Pink diamonds have become one of the most sought after of nature’s treasures so it is no wonder that the annual sale of rarest of the rare pink diamonds is a diamond lovers dream. Unfortunately, this sale is so exclusive that only about 100 select bidders are invited to participate and few diamond lovers will ever even see a photo of one of these diamonds, let alone see one in person.
The 23rd Argyle Pink Diamond tender, conducted by Rio Tinto owner of the Argyle Diamond Mine, consists of three separate showings. The 2007 Perth presentation was recently concluded, the display in Hong Kong is September 18-28, and the final event is in New York is October 1-12. At each event, the invited bidders get to examine 65 of the world’s rarest pink diamonds. They make bids on the diamonds they want and Rio Tinto notifies the winners in October. Rio Tinto never publicly announces the winners or the prices and is not obligated to accept the bids. They are selling rare items so they reserve the right to determine what the value should be.
This year’s tender of 65 items are reported to be of exceptional quality. The 65 Argyle Signature Stones collection diamonds were picked from the 8,000 to 10,000 polished pink diamonds produced annually and are deeper in color and more vivid than previous year’s collections. In addition to the classic pink diamonds, this year’s collection contains some purplish reds, deeper pinks, and an unusual rare grey-violet diamond cut in a unique shield shape.
While pink diamonds have always been rare, they are becoming even more so because the surface mining operations at the Argyle Mine are nearing their productive life. Rio Tinto recently announced they would invest in deeper underground mining operations that will continue production of pink diamonds until 2018. Since the Argyle Mine supplies 90 percent of the world’s pink diamonds and there are no new pink diamond sources on the horizon, pink diamond lovers are investing now in beautiful stone that they know will continue to increase in value.
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