A 21.86 carat natural pink diamond named “The Pink Palesa” will be sold by the Bonas Group in Antwerp in July.
Credit: Namakwa Diamonds
The pink gem was discovered on May 18 at the Kao mine in Lesotho one of the few sources of pink diamonds in the world following the closure of the iconic Argyle mine last year. Argyle provided about 90% of the world’s pink gems. Kao is operated and owned by Namakwa through its subsidiary, Storm Mountain Diamonds.
According to the report, Kao has yielded several pink diamonds in the last few years: The 25.97 carat Pink Dawn (2021), the 36.06-carat Pink Storm sold in 2014, the 3.06 carat Purple Princess (2017) and the 29.59 carat Rose of Kao (2018).
The Sakura ring was the star at Christie’s Hong Kong, setting a world-record auction price for a purple-pink diamond.
The cushion-cut, 15.81-carat, fancy-vivid, internally flawless stone sold within its estimate for $29.3 million, or $1.9 million per carat, at the May 23 Magnificent Jewels auction, Christie’s said Sunday. The piece, purchased by a private Asian buyer, was also the most valuable jewel sold at auction so far this year. Overall, the Hong Kong sale raked in $76.8 million, the auction house’s highest total for a jewelry auction in four years.
“We are very excited to have marked another important chapter in jewelry-auction history today, with The Sakura realizing a record-breaking price,” said Vickie Sek, chairman of Christie’s Asia Pacific jewelry department. “The strong sell-through rates and exceptional prices achieved for top-quality colored diamonds and gemstones reflect a robust market demand.”
However, even with the record pricing, the pink diamond still fell short of its $38 million high estimate.
“I would not consider this to be at the lower end of the market price, but there was room for it to go [further] if the current economic stability and situation was better,” Harsh Maheshwari, executive director of colored-diamond dealer Kunming Diamonds, told Rapaport News. “Post-Covid-19, if a similar item were to be auctioned, it would possibly touch, or break, the higher end of the estimated price.”
Meanwhile, The Sweet Heart, a heart-shaped, 4.19-carat, fancy-vivid-pink diamond ring, brought in $6.6 million, or $1.6 million per carat, within its presale valuation.
Other notable items include a necklace with a 50.05-carat, D-flawless, type IIa briolette diamond pendant, which garnered $2.7 million. That price, which comes to $53,399 per carat, was just above its low estimate. A square emerald-cut, 31.17-carat, fancy-vivid-yellow, VS2-clarity diamond ring went for $2.2 million, smashing its high estimate, as did a Cartier necklace with diamonds and five Colombian emeralds weighing a total of 16.43 carats, which achieved $2.1 million.
Overall, Christie’s sold 82% of items on offer at the auction.
A fancy-intense-pink diamond ring with a high estimate of CHF 11 million ($12 million) is set to feature in the Magnificent Jewels sale at Christie’s Geneva.
The oval-shaped, 15.23-carat piece, surrounded by diamonds, will be offered alongside the 100.94-carat Alrosa Spectacle diamond at the May 12 auction, Christie’s said last week.
Other notable items include a heart-shaped, 53.33-carat, D-color, VVS1-clarity, type IIa diamond pendant with a high valuation of CHF 3 million ($3.3 million). A pear-shaped, 141.22-carat, fancy-brown-yellow diamond set in a diamond necklace is also on offer, carrying a high estimate of CHF 2.8 million ($3.1 million).
Meanwhile, a ring featuring a 47-carat, cushion-shaped old mine Colombian emerald surrounded by diamonds will go under the hammer. The jewel, which is from an important private collection, carries a high presale estimate of CHF 1.6 million ($1.7 million).
Christie’s will also sell a rectangular cut-cornered, 8.06-carat, fancy-purplish-pink, VVS2-clarity diamond ring bracketed by tapered baguette-cut diamonds. The piece, created by Boucheron, has a high valuation of CHF 1.5 million ($1.6 million).
Christie’s will preview the items from May 8. The sale will also feature an online component, which will be open for bidding between April 29 and May 10.
A 2.17-carat fancy vivid purplish pink diamond fetched $3.5m at auction, well above its high estimate of $2.5m.
It was the most expensive of a “Perfect Palette” of three colored diamonds that raised a total of $8.4m last week at Christie’s New York April Magnificent Jewels.
The pink diamond (pictured) was a cut-cornered square modified brilliant-cut stone, natural color, SI1 clarity, set with round diamonds in a platinum and 18k yellow gold ring.
A fancy vivid blue cut-cornered rectangular modified brilliant-cut diamond of 2.13 carats, natural color, VS1 clarity, set in a platinum ring with round diamonds, sold for $2.67m (high estimate $3m).
And a fancy vivid orange cut-cornered rectangular modified brilliant-cut diamond of 2.34 carats, natural color, VS1 clarity, set in platinum and 18k yellow gold, sold for $2.19m (high estimate $2.5m).
