Natural Pink diamonds are greatly admired for their rarity and extreme beauty. The stones are among the rarest diamonds on the planet, and therefore highly valued in today’s diamond market. As a result of their extreme popularity and considering how rare these diamonds are, the value for natural pink diamonds continues to increase.
Argyle pink diamonds |
Similar to all other fancy colored diamonds, the larger the carat weight and better the cut, color, and clarity the more expensive the stones will be. High-end Pink diamonds can reach exceptional prices. Almost every time a new record price is made it is immediately broken.
LEIBISH’s experienced investment experts would be glad to assist in selecting the most appropriate investment opportunities. On average, the value of Pink diamonds has shown a consistent annual appreciation. Among other fancy colored diamonds, Pink diamonds remain in high demand and are extremely sought after commodities.
Argyle Diamonds
Over 90% of natural pink diamonds are found in the Argyle Diamond Mine, located in the East Kimberly region of Western Australia. The Anglo-Australian mining giant, Rio Tinto Limited, began mining the region in 1982. They quickly became the world’s most reliable source for natural pink diamonds.
Through the years these diamonds have significantly grown in popularity and demand. However, the Argyle diamond mine already estimated only ten years of supply remains through open pit mining until diamonds will no longer be produced from that site, and that was in the year 2009!
The Leibish Prosperity Pink, 1.68ct Fancy Vivid Purplish Pink diamond from the argyle diamond mine |
Since through open pit mining the goods extracted from the ground have almost entirely depleted, in order to obtain the amounts necessary, extensive excavation beyond 2000 meters is required. The shortage of pink diamonds is consistently increasing and exactly what results to expect from deep excavation is still unknown.
Argyle Pink Diamond Tender
One of the most popular marketing campaigns the Argyle Diamond Mine has been running for quite some time is the Argyle Pink Diamond Tender. Results from the past few tenders prove the fact that the quality of the diamonds found is consistently dropping, this making them more valuable.
Above are the 6 stones LEIBISH won from the 2011 Argyle Pink Diamond Tender. |
The graphs below demonstrate the difference between the years 2011, 2010, 2009, and 2001
(added to emphasize the change over time).
Clarity
The following chart clearly displays how the clarity grades have decreased over time. For example, in 2001, stones with the clarity grade I1 represented only 20% of all the stones tendered. While in 2011, stones with the clarity grade I1 represented a strong 36% of the 55 stones tendered.
Argyle Pink Diamond Tender - Clarity Chart |
Intensity
The following chart noticeably shows the difference shown in color intensity over time. For example, in 2001, 59% of the stones were Fancy Deep and 22% were Fancy Intense while in 2011 only 5% were Fancy Deep and 76% were Fancy Intense. This shows the decrease in strong colors from the argyle tender throughout the years.
Argyle Pink Diamond Tender - Intensity Chart |
Carat Weight
The following chart depicts the sizes of the argyle tender stones and shows how they are getting smaller and smaller due to the lack of goods. In 2001, 39% of the stones were 1.00ct – 1.99ct, 27% were 0.75ct – 0.99ct, and 27% were 0.50ct – 0.47ct.
In 2011, only 31% of the stones were 1.00ct – 1.99ct, 15% were 0.75ct – 0.99ct, and 40% were 0.50ct – 0.74ct.
Also, it really is quite amazing that this year’s Argyle Pink Diamond Tender had two stones of 0.30ct. That is very small especially when considered the mines top output over the past year.
Argyle Pink Diamond Tender - Carat Weight Chart |
Auctions
Diamond auction results prove the fact that LEIBISH is not the only company who is convinced that the value of natural pink diamond has consistently increased. Below are a few examples of some absolutely amazing Pink diamonds that were sold at auction.
In the Hong Kong Christie’s auction of December 2009, a 5.00 carat cushion-shaped, Fancy Vivid Pink diamond was sold at a record breaking 10.8 million dollars.
The diamond set two records for natural pink diamonds. It was the most expensive pink diamond ever sold at the time and it had the highest per carat price ever seen at auction.
On November 29, 2010, Christie's Hong Kong sold ‘The Perfect Pink.’ The stone, a 14.23 carat, Fancy Intense Pink, Rectangular-cut, VVS2, was estimated to be sold at US$14-19 million. Its final price actually went for a whopping $23 million dollars which again broke the record for the most expensive pink diamond ever sold at auction.
In Christie's Hong Kong, on December 7, 2010, a 6.89 carat, Vivid Purple Pink diamond was sold for almost 7 million dollars, at 1 million dollars per carat.
On November 16, 2010, at Sotheby's Geneva, a 24.78 carat, Fancy Intense Pink Modified Emerald-cut was purchased by Lawrence Graff for a startling 46.16 million dollars. The stone, which was later named the Graff Pink, was sent back to the polishing wheel where less than a single carat was lost while improving the color intensity and clarity of the stone. The Graff Pink is now a 23.88 carat, Fancy Vivid Pink, Internally Flawless diamond.
The Pink diamond color is strongly connected with femininity. It reflects love and romance, sweetness and serenity. Pink diamonds in general and especially Argyle diamonds in particular have proven to show excellent investment opportunities that soar far beyond stock market prices in the financial market.
Read more on all fancy color records prices at auctions
View our Argyle Pink Diamonds