If you're looking for safety, security, physical possession, minimal risk and long term growth...............

According to Sotheby’s Diamonds, since record keeping began in the 1970′s, Rare Color Diamonds have appreciated at about 10 to 15 percent per year.  ”Yellow diamonds have doubled in value every 7 years,” they said.  ”Reds, blues, and greens have seen the greatest appreciation, having quadrupled within the last decade.”

My number one priority is to make sure that any solution I suggest for you protects your principal. Rare Color Diamonds are historically one of the best performing assets in the world.  That is why I have partnered with The Diamond Market.



I strongly believe that every one of my clients ought to allocate a portion of their portfolio towards Rare Color Diamonds.  By doing this, you will add diversity to your existing portfolio with a proven hard tangible asset that you will acquire in a completely private transaction.



All of the Rare Color Diamonds from The Diamond Market are graded and certified by the Gemological Institute of America to assure their intrinsic value. In addition, they come with a 7 day money back guarantee. By having physical possession of these magnificent rarities you will have the comfort of knowing that you are storing your wealth in one of the worlds most concentrated and portable forms of wealth.

A 29.6 carat Natural Blue Diamond Found at Cullunan Mine

A 29.6 carat Natural Blue Diamond Found at Cullunan Mine

By: Gino Di Geso
LONDON: A 29.6 carat blue diamond, one of the rarest and exciting  has been discovered at a South African mine by Petra Diamonds. The miner said the “exceptional” acorn-sized diamond, small enough to fit into the palm of a hand, was unearthed at the Cullinan mine near Pretoria.
The mine, owned by the firm since 2008, was also where the Cullinan Diamond was found in 1905 — described as the largest rough gem diamond ever recovered and weighing 3,106 carats. Other notable diamonds found in the mine include a 25.5 carat Cullinan blue diamond, found in 2013 and sold for $16.9 million, and a diamond found in 2008, known as the Star of Josephine, which was sold for $9.49 million.
The vast majority of Blue Diamonds owe their color to the presence of Boron. The bonding of Boron to Carbon causes absorption in red, yellow and green parts of the spectrum producing blue color. Blue Diamonds may contain Grey , Violet and Greenish modifying color.
“An amazing find. The Cullinan mine (formerly Premier mine) continues to be the only consistent source of natural color type IIb diamonds in the world.” - Thomas Gelb, NCDIA Educational Director
In my opinion, this piece of blue diamond rough, based on its projected color yield, is the birth of a stone for the history books. The winning bid, based on potential yield and clarity could easily break the world record for price per carat for a rough diamond. - Alan Bronstein – NCDIA VP (Aurora Gems)
Petra Diamonds is due to release figures on production and sales for the six months to Dec. 31 on Thursday, but these will not take into account the find which occurred in January.
The mine, owned by the firm since 2008, was also where the Cullinan Diamond was found in 1905 — described as the largest rough gem diamond ever recovered and weighing 3,106 carats.
Other notable diamonds found in the mine include a 25.5 carat Cullinan blue diamond, found in 2013 and sold for $16.9 million

This Is What An $83 Million Pink Diamond Looks Like

This Is What An $83 Million Pink Diamond Looks Like

Image Courtesy of Sotheby's

The Pink Star, the world's largest cut diamond of its class, sold at Sotheby's evening auction in Geneva for a record $82 million, Sky News reports.

That's well above the estimated $60 million sale price, and does not include Sotheby's commission, according to AFP.


The 59.6-carat diamond was expected to command a record price, both because of its size and color.
It is the largest internally flawless or flawless, fancy vivid pink diamond that the Gemological Institute of American (GIA) has ever graded, according to Sotheby's.


As for its uniquely vivid hue, The Telegraph explained: "The 'Pink Star' gets its intense pink colour due to changes to the electron structure, known as 'plastic deformation' during its journey to the earth's surface."


The previous record price for a diamond was $46.2 million. That diamond, also a pink stone, was purchased by London jeweler Lawrence Graff at a 2010 Sotheby's auction.


Here's another look at the Pink Star. The identity of the buyer remains under wraps.