The sale of over 200 lots – including signed pieces by Belperron, Bulgari, Cartier, Graff, Harry Winston, Hemmerle, JAR, Lacloche, Tiffany & Co., and Van Cleef & Arpels – brought in a total of $35m.
Christie’s said there were bids from 40 countries and 94 per cent of lots were sold.
A 15.81 carat Sakura diamond, the largest of its kind to ever appear for sale, will go under the hammer at Christie’s upcoming Hong Kong Magnificent Jewels Live Auction on May 23, the auction house announced on Tuesday. Estimated at $25 million to $38 million, the “fancy vivid purple pink internally flawless” diamond will be the star highlight of the sale.
It is the diamond’s exceptional rarity, extraordinary optical transparency, brilliant colour, and enormous size that make it an immensely important, and eternal masterpiece of nature.
As fewer than 10 per cent of pink diamonds weigh more than one-fifth of a carat, this fancy vivid purple-pink diamond is of an unprecedented size of 15.81 carats, which is the largest of its kind Fancy Vivid Purple Pink to be offered at any auction.
It added that the lot fell in the exclusive group of the four per cent of pink diamonds that possess a colour deep enough to qualify as “fancy vivid”.
This magnificent gem is graded ‘fancy vivid’ for its perfect display of strong saturation and remarkable pink hue with a secondary colour of purple, resembling the fascinating colour of cherry blossoms – appropriately coinciding with spring.
Over 90% of the world’s annual natural pink diamond supply is mined from one single source: Rio Tinto’s Argyle mine in Western Australia. The mine has been in operation since the early 1980’s, and is scheduled to completely cease all mining operations by 2021 due to exhausted supply.
In anticipation of this closure date, investors buying pink diamonds are seeing an average appreciation of between 10-15% on their diamond portfolios each year.
Pink coloured diamonds can act as an important part of a balanced investment portfolio, offering low correlation and insulation from traditional financial market risks.
A fancy pink diamond ring by Meister was the top seller at the Bonhams London Jewels sale, garnering $1.1 million USD.
The piece, with a step-cut 3.62 carat center stone and designed in 1968 by Meister, exceeded its high estimate of $989,417 USD at the November 12 auction, Bonhams said last week.
A diamond brooch from the collection of Dame Joan Collins, designed by Van Cleef & Arpels, fetched $161,892 USD, more than six times its high valuation. It was part of a collection of the actress’s jewels that saw 100% of items find buyers, with the final sales total three times higher than the auctioneer had estimated. A portion of the proceeds from Collins’s jewelry will be donated to the Shooting Star Children’s Hospice, of which she is a patron.
Other notable items at the auction included a sapphire and diamond ring, which fetched $189,865 USD against a high estimate of $131,851 USD, and a three-stone diamond ring, which brought in $132,179 USD, nearly doubling its estimate.
In total, the auction achieved $5 million USD, with Bonhams selling 75% of items on offer.
“Despite the auction taking place behind closed doors, the bidding remained spirited and the results demonstrate that high quality pieces with extraordinary provenance continue to captivate buyers around the world,” said Jean Ghika, global head of jewelry for Bonhams.
Alrosa’s Spirit of the Rose has achieved the highest price for any purple-pink diamond, selling to an anonymous bidder for nearly $27 million at Sotheby’s Geneva.
The oval modified brilliant-cut, 14.83-carat, fancy-vivid-purple-pink, internally flawless, type II stone, named for the famous Russian ballet, sold for $26.6 million, beating its low estimate of $23 million. The diamond, which fetched $1.8 million per carat, led the Magnificent Jewels and Noble Jewels live auction Wednesday, which garnered $52.2 million in total, Sotheby’s said.
The purchase comes on the heels of the recent closure of Rio Tinto’s Argyle mine in Australia, which produced more than 90% of the world’s pink diamonds. Prices for stones of that color are likely to soar in the coming years, experts have noted.
“The Spirit of the Rose caught the imagination of everyone who had the chance to see it,” said Benoit Repellin, head of the Sotheby’s Geneva Magnificent Jewels auction. “With its size, beautiful color, perfect cut and oval shape, it is a wonder of nature, steeped in Russia’s century-long diamond tradition and cultural heritage. It fully deserves the price achieved tonight, which is also testament to the growing appreciation and awareness of the great scarcity of pink diamonds around the world.”
Sotheby’s also saw strong prices for white diamonds at the auction, with 10 out of 11 stones on offer selling above their estimates. A cushion-shaped, 18.03-carat, D-color, flawless, type IIa diamond fetched $1.9 million against a high estimate of $1.1 million, while a pear-shaped, 102.41-carat, light-brown diamond of VVS2 clarity brought in $1.3 million, exceeding its high valuation.
