Gem Diamonds has recovered a 179 carat rough diamond from its Letšeng mine in Lesotho.
The miner found the high quality, type I diamond on Thanksgiving Day, it said last week. The stone is the 16th diamond over 100 carats the company has found this year. Earlier this month, Gem Diamonds unearthed 104 and 111 carat specimens from the deposit.
The company has already found more diamonds over 100 carats this year than in 2019, when it reported 11 rough diamonds of that magnitude.
Letšeng also yielded a 14.09 carat, pink, type II diamond of high quality last week from its mine in Lesotho.
The miner unearthed the “top quality” type II stone from the deposit on November 24, it said Wednesday. The discovery comes after the company found a 77 carat yellow diamond at the mine in September.
Gem Diamonds has also found 14 diamonds weighing over 100 carats this year, including 104 and 111 carat diamonds earlier this month.
A fancy pink diamond ring by Meister was the top seller at the Bonhams London Jewels sale, garnering $1.1 million USD.
The piece, with a step-cut 3.62 carat center stone and designed in 1968 by Meister, exceeded its high estimate of $989,417 USD at the November 12 auction, Bonhams said last week.
A diamond brooch from the collection of Dame Joan Collins, designed by Van Cleef & Arpels, fetched $161,892 USD, more than six times its high valuation. It was part of a collection of the actress’s jewels that saw 100% of items find buyers, with the final sales total three times higher than the auctioneer had estimated. A portion of the proceeds from Collins’s jewelry will be donated to the Shooting Star Children’s Hospice, of which she is a patron.
Other notable items at the auction included a sapphire and diamond ring, which fetched $189,865 USD against a high estimate of $131,851 USD, and a three-stone diamond ring, which brought in $132,179 USD, nearly doubling its estimate.
In total, the auction achieved $5 million USD, with Bonhams selling 75% of items on offer.
“Despite the auction taking place behind closed doors, the bidding remained spirited and the results demonstrate that high quality pieces with extraordinary provenance continue to captivate buyers around the world,” said Jean Ghika, global head of jewelry for Bonhams.
Alrosa’s Spirit of the Rose has achieved the highest price for any purple-pink diamond, selling to an anonymous bidder for nearly $27 million at Sotheby’s Geneva.
The oval modified brilliant-cut, 14.83-carat, fancy-vivid-purple-pink, internally flawless, type II stone, named for the famous Russian ballet, sold for $26.6 million, beating its low estimate of $23 million. The diamond, which fetched $1.8 million per carat, led the Magnificent Jewels and Noble Jewels live auction Wednesday, which garnered $52.2 million in total, Sotheby’s said.
The purchase comes on the heels of the recent closure of Rio Tinto’s Argyle mine in Australia, which produced more than 90% of the world’s pink diamonds. Prices for stones of that color are likely to soar in the coming years, experts have noted.
“The Spirit of the Rose caught the imagination of everyone who had the chance to see it,” said Benoit Repellin, head of the Sotheby’s Geneva Magnificent Jewels auction. “With its size, beautiful color, perfect cut and oval shape, it is a wonder of nature, steeped in Russia’s century-long diamond tradition and cultural heritage. It fully deserves the price achieved tonight, which is also testament to the growing appreciation and awareness of the great scarcity of pink diamonds around the world.”
Sotheby’s also saw strong prices for white diamonds at the auction, with 10 out of 11 stones on offer selling above their estimates. A cushion-shaped, 18.03-carat, D-color, flawless, type IIa diamond fetched $1.9 million against a high estimate of $1.1 million, while a pear-shaped, 102.41-carat, light-brown diamond of VVS2 clarity brought in $1.3 million, exceeding its high valuation.
Noble jewels were in demand as well, Sotheby’s said, led by a Colombian emerald and diamond parure from the collection of the first Marquis de Guirior, viceroy of New Granada and viceroy of Peru. That piece also surpassed its high estimate, fetching $1.1 million.
Pink diamonds, already rare, are about to get scarcer as Rio Tinto has closed its iconic Argyle diamond mine, the world’s biggest and the main global source of high-quality pink diamonds.
Since opening its doors 37 years ago, the Western Australia mine produced 865 million carats of rough diamonds and became the source of about 90% of the world’s prized rose-to-magenta hued stones.
The Argyle ore body, a single pipe known as AK1, was discovered in October 1979. Alluvial operations began in 1983, open pit mining kicked off in 1985 and the mine became a fully underground operation in 2013.
Today, Rio has mined the very last of these unique diamonds from the site, located within the ancient Matsu Ranges more than 3,000 km north of Perth.
“Fifty years ago there were very few people who believed there were diamonds in Australia even fewer could have foreseen how the Argyle story would unfold,” Rio Tinto’s chief executive of Copper and Diamonds, Arnaud Soirat, said in a statement.
“To arrive at this final chapter has required vision, courage and determination to overcome significant challenges to enter new territory in diamond exploration, mining and marketing,” Soirat added.