The Clarity

The Clarity

 

Clarity refers to the number of tiny imperfections, called “inclusions,” present in a diamond. The fewer and smaller the inclusions, the more rare and valuable the stone, which makes clarity a key factor for valuing colorless diamonds. But clarity plays a less important role determining value of a natural color diamond than it does with colorless diamonds. The rarity of color is paramount in determining the stone’s value, and the color within the diamond frequently makes masks the inclusions invisible to the naked eye.…
 

 

Color: F Clarity:VVS

Color: F Clarity:VVS

 

In a white diamond, clarity can make or break the stone. The image above shows a VS quality stone on the left (more valuable), compared to a visibly included, lesser-valued stone on the right.
 

 

Color: F Clarity:VVS

Color: F Clarity:VVS

 

Now notice the stone on the right, graded as SI1 for clarity, meaning it does have inclusions. But just see what a rich, deep color it displays. A clarity grade of SI1 or SI2 would significantly lower the value of a colorless diamond, but the intensity of color makes this lower clarity stone more valuable and desirable—and far outweighs the fact that the stone has inclusions.

PINK DIAMONDS

PINK DIAMONDS

 

Pink diamonds range from delicate pastel to deep raspberry, Pink Diamonds are the most feminine of colors and are typically associated with romance. These extremely rare diamonds have long been revered by Hollywood stars and today are the hot favorite of collectors and connoisseurs.

 

 

PINK ORIGIN

Pink diamonds have only been found in a few mines across the world. The rich Golconda region in India and the Minas Gerais region of Brazil produced notable diamonds in the 17th and 18th centuries. Today, the Argyle mine in Western Australia is the source of the vast majority of the worlds supply. It is famous for generating the hugely coveted full-bodied hot pink diamonds.

 

 

Color Formation

Diamonds become pink when heat and pressure deep within the earth cause the crystal lattice to distort. These distortions cause Pink Diamonds to absorb green light and hence impart a pink color. This can often be seen as in parallel bands within the diamond. Pink Diamonds may be modified by an orange, brown or purplish color.

 

 

 

strength of color

The strength of color is one of the most important factors in determining the value of a natural color diamond. The value of a natural color diamond increases with the intensity of the most prominent color within the diamond.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BUBBLEGUM | RASPBERRY | MERLOT

 

The Diamond Investment Promise: Are Diamonds Finally A Commodity?

BY The Diamond Market         

“Investment” is the word du jour of the diamond world and investment in diamonds is becoming a common discussion in financial circles. At the same time, a growing number of initiatives are in various stages of formation.

The wide range of formats and ways of going about it reflect that this is a budding endeavor with the initiatives testing new, mostly uncharted, ground.

At the heart of all of the offerings is the expectation that the price of diamonds from one-carat whites to high-end fancies, are set to increase steadily; some will appreciate slowly, beating inflation, while others are expected to appreciate 15 percent annually.

The expectation that the price of diamonds are set to increase stands on two legs – decreasing diamond reserves and increasing demand. The global diamond mining industry produces, on average, about 120-130 million carat of gem and industrial grade diamonds. Of this production, 28 million carats are gem and near gem quality rough diamonds that is fit for the global jewelry industry.

Thismay seem like a plentiful supply, but diamond production is declining, down from the 168 million carats mined in 2006 and far below the +176 million carats per year mined prior to that. In addition, there is no certainty that the current quality of production is sustainable.

With the exception of Alrosa – the world’s largest producer by volume – all of the other diamond miners are decreasing production.

At the same time, the established diamond miners and many prospective miners are constantly exploring for new diamond sources. Currently there is no known high quality, high-yield rich diamond source that is not mined. Without any new mines coming online, the global diamond industry is facing an increasing shortage of natural diamonds.

It takes some 10 years from the discovery of a new resource to commercial production of a diamond mine. This means that if a new pipe is found today, it won’t be before 2022 when its production will be made available to the market.

In practical terms, there is no expectation that global diamond production will increase in the next ten year – at best.

