A pink diamond for S$69 million? Here’s why the stone is so valuable
It'due south a Fancy Vivid Pinkish diamond. It weighs eighteen.96 carats. It has a name: The Pink Legacy. And no, that'due south not in reference to a girlie bar. Although, come up to think of it, many of the top-grade, rosy-hued diamonds accept somewhat louche monikers: The Pink Promise. The Sweet Josephine. Which makes you lot wonder if the industry is run by lonesome men.
But in all seriousness, the globe of coloured diamonds – specially pinkish diamonds – is big business concern, and increasingly then. The Pink Legacy is expected to fetch between U.s.$xxx million and Usa$l million (Due south$41.three one thousand thousand to South$68.8 million) at Christie'south Magnificent Jewels sale in Geneva adjacent calendar week.
READ: The Pink Legacy sells for The states$50 million in Geneva
And that's not even broaching the record price. In April 2017, The Pink Star, a massive 59.60-carat rock, sold for United states of america$71.2 million at a Sotheby's sale in Hong Kong, becoming the most expensive precious stone to always be auctioned.
In Nov 2017, The Pink Promise sold for a lower absolute cost at Christie's Hong Kong – "only" United states of america$32.5 million – just it achieved a world record price per carat for a pinkish diamond: Usa$ii.175 million.
John Glajz, Managing director of Glajz-THG Pte Ltd, will be in Geneva when the hammer drops on The Pink Legacy. "I think it will brand the cost. The mid- to high-judge," he told CNA Lifestyle. "It's an exceptionally cute rock."
Glajz added that he isn't going as a buyer but as an observer. His company distributes pink diamonds, working directly with the Argyle Mine in Western Australia to procure the stones. The Mine, he explained, produces 90 per cent of the earth's pink diamonds. It's the size of Singapore, simply yields only 4,000 carats, or 800 grams, of pink diamonds annually. The weight is after polishing.
"In terms of book, that'southward virtually the size of one papaya!" Glajz remarked, describing the stone'southward rarity, and hence, its soaring value.
WHY At that place'S A GROWING INTEREST IN COLOURED DIAMONDS
According to Glajz, prices of pink diamonds "double every couple of years". The Argyle Mine's proclamation that it will end operations in 2022 has simply fuelled the global buying frenzy.
But Glajz noted that pink diamonds – also every bit their coloured cousins, for that matter – aren't for anybody. "It's for the person who already has the white diamond," he said.
Saagar Mehta, Co-Founder and Director of Infiniti Jewels, echoed this sentiment. "Most women would like their get-go diamond to be white. But what about subsequently that?" he said.
Celebrities have no doubt contributed to the awareness of coloured diamonds. Jennifer Lopez owns an viii.5-carat blue diamond ring gifted by her ex-hubby Marc Anthony. She too owned a half dozen.one-carat pink diamond ring given by Ben Affleck, but returned it before this year.
Some years agone, Rihanna famously shone the spotlight on yellow diamonds in her single We Found Love. More recently, Michelle Yeoh and Lisa Lu were seen sporting yellow diamond brooches during the wedding scene in Crazy Rich Asians.
READ: Crazy Rich Asians spin-off ideas that more accurately correspond Singapore
As Mehta explained: "More than people are enlightened that there are coloured diamonds. More people are investing in coloured diamonds. [Large jewellery brands like] Tiffany & Co. are heavily promoting coloured diamonds."
Tiffany'due south Yellow Diamonds collection is 1 of the brand'southward pillars, anchored past the legendary Tiffany Diamond. The priceless 128.54-carat, cushion-shaped, vivid-cutting xanthous diamond is prominently displayed in the brand's Fifth Avenue flagship in New York.
WHAT Yous SHOULD KNOW ABOUT COLOURED DIAMONDS
But before y'all run out to the nearest jeweller to make inquiries, it helps to know the fundamentals when it comes to coloured diamonds.
The four Cs – cut, color, clarity and carat – used to determine a white diamond'due south value also apply to coloured diamonds. But for the latter, 1 of the Cs is more important than the other three: Colour. In fact, buyers are often willing to overlook the amount of inclusions in a coloured diamond.
"I take clients who only purchase D/Due east/F (colour) white diamonds of VVS clarity from me, but when it comes to coloured diamonds, they will consider SI. 70 to 80 per cent of coloured diamonds are actually SI quality and below," explained Mehta.
Co-ordinate to the GIA (Gemological Constitute of America), white diamonds subtract in value as their colour intensifies, but the opposite is true for coloured diamonds: Their values increase in tandem with the intensity of the color.
But while there is an industry standard cost listing for white diamonds – the Rapaport Price List – in that location is no equivalent for their pigmented counterparts. "At that place are no guidelines on what the price tin can be," Mehta said. "For every 10,000 carats of diamonds mined, but one carat is a coloured diamond. At that place's no control over the supply and demand of coloured diamonds coming in and out of the marketplace."
Most prized of all are those classified as Vivid, followed by Intense, Fancy and Light. Or, equally Glajz explained: "Light is less, Fancy is more merely less than Intense, and and so Vivid is double of Intense."