The closure of Argyle will remove about 75% of Rio’s diamond output, yet the impact on the miner’s earnings will be negligible. Diamonds bring in only about 2% of its earnings, while iron ore the company’s main commodity accounts for almost 60%.
The operation will now undergo decommissioning and rehabilitation, which is expected to take five years. After that, Rio will monitor the site for a period yet to be defined.
End of an era
Andrew Wilson, general manager of Argyle, said the mine transformed the diamond sector since its opening, supplying gems for both ends of the market.
“A new chapter will now begin as we start the process of respectfully closing the Argyle mine and rehabilitating the land, to be handed back to its traditional custodians,” he said.
Argyle was Australia’s first large-scale diamond operation, pioneering the fly–in fly–out model, and seen as an opportunity for a workforce drawn from across the nation.
Forty years ago, in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, four diamonds in a dry creek bed ultimately led Rio’s geologists to a massive diamond deposit.
It also triggered the creation and adoption of new technology and exploration methods to make the search for diamonds more efficient across the rugged and remote Kimberley landscape.
At its peak, Argyle churned out 40% of the world’s diamond output, which made it the biggest producer by volume.
Pricy gems
Analysts and auctioneers alike expect prices for pink diamonds to go up and, potentially spur exploration.
Pink stones have already been fetching record prices in the past few years and the closure of their main source could see that trend strengthen.
The “Pink Star” went for $71.2 million at Sotheby’s Hong Kong in April 2017, setting a record for diamonds sold in auctions.
In 2018, the 18.96-carat Pink Legacy fetched $50 million at Christie’s auction house, breaking the world record for price paid per carat for a pink diamond at auction.
The Pink Legacy diamond.
At Sotheby’s Hong Kong 2019 sale, one of the star pieces described as an “exquisite 10.64 carat vivid purplish pink diamond” sold for just under $20 million.
Rio Tinto’s own data show that prices for their Argyle pink diamonds jumped by 500% from 2000 to earlier this year.
Australian Diamond Portfolio is set to showcase a selection of the last pink diamonds to be unearthed in Australia before Rio Tinto closes the Argyle mine in Western Australia.
It is rumoured that final excavation at the Argyle mine will take place on November 2.
Sydney-based Australian Diamond Portfolio will curate a set of pink diamonds as part of The Legacy Collection, with affordable prices ranging from $1000 to $10,000.
Coveted for its distinctive colour and coupled with its rarity, the pink diamond is one of the most elusive gemstones in the world, according to Australian Diamond Portfolio.
“Unlike yellow diamonds, which comprise over 60 per cent of all fancy colour diamonds produced, natural pinks fall into the same category as blues and reds for their extreme rarity,” it added.
“… The richer the ‘pink’, the rarer and more valuable the stone. Nowhere else in the world can you find pinks with such character and depth of colour and vibrance of tone as those from the Argyle mine.
“Even if a new mine was to be discovered in the near future, it would still take a minimum 10-15 years to reach the actual stage of producing diamonds to sell.”
Australian Diamond Portfolio consultant and master diamond polisher David Burger said nobody could say for certain what exactly gave pink diamonds their stunning colour.
“Other diamonds get their colour from chemical impurities that absorb light, however, no similar impurities have been found in pink diamonds, leading scientists to speculate that the colour may be the result of some kind of seismic shock that altered the stone’s molecular structure instead,” he said.
The Legacy Collection will feature three shades of the Argyle pink diamonds, which are pink, purplish pink and pink rosé, with weights ranging from 0.08 to 0.14 carat.
A percentage of profits will be donated to the McGrath Foundation.
Sotheby’s garnered $17.9 million from its Important Jewels sale in New York, with a pink-diamond ring taking the top spot.
The pear-shaped, 12.38-carat, fancy-pink, VVS2-clarity diamond ring fetched $4.6 million, or $373,337 per carat, falling within the price range the auctioneer had estimated. It led the auction house’s first live jewelry sale in the state since the coronavirus pandemic began in March.
“This auction was presented in a new and innovative format, a hybrid of online advance bidding, culminating in the drama of a live auction,” Kendall Reed, head of fine and online jewels at Sotheby’s New York, said last week.
A necklace, set with a pear-shaped, 51.92-carat, D-color, internally flawless diamond pendant, surmounted by a separate pear-shaped, 3.65-carat, fancy-brownish-orangey-pink diamond, went for $3.2 million, just above the low end of its presale valuation. Meanwhile, a diamond ring containing a cushion-cut, 19.24-carat Kashmir sapphire achieved $1.5 million, matching its low estimate.
Some 60% of items on offer sold over their high estimates, including a pink-tourmaline and diamond clip brooch by Schlumberger for Tiffany & Co., which brought in $37,800, more than double its high estimate. A ring featuring a 14.06-carat Burmese ruby went for $302,400 against a high estimate of $140,000, while a star sapphire and diamond ring sold for $52,920, more than four times its $12,000 high presale valuation.