On the other side of the equation is demand. The leading consumer demand – by price point and growth – is bridal jewelry. In India, bridal jewelry is switching from gold to diamond jewelry, in China diamond wedding rings are spreading from the trend setting Shanghai and Beijing to other urban areas and in the U.S. bridal jewelry continues to be a must have.

GDP per capita, a reliable predictor of diamond jewelry demand, is set to grow, mainly in the BRIC countries – Brazil, Russia, India and China. These growing economies are witnessing more people becoming wealthy, and much more joining the middle class. With this new found financial ability comes growing discretionary income, spent on luxury goods.

Chinaand India posted a real GDP growth of 9.2 percent and 6.9 percent respectively, in 2011. The World Bank pins global GDP growth in 2011 at 2.7 percent.

While GDP growth is expected to slow down in 2012,ChinaandIndiaare expected to continue their above average growth and provide the two economic engines of the diamond industry. Global GDP growth is expected to slow to 2.5 percent in 2012, China’s GDP is forecasted to grow by 8.2 percent, and in India GDP is projected to grow by 6.6 percent, according to the World Bank.

Aided by continued marketing efforts, this growth is backing the increased demand in diamond jewelry.
Global consumer demand for diamond jewelry is growing and shifting. If in the past more than 50 percent of global diamond jewelry consumptions was in theU.S., today consumers from growing economies are buying diamond jewelry at increasing levels.

By 2015,ChinaandIndia, together withHong Kong,Taiwanand the Gulf countries are expected to consume about 40 percent of diamond jewelry globally, rising from the current 31 percent market share.
Demand for diamond jewelry inChinaandIndiaincreased by an estimated 10 percent and 9 percent respectively in 2010 and by another 9 percent and 8 percent in 2011. This year, the forecast is for continued steady growth, the same as in 2011.

The forecasted rise in consumer demand, taking place when supply will be steady at best and declining in the more likely scenario, is expected to provide the backing to rising diamond prices in the consumer markets and fuel rising prices in years to come.

There are two main diamond categories of interest as an investment. Generally, they are high-end diamonds, and “bread and butter” white goods.

The first category is comprised of fancy color diamonds, mainly those with VS clarities and better, preferably with at least a ‘Fancy’ color grading. Fancy color diamonds that have only one color without a secondary color (pink vs purplish pink, for example) are favored. This category also includes diamonds larger than 10 carats with a DEF color and FL-VVS clarity.

This category is not a new venue for investment. However, with the growing understanding of the potential diamonds have has an investment venue, more are considering it today.

The second category of goods is often referred to as “standard,” “ABC” or “bread and butter” goods. Broadly defined, these goods consist of one carat, D-J color, IF-SI1, round GIA certified diamonds. Some companies are looking at a broader range of size, ranging from 0.50 carats to 3 carats.

A Collapse Paves the Road
The event that fueled this swell of projects was the 2008 financial collapse that crushed the value of many investors’ savings and the fall of a number of leading financial institutions. In that time, the value of shares on the stock markets dropped, housing and real estate prices declined sharply mired by over-reliance on poorly offered mortgages, commodities traded around the world and used by industry and consumer in a variety of applications fell out of favor and the lost demand brought the prices sharply down. Investors saw the value of their portfolios plummet.

In response, many investors started seeking ways to add to their portfolios a component that will remain stable in times of economic calamity, a venue that at the very least will protect some of the portfolio and remain liquid. The desire is that such a component will provide an option to put cash in the hand of an investor without – or at least hardly without – loss to the value of saved capital.

This of course is the very minimum requirement. Ideally, just as with any other investment, appreciation is desirable.

As prices of colored diamonds at auctions kept grabbing attention, financial institutes and wealth mangers started considering diamonds as the possible missing component they were seeking. Simultaneously, diamond traders realized that the precious gem they have has performed better than most other investments during the financial crisis. Thus, the initial ideas of investing in diamonds started to come alive.

Consequently, it was not long before these two groups, sometimes jointly, started looking for ways to commoditize diamonds, something that happened a few times before, but never to the extent that diamonds have become a bona fide commodity akin to precious metals, wheat and coffee.