Cherry diamonds are the rarest of them all, followed past Blueish and Pinkish; and so Orange, Majestic and Green; Yellowish and Dark-brown; and finally Gray and Black – the latter two accept very niggling commercial value and are sometimes used in fashion or costume jewellery.
The earth'southward largest known cherry diamond, a 5.eleven-carat trilliant cut stone, belongs to London-based jeweller Moussaieff, and is known as the Moussaieff Cherry-red. In 2008, the firm was reportedly offered U.s.a.$35 million for the gem, but its owners turned it down, believing information technology would go up in cost.
"We had [a blood-red diamond]. We sold it in Taiwan a few years agone," Vihari Sheth, Manager of Vihari Jewels, told CNA Lifestyle. "Information technology was a 1-carat stone [that fetched] US$v.8 million. It'due south like a Picasso. There'southward no replication."
Sheth belongs to the 4th generation of a diamond trading family unit that originally hailed from Bharat. Among the family business' most prized assets are a collection of light-green diamonds, amassed past Sheth'south father Rajesh over a decade.
"[The mines] are still producing greens, so yous can still go your hands on them. They're going to abound in price, because a lot of people haven't acquired them yet." At the moment, said Sheth, Intense greens can fetch anything from U.s.a.$300,000 to US$550,000 a carat, while Brilliant greens tin can become for U.s.a.$ii.5 million a carat – rivalling Vivid pinks.
The other quality to note, said Mehta, is that of overtones. This occurs when there are two colours in the diamond. "If the diamond is labelled Fancy Yellow Orange, for example, the second color – orangish – is the main colour, just there's an overtone of yellow. Such diamonds will always be lower in value compared to the pure colours."
Just it gets tricky when the overtones come with the suffix "ish", like Orangeish or Yellowish. "'Ish' means it'due south a lighter colour. For instance, Fancy Yellowish Orange is lighter than Fancy Yellowish Orangish. The yellow in the former is then light that it cannot be chosen a true yellowish," said Mehta.
ARE COLOURED DIAMOND ENGAGEMENT RINGS AFFORDABLE?
The short reply is both aye and no. According to Sheth, pinkish diamonds are too expensive. "Even a 1-carat Light Pink will cost you US$120,000 to The states$150,000," she said.
Over at Infiniti Jewels, Mehta held upward a 1.2-carat Fancy Vivid Orange Yellow stone. "This costs Due south$50,000," he noted. "Whereas a white diamond of this size, F color, would be S$11,000 to S$13,000. Coloured diamonds are e'er higher in value, so for proposals, they are hard to get."
READ: It'southward not just diamonds – did you know your gold could be irresponsibly sourced?
All the same, there's a silver lining. "A i-carat Fancy Low-cal Yellow diamond would be well-nigh S$13,000. It'southward the same price as a one-carat white diamond, E/F/Chiliad color with VS or VVS clarity," said Mehta.
"I have seen people choose yellow for appointment rings, because they tin can become bigger for the aforementioned budget," echoed Sheth.
SHOULD YOU INVEST IN COLOURED DIAMONDS?
Again, our experts concluded both yes and no.
"I never like using the give-and-take 'investment'," offered Glajz. "If you buy (a coloured diamond) expecting a dividend in 12 months, don't purchase it. If you buy thinking information technology's skillful to have and put away, and meanwhile enjoy it, and and so one day your children or grandchildren will realise the value, perhaps you lot're on the correct track.
"Information technology's a store of value. Information technology's a tangible asset. Purchase information technology because yous like it. Purchase it because it'southward rare. And if you ever demand money, it represents value," he added.
Sheth sang a like melody. "The value also comes from the mineral itself. [Diamonds] accept a hardness rating of 10 [on the Mohs scale]. Over time they're not going to rot or cheapen. If I drib a diamond, it's non going to crevice. I can throw it [confronting a wall] and it won't fissure.
"Let's say you lot put US$100,000 [on a rock]. 20 years afterward you laissez passer it down to your girl. The money is expert in its place. That's all I can say. Information technology's a form of security that you can laissez passer down to your kids, every bit is, without any hassle of transfer," she explained.
But for those considering coloured diamonds equally an alternative asset, the dealers had this to say.
"When it comes to investments, merely [coloured diamonds that are] 1-carat and above are considered [investment-grade]. Unless it'southward blue or red, in which case beneath 1-carat volition be considered," said Mehta.
Glajz said that yellow diamonds could be a skilful starting indicate. "I've always believed that fancy xanthous diamonds are undervalued. You tin buy a fancy yellow for more than or less the same as a commercial white diamond. It is a fancy colour, and more unique. In my opinion, the prices have room to move. [Prices of the] pinks and blues as well have room to move."
Sheth felt much the same way. "For Vivid and Intense Pinks, I would say that prices will capeesh 7 to 8 per cent per annum over the next ten years. For Brilliant and Intense Dejection, it'll exist about 14 to eighteen per cent per annum."
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