Pink Diamonds

Pink Diamonds Facts:

The Argyle Diamond Mine is located in a remote corner of North West Australia and it produces over 90 percent of the world supply of pink diamonds and yet less that 1/10 of 1 percent is classified as Pink in color.

Pink Diamonds comes in shades ranging from a pastel rose, such as the Pink Orchid to intense purple-reds of the Moussaieff Red, and the price is determined by the intensity of the color. Pink diamonds have sold for up to $1,000,000 a carat. Unlike the Type I diamonds that derived their color from impurities imbedded in the diamond, Pink diamonds are considered a Type II and get their color from a process known as Plastic Deformation.

Pink Diamonds (Type II) have very few if any nitrogen impurities in them. They get their coloration due to structural anomalies caused by Plastic Deformation during the crystal growth. The intense pressure changes the lattice structure of diamonds and has led to the formation of Pink, Red, and Brown colored diamonds.

Pink Diamonds account for a ratio of only 1 out of the top 66 largest diamonds in the world.. When Ben Affleck gave Jennifer Lopez a pink diamond solitaire engagement ring, traffic to web sites that had pink diamonds increased from 300 to 400 percent. Although not normally large in size they have become very popular and over the years many have become world famous.

Pink Diamond: Pink Panther

Probably the most famous pink diamond in the world was the Pink Panther Diamond that was made famous by the 1964 file release of The Pink Panther. Peter Sellers as Inspector Clouseau was on the trail of the jewel thief also known as The Pink Panther.

Pink Diamond: Darya-I-Nur

Darya-I-Nur diamond is believed to be the largest pink diamond in the world. The stone is estimated to weigh somewhere between 175 and 195 carats, and it is a light pink color. Its exact weight isn't known because its been mounted in its brooch setting for over 130 years. This stone is one of the most celebrated diamonds in the Iranian Crown Jewels and it is also one of the oldest stones known to man.

Pink Diamond: Steinmetz Pink

The Steinmetz Pink Diamond is classified as a vivid pink and is 59.60 carats in weight. This diamond was discovered in South Africa and is the largest Fancy Vivid Pink diamond in the world. This fantastic diamond was first shown to the public in 2003 in Monaco. A team of eight jewelers took 20 months to create this Internally Flawless diamond. They created over 50 models before cutting on the real diamond began.

With the new techniques in creating laboratory diamonds it will only be a matter of time before quality pink diamonds are available to the general public at an affordable price.

The facts about pink diamonds

Pink diamonds are amongst the rarest of diamonds. Only a few mines produce the pink diamonds. These include mines in India (where the majority of pink diamonds come from) South Africa, Brazil, and the Argyle mine in northwestern Australia. The Argyle mine is famous for its hot-pink diamonds, which are found along side its champagne and brown diamonds.

Pink diamonds are large clear diamonds in shades of pastel pink, ranging from coral (a pinkish-orangish brown) to a pure bubblegum pink, or dark pink ranging from a sherry color to an cedar (brown pink) color. While some pink diamonds contain nitrogen impurities that give the stone the pink color (Type 1a), the Type 2a (rarest and hardest to find) color comes from the plastic deformation of the lattice structure while the diamond is formed from heat and pressure.

The Argyle mine also produces pink champagne diamonds, which are champagne diamonds (yellow-brown) with a secondary pink color. The stones contain slight to bold flashes of pink in their shine. The pink champagne diamonds are found in three ranges of colors: light-pink champagne, medium pink champagne, and dark pink champagne.

Diamonds are graded using a rating scale of color, clarity, carat (size), and cut, also known as the 4 Cs. Since this diamond scale does not grade fancy colored diamonds properly, the GIA (Gemological Institute of America) has created a 9 level scale. The GIA grading scale ranges from "faint" and "very light" (which can be actually graded on the normal 4 C scale) to "fancy deep" and "fancy vivid" where the color is intense and saturates the diamond. The three aspects of color that are used in grading are hue, tone, and saturation.

Hue is the dominant color of the diamond, although secondary colors or tints can change the hue. Tone is the amount of lightness or darkness in the diamond, ranging from light to dark. Saturation is the intensity of the color of the diamond, from pastels to intense vivid colors. The more intense and vivid the color, the rarer and more valuable the diamond.

Colored diamonds are cut differently than white diamonds. White diamonds are cut to accentuate the brilliance of the stone and reflect the light most brilliantly. Colored diamonds are cut to accentuate the color and clarity of the stone, and are cut so that the color saturation is emphasized, and the size and brilliance is secondary.

Pink diamonds are rarer than normal colorless diamonds, and thus have been treasured

What is it about pink diamond engagement rings that make women of all ages, backgrounds and social backgrounds go gaga?? Could it be that pink is a ladies color & all things pink attract ladies like honeybees to nectar; or could there be other reasons why pink engagement rings stand out among all the other diamond rings out there?

Why do they stand out you ask?

According to statistics, out of every 10,000 carats of diamonds mined (and that's a lot of diamonds), only one carat would be a fancy colored diamond. This doesn't even guarantee that you will get a pink colored diamond. So are pink diamonds a fluke of nature? Well not quite. They are rare but nature just doesn't spit things out of the earth.

These diamonds acquire their color from the mineral manganese. As nature would have it, this precise mixing of carbon (which is what diamonds are formed from) and manganese is concentrated over one part of the world which is Australia.

The Argyle mines in Australia produce the highest amount of pink fancies anywhere in the world. They were sorely responsible for removing pink colored diamonds from the realm of collectors to that of Jack & John next door who can now afford to buy pink diamond rings for their fiancés.

Having said that, if you compare a white diamond vs. a pink diamond like for like in terms of the 4C's which are diamond carat, color, clarity and cost, the pink diamond will be more expensive due to its scarcity.

This scarcity has meant that top quality pink stones have become a favorite item at diamond auction houses and their prices have increased over time.