Why Now?
The 2008 crash was an unusually deep one, but not the only recession or difficult economic period in recent memory. Other changes are making this point in time attractive to invest in diamonds, specifically, four changes that are taking place in the diamond sector.

First, until recently De Beers was the monopolistic supplier of rough diamonds to the world. Its rough pricing policies had a great influence on polished prices. The firm sought to maintain prices by regulating the availability of rough diamonds. To do so, the company held to a very large stock of rough diamonds of an estimated $5 billion, well above its annual sells. By deciding what to offer and when, it could maintain prices in the market – not completely, but enough to raise worries in the investment community that one player can rather easily effect prices.

The decline of De Beers’ market share from +80 percent to about 38 percent today while selling off its huge inventory, leaving it with a working inventory of a few hundred million dollars, relieves this issue.

In this process, De Beers also lost its marketing contracts with other large diamond miners, such as Alrosa, giving other firms a stab at rising – or declining prices – as the market demanded.

Today there are a number of large diamonds miners, Alrosa, BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto, as well as several mid-sized companies such as Petra and Gem Diamonds. All of them market their rough diamonds independently, via tenders, contracted selling agreements and one off sells, resulting in a wide range of prices, leading to a shift from a supply driven market to a demand driven market.

The second reason is a lack of pricing transparency. Without knowing at how much polished diamonds are sold, an open trading market is not possible. The rise of platforms such as IDEX Online and a number of other such operations are changing this, bringing transparency to the market. Today price discovery of polished diamonds is much easier, allowing traders to have a better understanding at what price a diamond is sold.

Price discovery is a fundamental requirement for investment. Without knowing the price, investors cannot asses and investment or make an informed decision on buying or selling. Great efforts are put by the forming diamond investment entities into providing price information in a transparent and objective way.
A third issue is a need for a marketplace open to the financial community, a place where diamonds can be bought and sold easily and at market prices. This, just like transparent pricing, is now ready and available. Some of the new entities are forming their own platforms where investors will be able to buy and sell diamonds. Others intend to employ a more traditional method, using experienced buyers that will facilitate the transactions.

However, while using a buyer is a good option in many instances, the need is for an automatic platform where buying and selling is quick, efficient and trackable (See details on the Guaranteed Diamond Transactions™ (GDT™) spot market platform for an example of such trading arena).

Finally, because of the afro mentioned three reasons, the investment community was reluctant to enter into diamond investments. With the growing fragmentation of the mining sector, the availability of transparent pricing and creation of a trading platform, these barriers are being removed, creating new opportunities for the financial sector to invest in diamonds.

The Growing Trend of Colored Diamonds

At $14m, diamond is investor’s best friend

BY The Diamond Market   0 COMMENT   Blog, Home, Uncategorized

NEW YORK — A rare pink diamond once owned by Indian royalty has sold for $39.3 million at auction in New York City.

The price for the 34.65-carat diamond that sold at Christie’s on Tuesday was the second-highest ever for a jewel sold at auction. The seller and buyer were anonymous.

The gem nicknamed the Princie Diamond was discovered 300 years ago in the Golconda mines in India.
It once belonged to the Nizam of Hyderabad, an Indian prince.

In 1960, the diamond was purchased at auction by the London branch of the jeweler Van Cleef & Arpels.
Its name was bestowed at a party at the firm’s Paris store. It was called Princie in honor of the 14-year-old prince of Baroda, who attended the party with his mother, Maharani Sita Devi.

Rare Blue Diamond Unveiled by One and Only One

Rare Blue Diamond Unveiled by

One and Only One

BY The Diamond Market           

A rare Long Oval-Shaped Fancy Vivid Blue Diamond of nearly 3.5 carats will be unveiled by The One and Only One on May 3 at the company’s select locations nationwide. The Natural Blue Diamond, the center stone of a custom-designed ring featuring a pair of Fancy Intense Argyle Pink Diamonds (.93 carats), is accompanied by a certification from the Gemological Institute of America.

The Fancy Vivid Blue Diamond Ring is available for viewing by appointment only, price upon request.