In total, Sotheby’s sold 83% of items on offer, with participants hailing from 30 countries. Three-quarters of buyers placed their bids online.
“Our results are a clear indication that the appetite for top-quality diamonds, rare gemstones and stylish signed jewels remains strong,” Reed added.
Sotheby’s will sell the largest vivid purple pink diamond ever to appear at auction, with expectations it could achieve up to $38 million at a November sale.
The oval modified brilliant-cut, 14.83 carat, fancy vivid purple pink, internally flawless, type IIa stone is set to go under the hammer at the Magnificent Jewels and Noble Jewels auction in Geneva on November 11, Sotheby’s said Monday. The company has given the piece a presale estimate of $23 million to $38 million.
“Pink diamonds, perhaps more than any other colored diamond, have captured the imagination of collectors for centuries, making up five out of the 10 most valuable diamonds ever sold at auction,” said Benoit Repellin, head of the auction house’s Geneva Magnificent Jewels auction. “These exceptional sales, all realized in the last decade, are a testament to the growing appreciation and awareness of the great scarcity of these natural treasures around the world, and with the supply of these beautiful stones becoming ever more limited, they are likely to continue to become even more prized.”
Alrosa cut and polished the diamond from a 27.85 carat rough it unearthed at its Ebelyakh deposit in Yakutia in July 2017. The miner named the polished The Spirit of the Rose after the famous Russian ballet premiered by the Ballets Russes company in 1911, and called the rough Nijinsky, in honor of Vasalv Nijinsky, one of the ballet’s principal dancers.
The Spirit of the Rose is one of the three-stone Spectacle collection Alrosa has dedicated to Russian ballet. The set also includes the Firebird, an Asscher-cut, 20.69-carat, fancy vivid yellow, VS1-clarity diamond, which Alrosa sold to Graff for an undisclosed amount in December. The miner is still manufacturing the third stone. Alrosa had originally expected to sell The Spirit of the Rose in November 2019, it said last year.
Sotheby’s will exhibit The Spirit of the Rose in Hong Kong; Singapore; Taipei, Taiwan; and Geneva prior to the sale.
Two hearts, one blue, the other pink, will appear at Sotheby’s Hong Kong Magnificent Jewels auction as if they were always meant to be together. They will be sold separately during the July 10 sale at the Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre. Combined, their high estimate is $18.5 million.
The first is a 5.04 carat fancy vivid blue heart modified brilliant-cut diamond. The gem has a VS2 clarity grade, according to its lab report. The heart-shaped gem is mounted on a platinum ring flanked by two pear-shaped diamonds. Its estimate is between $7.7 million and $9.7 million.
Its would-be partner is a 4.49-carat heart modified brilliant-cut, internally flawless, fancy vivid pink diamond. It’s mounted on an 18k white gold ring flanked by pear-shaped diamonds. Its estimate is between $7.5 million and $8.8 million.
The price of super-rare pink diamonds is to set to rocket with the forthcoming closure of the Argyle mine in Western Australia, which has been responsible for 90 per cent of world supplies.
Owners Rio Tinto plan to cease production by the end of 2020, when economically-viable reserves will run out. The value of pink diamonds sold at its annual tenders has been appreciating by an average of 10 per annually over the last couple of decades, outperforming all major equity markets. They are a magnet for collectors and investors. That growth in value is likely to accelerate when Argyle closes, after 37 years in which it became known as the world’s largest supplier of natural colored diamonds – including white, champagne, cognac, blue and violet – as well and the rare and highly-coveted Argyle pinks and reds. Last year Hong Kong-based Kunming Diamonds bought the Argyle Pink Everlastings Collection comprising smaller Argyle pink and red diamonds totaling 211 carats.
The company’s director Harsh Maheshwari told the South China Morning Post newspaper last week that the price of Argyle Pinks had been insulated even from COVID-19 because of their rarity and the closure of the mine. Russian miner Alrosa aims to fill some of the gap left in the market but won’t match Argyle’s production.
ALROSA has sold its 6.21-carat cushion cut fancy intense pink purple diamond to Larry West, a New York-based collector of exclusive pink diamonds.
The stone originates from Yakutia, where it was discovered and polished by ALROSA.
For over 40 years, Larry J. West, the owner of New York’s L.J. West Diamonds, has been searching for an extraordinary natural color diamonds. His collection has been featured in Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County and at auctions worldwide.
“As global production declines, pink diamonds will become rarer and thus more valuable,” West said in a statement.
To establish provenance, the collector received an electronic passport from ALROSA that includes a detailed visual history of the diamond’s extraction and production, as well as information about the craftsman’s background.
As part of the company’s traceability initiative, a short film is automatically generated on ALROSA’s digital platform based on information about each diamond available for purchase.
In September, ALROSA hosted its annual auction of colored stones in Hong Kong and sold over 200 diamonds. All stones sold at the auction were accompanied by a digital passport that contained information about the diamond’s origin.
