Rare Argyle Pink Diamond collection coming to Hong Kong

Rising demand in China and Taiwan makes Hong Kong an ideal location for showcasing the jewels, which will can be tendered for with sealed bids

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This combo shows Maria Chiam, Argyle Pink Diamonds principal marketing executive, with a rare pink diamond, the 2.83 carat Argyle Violet (right). Photo: Jonathan Wong

Published: 12:45pm, 30 Sep 2016Updated: 10:11am, 6 Oct 2016

Three small towns outside Mumbai in India have replaced Antwerp in Belgium as the world’s diamond-cutting centre. Instead of stones being cut and polished by Orthodox Jews who have a centuries-old connection to the jewel industry, they are now processed by Indians using sophisticated tools in a hi-tech environment. The customer base is changing too – many buyers are likely to be from Hong Kong and increasingly the mainland and Taiwan.

The Oppenheimer Blue, a rare fancy vivid blue diamond weighing 14.62 carats. Photo: AFP

The highly portable asset has retained its exclusivity and expensive benchmark prices. Diamonds such as the Cullinan which measured over 3,000 carats as a rough are few and far between but even much smaller diamonds can command stratospheric prices. Earlier this year a buyer in Geneva paid US$57.5 million for the 14.62 carat Oppenheimer Blue diamond.

The 12.03 carat Blue Moon of Josephine. Photo: AFP

The previous record holder for most expensive gem retains the title of most expensive price per carat – the Blue Moon of Josephine fetched US$4.03 million per carat in Geneva in 2015.

Pink and red diamonds don’t come cheap either. A 15.38 carat vivid pink diamond sold for US$42.8 million earlier this year in Geneva. In 2014 a buyer in Hong Kong paid US$5 million for a 2.09 carat fancy red diamond.

Mining conglomerate Rio Tinto has a collection from its Argyle mine in Western Australia open to tender. Rather than an open auction, offers are taken as sealed bids, with a closing date of October 12. Bidders can place offers for the entire collection or as many individual stones as they want.

At a showing of the gems, Marie Chiam cups her hands together to show the volume of pink tender diamonds produced in a year at the Argyle mine. The marketing executive’s petite hands reinforce the message that this is a very small quantity indeed, but even smaller is the “teaspoonful” of red and violet diamonds excavated from the mine.

Rio Tinto is taking its jewels around the world, stopping in New York, London, Perth and Copenhagen. Hong Kong is on the itinerary, not just because it is a good market in its own right – one year, Graff Diamonds at The Peninsula hotel bought the whole collection and turned it into a piece for the Sultan of Brunei – but because there is increasing interest in diamonds from mainland collectors.