“This vibrant Sky Blue stone is one of only three Fancy Vivid Blue Diamonds over three carats on the world market today,” said Joe Padulo, CEO of Padulo Prive, an adviser to elite jewelers and luxury brands. “Considering that a Fancy Deep Blue Diamond just broke the world auction record at $1.8 million per carat, this Long Oval Fancy Vivid Blue is a tremendous investment. Fancy Vivid is the most valuable color saturation designated by the GIA,” he added.
On April 24, at Bonhams Fine Jewelry sale in central London, a 5.3-carat Fancy Deep Blue Diamond






“Trombino” ring designed by Bulgari in the 1960s fetched $9.5 million. The $1.8 million per carat price broke the previous blue diamond record of $1.68 million per carat.
According to the GIA, of the millions of diamonds mined each year, only .0001% can qualify as Fancy Color Diamonds, and only a handful of these can achieve the top grade of Vivid. An even smaller percent are larger than one carat.


Less than 0.1% of all Fancy Color Diamonds are blue diamonds, and nearly all come from one source the Cullinan mine owned by Petra Diamonds Limited in South Africa. The mine produces blue diamonds only periodically, and fewer than five a year weigh over one carat.


Speaking of the performance of colored diamonds at auction, Rahul Kadakia, Head of Jewelry for Christie’s Americas and Switzerland, recently reported: “Over the past ten years, Fancy Color Diamonds have jumped ten-fold. What was $100,000, $200,000 or $300,000 per carat can now be worth $1.7 to $1.8 to $2 million per carat, and more.”

CNBC - Diamonds a 'Safe Haven' Investment

Yellow Diamond Ring Standing 1080p

Fox Business - Diamonds a Bright Spot in Investments

World’s largest orange diamond fetches record $35.5 million

BY The Diamond Market           

Geneva (AFP) – A spectacular and rare orange diamond, the largest known gem of its kind, was auctioned for a record $35.54 million in Geneva.

“It’s a world record price for an orange diamond, it’s a world record price per carat for any colored diamond,” the Christie’s auction house said of the sale, on Tuesday. ”It’s a tremendous price, a magnificent price,” it added, likening the purchase of such a prized colored diamond to buying a Picasso or Van Gogh painting. The price works out at $2.4 million per carat, beating the previous record of $2.15 million for the Vivid Pink Diamond sold in Hong Kong in 2009.

“At the back of the hall, 29 million francs ($31.5 million, 23 million euros). Sold!” the Christie’s auctioneer said as the fiery almond-shaped gem was snapped up in a room of about 200 people in a luxury Geneva hotel. The total sale price was boosted by another $4.04 million in taxes and commission.


A model shows “the Orange” a 14.82-carat pear-shaped, vivid orange diamond during a press preview on …

The man who made the purchase swiftly got up and left the room to a round of applause. Christie’s did not reveal his identity. The deep orange gemstone, found in South Africa, weighs a whopping 14.82 carats. The Gemological Institute of America (GIA) has handed it the top rating for colored diamonds: “fancy vivid”.

Pure orange diamonds, also known as “fire diamonds”, are extremely uncommon and few have been auctioned, with the largest never more than six carats. ”To have one that’s over 14 carats is exceptional,” Christie’s international jewelry director David Warren told AFP. He said “The Orange” was “the largest recorded vivid orange diamond in the world”. In 1990, the 4.77-carat yellow-orange Graff Orange diamond was sold for $3.92 million and in 1997 the vivid orange Pumpkin diamond of 5.54 carats was sold for $1.32 million.


A model presents a 59.6-carat pink diamond on September 25, 2013 that was auctioned in Geneva Wednesday …

Christie’s had estimated “The Orange” would rake in $17 million to $20 million.

Colored diamonds, once considered a curiosity, are rarer than white diamonds and today attract higher prices per carat than even the most flawless, translucent stone. That, Warren explained, was because, “colored diamonds are real freaks of nature. They begin as white diamonds, and it’s some accidental coloring agent in the ground that will turn it a particular color”. Green diamonds, for instance, are colored by radioactivity in the ground, blue diamonds get their color from boron, and yellow diamonds, which in rare cases turn orange, are colored by nitrogen. Pink diamonds get their color from a distortion in the crystal lattice as the stone is taking shape.

