When J-Lo received a pink diamond engagement ring from Ben Affleck several years ago it stampeded thousands of young women into jewelry stores across the nation. They, naturally, wanted pink diamonds of their own. Sadly, this was not to be for all but a very few of them. Pink diamonds are so rare that the annual supply of pinks large enough to serve as an engagement ring center amounts, quite literally, into little more than a handful of gems. This rarity has made the recent discovery of a 12.76 carat light pink diamond (at Australia’s Argyle Mine) newsworthy. Josephine Johnson, speaking for the mine, observed that in 26 years of mining at Argyle this is far and away the largest pink to have been found. She went on to speculate that it seems unlikely, as the mine may be nearing the end of its life, that another such diamond would ever be found there. Then she outlined the diamond’s introduction to the world.
Until it’s cut, of course, it’s just a pretty and remarkable rock; so cutting will be the first task. Interestingly enough, as Rio Tinto, the firm owning the Argyle Mine, does not market its diamonds through DeBeers or any of the other major diamond marketing firms; it is to be cut in Australia, presumably by an Australian cutter. As it is an octahedral crystal (think of two four sided pyramids glued together base to base) the greatest brilliance would be achieved by cutting it into a round brilliant cut; but as it is quite large and has a rare color, other options may be explored.
Cutting it into a round brilliant would probably cost about half of the diamond’s weight; so Argyle and the cutter may agree to cut it to some other, less wasteful, shape. Then there is the question of the diamond’s color. Because it is their color that makes pink diamonds so rare, it is quite possible that, after studying the diamond, the cutter may elect to cut to a diamond shape that will show it off its color to the best advantage. So while the actual shape to which the diamond will be cut remains open to speculation, its immediate future does not.
After cutting, Rio Tinto intends to take the diamond they’ve named the “Argyle Pink Jubilee” on a world tour; but since the diamond is so rare, don’t expect to see it on public display. Rio Tinto will be looking for buyers who can spend at least $10 million for the gem; so the tour will, most likely, be limited to the home cities of ‘qualified’ buyers. These will surely include Hong Kong and New York; but it is quite likely that we won’t know what the ‘stops’ are until they’ve all been made. Then the gem will probably be sold at a very discrete auction; and its disposition after that will possibly be the concern of old men and young women.
That’s not to say that some old guy is likely to buy it and have it set in a piece of jewelry for a young woman - it could be a young guy who buys it. After all, thepink diamond Ben gave to J-Lo weighed in at 6.10 carats; and neither of them is ancient. On the other hand, there is also the collector market. In November of 2010, for example, Laurence Graff (now 73 years old, but sprightly) bought a 24.78 carat emerald cut ‘Fancy Intense Pink’ diamond for $45.6 million. The billionaire London jeweler named it the ‘Graff Pink’ and exclaimed that it was the ‘most fabulous diamond’ he’d ever seen. That’s quite a comment coming from the guy who had purchased the 35.56 carat Wittelsbach Diamond (a gray-blue gem) only two years previously. He’d not been completely satisfied with the color of that historic diamond (once part of the Bavarian Crown Jewels); so he’d had it recut to enhance its color. The re-cut was successful and now his diamond is as blue as the Hope Diamond; and though it had lost 5 carats in weight, its rarity had probably been enhanced. In fact, however, the collector market and romance are not mutually exclusive.
In July, 2009, Mr. Graff (then only 70) fathered a ‘love child’ by a 37 year old jeweler in his employ. Apparently the affair had gone on for nine years; and while Laurence’s wife, Anne Marie, had tolerated it, Josephine’s pregnancy had brought the Graffs to the brink of a divorce that would have cost Laurence a bit more than $1 billion dollars. The couple reconciled, however; so who says ‘money can’t buy me love’? As for Josephine, Laurence, proud of his fertility, plans to take care of both her and their daughter. I don’t know if this could include a pink diamond ring, but I wouldn’t count the possibility out.
When he was writing the Broadway musical ‘Gentlemen Prefer Blondes’, Jule Stein penned a tune few of today’s young women know, ‘Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend’. A somewhat satyric lyric accompanied the melody; but in the show love was triumphant - thus underscoring the fact that a beautiful diamond is a great way to say, “I love you.” Here at Hursts’ Berwyn Jewelers we can help you say ‘I love you’ perfectly with one of our gorgeous diamonds. We hand select them for their beauty; so we’re proud of them and when you buy one you will be too. Our prices are ‘market’ and our jewelry is superb; so check us out on line at hurstsberwynjewelers.com then phone us at 708.788.0880 for an appointment to select the gift of a lifetime.
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