A 45.07 carat fancy vivid yellow diamond is forecast to sell for $2.8m to $3.5m at Phillips New York on Wednesday (12 June).
It leads the New York Jewels Auction, featuring colored diamonds and gemstones, period jewelry, and signed jewels by Cartier, Bulgari, and Van Cleef & Arpels.
The square emerald-cut VS1-clarity stone has classic step-cut faceting, considered an unusual choice to best show off the color and draw out the illusion of greater saturation.
The Fancy Color Research Foundation (FCRF) gives the diamond a total visual score of 11 out of 12, based on inner grade (3), color dispersion (4) and undertone (4), noting that despite its depth percentage, excellent polish and symmetry grades, its visual presence translates to “a diamond appearing smaller in carat weight”.
The diamond will realize $77,657 per carat if it hits its high estimate. In March a 15.51-carat VS2 fancy vivid yellow diamond sold for $1.14m – $73,253 per carat – at Phillips Hong Kong Jewels Auction, beating its low estimate.
Western Australia has reduced its diamond royalty rate by a significant 33.3 per cent, a move that has been welcomed by Gibb River Diamonds.
The company’s lobbying has led to the reduction of the state diamond gross royalty rate from 7.5 per cent to 5 per cent.
Gibb River stated that the royalty change was in line with the recommendations of the Mineral Royalty Rate Analysis report.
This was published by the Western Australian Department of State Development and Department of Mines and Petroleum in 2015.
“The board of (Gibb River) believes that the reduction of the diamond royalty will have a very positive effect on the sector and is an extremely helpful step in further (Gibb River’s) aim of becoming a profitable diamond producer in Western Australia,” the company stated in an ASX announcement.
The rate is comparable to the 5 per cent royalty rate applied to Rio Tinto’s Argyle diamond project in Western Australia as of May this year, which was amended from the 7.5 per cent rate in 2006 when Rio Tinto decided to proceed with underground mining.
Gibb River operates the Ellendale diamond project in the West Kimberley, which supplies over 50 per cent of the world’s fancy yellow diamonds every year.
The rare colour had driven United States jeweller Tiffany & Co to ink a six-year deal with Ellendale’s former operator, Kimberley Diamonds, for the supply of the diamonds in the past.
AGD Diamonds, the firm that operates and owns the Grib diamond mine in northern Central Russia announced it has recovered a gem-quality, deep lemon yellow diamond, weighing 47.61 carats, on July 13, 2019.
The stone was found during the ore processing at Grib’s processing plant. In a news release in Russian, AGD said the diamond is of an extremely rare deep lemon hue and is classified as a “high end stone.” Experts noted its perfect octahedral shape and its high – flawless – clarity.
The company noted that the stone has been recovered undamaged thanks to the mine’s innovative, advanced mining technologies and processing by means of its XRT system.