Colored diamonds “are extraordinarily rare stones,” agreed David Bennett, who heads the European jewelry division at Sotheby’s. Christie’s rival is set to auction a flawless 59.60-carat vivid pink diamond, called “The Pink Star”, in Geneva on Wednesday, with an asking price of $60 million. Like “The Orange”, the plum-sized shimmering “Pink Star” has received the highest possible color rating from GIA, as well as top marks for clarity. It is also the largest of its kind, Bennett said, insisting the anonymous seller was not asking too much.

“Very, very few of these stones have ever appeared at auction and three years ago, a five-carat vivid pink made over $10 million. So the estimate on this stone of $60 million would appear to be very reasonable,” he told AFP. For those who cannot cough up that kind of money, both Christie’s and Sotheby’s “Magnificent Jewels” auctions also offer a range of other items of historic importance but with lighter price-tags. A shimmering emerald and diamond necklace by Cartier that has been in the collection of Bolivian tycoon Simon Iturri Patino since he bought it for his wife in 1938 raked in almost $10 million on Tuesday evening.

‘Pink Star’ diamond auctioned for record $83 million

BY The Diamond Market          

Geneva (AFP) – A plum-sized diamond known as the “Pink Star” was auctioned in Geneva Wednesday for $83 million, a world record for a gemstone.

David Bennett, chairman of Sotheby’s jewelry division in Europe and the Middle East, brought down the hammer in a Geneva hotel after an intense, five-minute bidding race between four contenders.

The winner, a bearded man apparently in his sixties sporting a Jewish skullcap, ended pitted in a one-on-race against a telephone competitor to whom Patty Wong, chair of Sotheby’s in Asia, spoke in Mandarin from the auction room.The bearded man declined to identify himself to AFP but confirmed that he had been representing another individual. Sotheby’s later said the buyer was Isaac Wolf, a New York diamond cutter, who was going to rename the stone “The Pink Dream”.

The diamond was the star of a high-end jewelry auction in the upscale Beau Rivage Hotel on the shore of Lake Geneva. The “Pink Star” was the penultimate lot, and there were gasps of awe as a model stood next to Bennett on the auction podium wearing the diamond, which is mounted on a ring. ”And now for something different. One of the most remarkable gemstones ever to appear at auction,” Bennett said as the bidding opened. The auction was conducted in Swiss francs, starting at 48 million and working its way upwards million-by-million.


Chairman of auctioneers Sotheby’s jewelry division in Europe and the Middle East, David Bennett

There was a long silence as the price reached 67 million Swiss francs, before the in-room bidder came back with the winning 68 million. The final Swiss franc price, including Sotheby’s premium, was 76.32 million — the equivalent of $83.2 million. The some 150 people in the auction room erupted into applause as the theme tune from the “Pink Panther” was played in a tongue-in-cheek gesture and staff handed out glasses of pink champagne.

The diamond had been estimated at $60 million. Three years ago, Sotheby’s set an auction record of $46.2 million for a diamond when it sold the “Graff Pink” gemstone. The Sotheby’s auction came a day after rival house Christie’s sold an almond-shaped diamond dubbed “The Orange” for $35.5 million, also a record in its category.

‘A truly royal stone’
The 59.60-carat “Pink Star” is the largest in its class ever graded by the Gemological Institute of America (GIA), with the second biggest less than half its size.


A model displays the “Pink Star,” a 59.6-carat pink diamond that was auctioned in Geneva on November …

The sparkling oval-cut rock measures 2.69 by 2.06 centimeters (1.06 by 0.81 inches), and weighs 11.92 grams (0.026 pounds). In addition to its top color and clarity ratings, it falls into a rare subgroup with the purest diamond crystals and extraordinary optical transparency, comprising less than two percent of all gem diamonds, according to the GIA. ”The pink diamond, I have no hesitation in saying, is a truly amazing, royal stone. There is no stone of that size and colour known,” said Bennett.

