The latest in colored diamonds are 2 most expensive pink diamonds. A bubble gum-color pink diamond worth $2.5 million is all set to make its first appearance at the Birks Jewelry stone in Edmonton. It’s the shining star of the collection that includes 45 precious stones and jewelry pieces. As of now, the pricey collection is slated to move across the nation- unless it finds a customer. Getting a small glimpse of the pink diamond, it seems, won’t be as easy said as done. According to Birks sources, potential buyers have got their bookings placed already. Yes, you heard that right. It requires an appointment to see the pink ring at Birks! Read on to know why.
Pink diamonds are available in a plethora of shades, the Birks spokesperson further added. What then sets the Bubble gum diamond apart from others? The pink and purple hues that peek from the interiors add to the diamond’s distinctiveness, for when you combine the hues, it generates a rare bubble gum shade. Size is another important factor that plays a crucial role here. The 10 carat diamond was cut and polished from, hold your breaths now,-a 21.35 carat stone mined in Africa. The pink gem was then set in a platinum ring to make matters all the more interesting.
A majority of the pink diamonds are mined in Australia’s Argyle mine, where officials recently discovered a 12.76 carat rock. And to give you a better overview of things in so far as the pink diamond’s rarity is concerned, here is a small trivia. Christie’s, the celebrated auction house, is reported to have auctioned pink diamonds over ten carats in the past 3 centuries! The bubble gum ring, however, isn’t the first pink diamond ever to have made headlines in Canada. A pink diamond sold at the Circa auctions in Toronto two years ago, fetched a whopping $2.3 million.- a price which goes down in the history of Canada as the highest ever, bagged by a gem.
The bubble gum ring, according to Birks spokespersons, is fresh out of the books from the Jeweler’s workshops. It, claimed the source, has never really been used by the previous owner. A collector’s piece, Birks hopes that the ring will ultimately find its place in a collector’s showcase. The jeweler, moreover, believes that the buyer will turn out to be somebody who knows diamond. The ring, after all, is not the kind that you would wear to work everyday. Birks, therefore, is expected to remain packed with curious customers all day.
After the South African bubble gum diamond, there is another pink diamond from Australia to take gem enthusiasts by storm. The rough pink diamond is probably the largest ever found in Australia, say experts. So how big is it? The size of a pound coin almost, reveals sources. Named Argyle Pink Jubilee, the diamond was born in a mine that produces ninety percent of the world’s pink diamonds
That pink diamonds are one of the most valuable jewels in the world is a known fact now. However, if you flip through the pages of history, they seemed to have inspired movies or re-kindled bonds. They were celebrated in the Pink Panther series. Ben Affleck proposed his girlfriend Sandra Bullock with a pink diamond (don’t be inspired by that part, for Affleck’s and Bullock’s was, well, a relation sank faster than Titanic after the engagement).
Coming back to the Rio diamond, the gem is now being kept secure from cat burglars as jewelers and craftsmen remain busy preparing it for a grand auction during Argyle Pink Diamonds Tender later this year.
If we are to draw parallels then the Australian gem reminds one of the Williamson Pink which Queen Elizabeth II received as a wedding gift. While experts estimate the diamond to be worth millions of dollars, the exact amount remains under the wraps until it goes on sale later this year. Bookies, however, are of the opinion that the gem may fetch between £20 and £25million. Chin Yeow Quek, Sotheby’s Asia Department head of Jewelry, had a different story to tell. According to Quek, judging a stone in the rough is not easy. The price depends essentially on how large the rock will actually be polished down to. The intensity of color and clarity also come into play here. Diamonds, Quek added, lose around fifty percent of their size over the polishing process. Well, all we can hope for is that the Pink jubilee remains in the pink of everything even after being polished to the hilt!
The largest round pink diamond to auction at Christie’s Hong Kong Magnificent Jewels sale:
A 12.04 carat round fancy pink diamond is all set to create history this May by becoming the largest ever to appear at an auction. The rare gem, with a Martian connection, has already toured cities like Shanghai, Beijing, Tokyo, Osaka and will further visit Singapore, Taipei, Geneva and Bangkok as part of a world preview tour that culminates in Hong Kong. Owned previously by a private collector, the Pink diamond is slated to go under the hammer at Christie’s Magnificent Jewels Spring Sale. According to sources, it is one of the two known round rare pink diamonds of significant size.
Coming to the Gem’s Martian connections , the story goes like this- purchased in 1976, the diamond, was named “Martian Pink” by renowned American Jeweler Ronald Winston in honor of the US satellite mission on Mars that year. The Martian Pink, let us inform you, has been dubbed very rare, primarily since it exhibits not a single trace of any secondary color. A once-in-a-blue-moon phenomena, considering that a majority of natural pink diamonds are found to exhibit color modifiers like orange, grey and purple. The presence of a Type IIa characteristic gives it an extraordinary limpidity and intense pink coloration, revealed Christie’s sources.
The Martian Pink’s aura and features are virtually unrivaled or unmatched by any other, barring the sole exception of the Williamson Pink diamond. A wedding gift for Queen Elizabeth II, the 23.60 carat gem is another significant round pink diamond alongside the Martian Pink. – Bornrich
