pink diamond earrings. – The Diamond Certification Laboratory of Australia (DCLA)

Auction House Pulls Fake Pink Diamond from Sale

A leading auction house was shocked to discover a pink diamond it planned to sell was actually a fake.

The gem was sent to the Institute of Diamonds – the De Beers diamond grading and verification division – ahead of the sale.

It was examined there and found to be a forgery, De Beers CEO Al Cook said in a LinkedIn post to his 42,500 followers.

“At first glance, the stone looks beautiful. It even has an inscription on the side which claims its a diamond,” he said.

But a combination of experts and sophisticated detection machines confirmed the stone was not actually diamond.

“As soon as our team looked at the stone, they suspected it was a fake,” said Cook in a follow-up to his original post.

“The certification inscription on the side had led the auction house to believe it was real.”

He also said: “Our team was quite excited to see this extraordinary stone and actually very sad when it turned out to be a fake.

“Luckily the fraud was stopped before an auction customer paid a vast sum of money!”

Cook didn’t provide further details, and De Beers declined to elaborate.

In his original post Cook said: “Henry Smith from our Institute of Diamonds confirmed that this pink stone was a forgery. ‘It had even been lasered with a fake inscription’.

“Henry explained that the auction house was shocked, but ‘cases like this emphasise the critical role of advanced detection technologies’.”

Cook also said in his post that De Beers was ramping up production of DiamondProof, the verification device aimed specifically at retailers that was showcased at JCK last year and which is now available in the US.

He said it can distinguish a natural diamond from a lab-grown or moissanite in a few seconds.

Source: IDEX

Guilty: Deloitte Director Bought Pink Diamonds on Company Credit Card

A former director of the Deloitte auditing company in Australia has admitted claiming almost AUD 2.8m ($1.8m) in fraudulent work expenses to buy pink diamonds, high-end art and other luxuries.

Paul Quill, 45, used his corporate credit card to make the purchases from 2016 to 2022, passing some of them off as payments for stationary, postage, photocopying and court fees. He admitted two counts of obtaining financial advantage by deception.

The County Court of Victoria, in Melbourne, heard last Thursday (27 March) that among the sums stolen was AUD 682,587 ($429,000) from Joe Gutnick’s Merlin Diamonds, the mining company that was wound up in 2020 after a series of losses.

The court heard that Quill lost control after the breakdown of a relationship. He will be sentenced on 15 April.

He was dismissed in 2022 after his crime was revealed during a routine audit. Deloitte said at the time that it would make sure all clients were repaid in full.

Source: IDEX

The $7m Pair of Pink Diamond Earrings

A pair of pear-shaped fancy pink pendant diamond earrings, weighing 11.17 carats and 10.85 carats, are to be sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong.

The estimate is $5.48m to $7.01m. Both diamonds are GIA-certified as Fancy Pink, Natural Color, VVS1 Clarity.

The pink diamonds are set in platinum and yellow gold suspended from a pear, marquise-shaped and brilliant-cut diamond surmount weighing a total of approximately 6.5-7.5cts, mostly F-H color, average VS-SI clarity.

The lead tomorrow’s Magnificent Jewels I. The sale also includes a Harry Winston diamond fringe necklace with nine pear-shaped diamonds weighing 14.93 to 2.04 carats (estimate $4.46m to $6.37m) and a 5.49-carat fancy intense blue diamond ring (estimate $4.84m to $6.37m).

Source: IDEX

Fancy Pink Diamonds Have Soared 116% in Value over the Past 10 Years

FANCY PINK DIAMONDS soared 116% in value over the past decade, outpacing blues (81%) and yellows (21%), according to a report by the Fancy Color Research Foundation (FCRF), an Israel-based group that tracks diamond pricing data in the global trading centers of Hong Kong, New York and Tel Aviv.

While the overall index for fancy-color diamonds — across all their brilliant hues — increased by 77% from 2009 to 2019, it was the pink diamond category that stood out in the report.

Market watchers believe that the strength of the pink-diamond segment is attributed to the expected closure this year of the Argyle Diamond Mine, which has been operating in Western Australia for the past 37 years.

“Rio Tinto’s Argyle mine is the first and only ongoing source of rare pink diamonds in history,” said Rio Tinto Copper & Diamonds chief executive Arnaud Soirat in 2019. “With the lifecycle of this extraordinary mine approaching its end, we have seen, and continue to see, unstoppable demand for these truly limited-edition diamonds and strong value appreciation.”

Back in April of 2017, The Pink Star, a 59.6-carat, flawless, fancy vivid pink diamond, shattered the world record for the highest price ever paid for any gem at auction. The hammer price of $71.2 million at Sotheby’s Magnificent Jewels and Jadeite sale in Hong Kong easily surpassed the $57.5 million achieved in May of 2016 by the previous record-holder, the 14.62-carat Oppenheimer Blue diamond.

In November of 2018, the 18.96-carat Pink Legacy was purchased for $50.3 million at Christie’s Geneva, establishing a record per-carat price of $2.7 million for a fancy vivid pink diamond. The previous record holder was the 14.93-carat Pink Promise, which sold at auction for $2.2 million per carat in 2017.

FCRF advisory board member Jim Pounds explained why prices for fancy-color diamonds should remain strong: “From the mining perspective, we are currently experiencing a shortage in high-quality fancy-color rough and we therefore feel quite optimistic about the future.”

Source: instoremag

Phillips to Sell Rare Pink Diamond Collection

Rare pink diamonds from Rio Tinto’s Argyle mine in Australia will lead the upcoming Hong Kong Jewels and Jadeite auction at Phillips next month.

The collection comprises 16 jewelry pieces, each incorporating stones from the Argyle deposit, which is the only known source of pink diamonds and is due to close next year. Chief among these will be a ring that can be converted into a pair of ear studs. The piece, which features two heart-shaped, fancy-intense-purplish-pink diamonds, has a presale estimate of HKD 5.8 million to HKD 6.8 million ($739,860 to $867,423).

Other items include a pair of fancy pink diamond, seed pearl and white diamond earrings designed by London-based jeweler Sarah Ho, which is expected to fetch HKD 110,000 to HKD 150,000 ($14,031 to $19,134). A ring by Singapore-based gemologist Paige Parker, featuring pink, yellow and white diamonds, has a presale estimate of HKD 260,000 to HKD 320,000 ($33,166 to $40,820). Another ring by Hong Kong jewelry designer Karen Suen, in which pink and white diamonds are set around a conch pearl, is meanwhile valued at up to HKD 620,000 ($79,087).

Two further items from the collection, also up for auction, feature Columbian Muzo emeralds alongside Argyle pink diamonds. A necklace, expected to garner up to HKD 2.2 million ($280, 640), will go under the hammer alongside a pair of emerald, white and pink diamond pendant earrings with a presale estimate of up to HKD 630,000 ($80,367).

Additional pieces, outside of the pink diamond collection, include a jadeite bead and diamond necklace, which is expected to fetch between HKD 8.5 million and HKD 11 million ($1.1 million to $1.4 million). A rare Van Cleef & Arpels zip necklace, including diamonds, sapphires and lapis lazuli, is expected to net up to HKD 4.5 million ($574,042).

The auction will take place at the JW Marriott in Hong Kong on November 25. It will be preceded by a three-day public exhibition at the same location.

Source: Diamonds.net