The “Pink Star” was 132.5 carats in the rough when it was mined by De Beers in Africa in 1999, according to Sotheby’s, which has not said which country it came from. It was cut and polished over two years by Steinmetz Diamonds, and unveiled to the public in 2003 under the title of the “Steinmetz Pink”. The near-translucent rock was renamed after it was first sold four years later for an undisclosed sum to an unidentified buyer. Sotheby’s declined to name the seller in Wednesday’s auction, nor would it say whether the gemstone had been bought and sold again since 2007.

Best known for shimmering white translucence, diamonds in fact come in all sorts of colors. Green diamonds, for instance, are colored by radioactivity in the ground, blue diamonds get their color from boron, and yellow diamonds, which in very rare cases turn orange, are colored by nitrogen. ”I think colored diamonds have finally come of age. They are amongst the rarest of all stones, and they are finally reaching levels where the price is matching the rarity,” said Bennett.

A vivid blue, 5.04-carat diamond ring fetched 6.1 million francs ($6.6 million) — a million francs over its estimate.
And the final lot, the “Wasilewska Briolette Diamond” — a yellow diamond brooch once owned by opera singer Ganna Wasilewska — sold for 9.7 million francs ($10.5 million).
Beyond the diamonds, a 114.74-carat sapphire hit 7.6 million francs ($7.1 million), almost double its upper estimate.

Analysts note that investors have often turned to jewels in uncertain economic times. They also carry prestige for growing global elites. ”In the last 30 years, the market has become completely international,” said Bennett.

Rio Tinto puts largest ‘red’ diamond on market

BY The Diamond Market           

Rio Tinto said on Friday it was putting up for sale the biggest “red” diamond ever produced by its Australian mine amid an “explosion” in demand from Asia for the rare pink-hued stones.The Argyle Phoenix, a 1.56 carat gem, is one of three red diamonds on offer at the annual Argyle Pink Diamonds Tender – the first time in the 30-year history of the exclusive sale that it has included three red stones.”This is the largest red that has ever come from the Argyle diamond mine,” Argyle Pink Diamonds manager Josephine Johnson told AFP as she held the stone.”Never seen before, likely never seen again.”The diamond world will be talking about this diamond for the next few months intensely. And there will be lots of discussion about the rarity of it, the value of it.”

The 2013 pink diamond tender comprises 64 diamonds, including 58 pink stones, three blue ones and the three fancy reds.Such jewels routinely fetch over £1 million a carat. As a basic rule of thumb, a pink diamond is worth about 50 times more than a white diamond.

After previews in Sydney, New York and Tokyo, there will be tender viewings in Hong Kong and Perth, to allow clients and experts to see the gems and make offers for individual stones.”The tender every year has great interest – when you think there’s only 60 stones each year, that’s about 12 grams of diamond weight – we tour it around the world because each one is like selling a Picasso,” Johnson said.”Each one is unique”. They will find different markets.”With a red diamond the colour itself is extraordinary, but what really transcends the appeal of the colour is just the outrageous rarity of something like this.”

The Argyle mine in Western Australia produces virtually the entire world’s supply of pink diamonds, with the red seen as the pinnacle of the colour scale.It is not known how the diamonds acquire their pink tinge but it is thought to come from a molecular structure distortion as the jewel forms in the earth’s crust or makes its way to the surface.

Japan is the largest consumer of pink diamonds, with the lighter “Cherry Blossom” shades in strong demand, but Johnson said Argyle diamonds were growing in popularity in other markets.”There’s an explosion of interest in China and India. We’re certainly seeing that in the rare diamond world,” she said.”I am quite surprised at how quickly they have moved from a desire for large, white clean goods to an appreciation for the value of rarity and fancy coloured diamonds.”

With the Phoenix, she said: “It being red is very interesting because that’s a highly symbolic colour in Asia.” But she said with few reference points and increasing interest in coloured diamonds, particularly rare pinks and reds, it was impossible to know where the stone would end up.”Our last diamond that came anywhere near close to this actually ended up in the US, so it’s hard to say,” she said.