. Since the discovery of the Argyle diamond mine in the late 1970s, pink diamonds have entered the open investment and high jewellery markets causing a frenzy of ‘pink mania’ worldwide.
Since the Argyle mine went live, pink diamonds have gained popularity in the coloured diamond market where Rio Tinto has invested a lot in marketing and demand-driven initiatives. The spiraling prices pinks and reds achieved at global auctions reflect the huge desirability of the extremely rare and pricy stones. But how well do people actually know about the stones? Johnson said: “I think for many years it was quite a tightly-held trade secret. People could not really see them because they are so rare. In the last 10 years, that has changed. We have been actively promoting diamonds and working with a network of retailers around the world. We see today a really global appreciation for pink diamonds, not just for collectability, but also for jewellery. Few years ago we saw Tiffany ran a major campaign about pink diamonds that increased its international presence.
“People have probably bought yellow diamonds and now are moving up to complete their repertoire with pink or red diamonds.”
The world auction record for a pink diamond was set at Sotheby’s Geneva in November 2010 when The Graff Pink, a 24.78-carat fancy intense pink VVS2 potentially flawless diamond sold for US$46,158,674. The record for a fancy vivid pink was set at Christie’s in Geneva in November 2015 by The Sweet Josephine (named after sale), a 16.08-carat fancy vivid pink VVS2, sold for US$28,523,925. In December 2009 Christie’s Hong Kong sold The Vivid Pink, a fancy vivid pink diamond of 5.00 carats for US$10,776,660 or US$2,155,332 per carat that remains to date the world auction record price per carat for any pink diamond.
Buying a pink single stone is like collecting a piece of fine art. “We always recommend people to buy through a trusted source. Look for on the one hand, colour - the greater intensity of colour, the greater the value. We also say diamond is unique. You should look for a diamond that speaks to you, in the same way you do an art. A lot of diamond connoisseurs are art collectors,” said Johnson.
According to the GIA grading, coloured diamonds are graded in order of increasing colour strength from Faint, Very Light, Light, Fancy Light, and Fancy to Fancy Intense, Fancy Vivid, Fancy Dark, and Fancy Deep. Fancy Vivid and Fancy Deep generally command the highest prices.
The Argyle mine is expected to be depleted in 2020. There are speculations that whether closing or not is still an open-ended question. “It’s Mother Nature. We are approaching the virtual exhaustion of the resource. It is imminent that we are approaching the end of our mine,” Johnson confirmed.
There will still be a few hundreds of top-notch pinks and reds for the Argyle tender in the next five years; nevertheless, the absence of the 90-percent world supply would only mean one thing: up is the only direction for both the price of and demand for pinks and reds to go.
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