Noble jewels were in demand as well, Sotheby’s said, led by a Colombian emerald and diamond parure from the collection of the first Marquis de Guirior, viceroy of New Granada and viceroy of Peru. That piece also surpassed its high estimate, fetching $1.1 million.
Pink diamonds, already rare, are about to get scarcer as Rio Tinto has closed its iconic Argyle diamond mine, the world’s biggest and the main global source of high-quality pink diamonds.
Since opening its doors 37 years ago, the Western Australia mine produced 865 million carats of rough diamonds and became the source of about 90% of the world’s prized rose-to-magenta hued stones.
The Argyle ore body, a single pipe known as AK1, was discovered in October 1979. Alluvial operations began in 1983, open pit mining kicked off in 1985 and the mine became a fully underground operation in 2013.
Today, Rio has mined the very last of these unique diamonds from the site, located within the ancient Matsu Ranges more than 3,000 km north of Perth.
“Fifty years ago there were very few people who believed there were diamonds in Australia even fewer could have foreseen how the Argyle story would unfold,” Rio Tinto’s chief executive of Copper and Diamonds, Arnaud Soirat, said in a statement.
“To arrive at this final chapter has required vision, courage and determination to overcome significant challenges to enter new territory in diamond exploration, mining and marketing,” Soirat added.
The closure of Argyle will remove about 75% of Rio’s diamond output, yet the impact on the miner’s earnings will be negligible. Diamonds bring in only about 2% of its earnings, while iron ore the company’s main commodity accounts for almost 60%.
The operation will now undergo decommissioning and rehabilitation, which is expected to take five years. After that, Rio will monitor the site for a period yet to be defined.
End of an era
Andrew Wilson, general manager of Argyle, said the mine transformed the diamond sector since its opening, supplying gems for both ends of the market.
“A new chapter will now begin as we start the process of respectfully closing the Argyle mine and rehabilitating the land, to be handed back to its traditional custodians,” he said.
Argyle was Australia’s first large-scale diamond operation, pioneering the fly–in fly–out model, and seen as an opportunity for a workforce drawn from across the nation.
Forty years ago, in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, four diamonds in a dry creek bed ultimately led Rio’s geologists to a massive diamond deposit.
It also triggered the creation and adoption of new technology and exploration methods to make the search for diamonds more efficient across the rugged and remote Kimberley landscape.
At its peak, Argyle churned out 40% of the world’s diamond output, which made it the biggest producer by volume.
Pricy gems
Analysts and auctioneers alike expect prices for pink diamonds to go up and, potentially spur exploration.
Pink stones have already been fetching record prices in the past few years and the closure of their main source could see that trend strengthen.
The “Pink Star” went for $71.2 million at Sotheby’s Hong Kong in April 2017, setting a record for diamonds sold in auctions.
In 2018, the 18.96-carat Pink Legacy fetched $50 million at Christie’s auction house, breaking the world record for price paid per carat for a pink diamond at auction.
The Pink Legacy diamond.
At Sotheby’s Hong Kong 2019 sale, one of the star pieces described as an “exquisite 10.64 carat vivid purplish pink diamond” sold for just under $20 million.
Rio Tinto’s own data show that prices for their Argyle pink diamonds jumped by 500% from 2000 to earlier this year.
Australian Diamond Portfolio is set to showcase a selection of the last pink diamonds to be unearthed in Australia before Rio Tinto closes the Argyle mine in Western Australia.
It is rumoured that final excavation at the Argyle mine will take place on November 2.
Sydney-based Australian Diamond Portfolio will curate a set of pink diamonds as part of The Legacy Collection, with affordable prices ranging from $1000 to $10,000.
Coveted for its distinctive colour and coupled with its rarity, the pink diamond is one of the most elusive gemstones in the world, according to Australian Diamond Portfolio.
“Unlike yellow diamonds, which comprise over 60 per cent of all fancy colour diamonds produced, natural pinks fall into the same category as blues and reds for their extreme rarity,” it added.
“… The richer the ‘pink’, the rarer and more valuable the stone. Nowhere else in the world can you find pinks with such character and depth of colour and vibrance of tone as those from the Argyle mine.
“Even if a new mine was to be discovered in the near future, it would still take a minimum 10-15 years to reach the actual stage of producing diamonds to sell.”
Australian Diamond Portfolio consultant and master diamond polisher David Burger said nobody could say for certain what exactly gave pink diamonds their stunning colour.
“Other diamonds get their colour from chemical impurities that absorb light, however, no similar impurities have been found in pink diamonds, leading scientists to speculate that the colour may be the result of some kind of seismic shock that altered the stone’s molecular structure instead,” he said.
The Legacy Collection will feature three shades of the Argyle pink diamonds, which are pink, purplish pink and pink rosé, with weights ranging from 0.08 to 0.14 carat.
A percentage of profits will be donated to the McGrath Foundation.
