Origin of name
The "Graff Pink Orchid" diamond is included in the list
of 36 Graff diamonds appearing on the web pages of Graff. The name seems to
reflect the unique purplish pink color of the diamond, which resembles
the color of some pink orchids.
Characteristics of the
stone
The "Graff Pink Orchid" is a marquise-cut, purplish pink,
internally flawless stone, having a weight of 22.84 carats. Robert Mouawad,
an international jeweler and entrepreneur, and a collector and connoisseur
of diamonds, has a 24.44-carat, fancy purplish-pink diamond in his
collection, known as the Mouawad Lilac, on which he places an estimation of
$ 20 million, according to current market values. Using this as the
criterion, we leave it to the intelligence of the reader, to estimate the
price of the 22.84-carat, purplish pink, marquise-cut, internally flawless,
"Graff Pink Orchid" diamond.
In all probability, the "Graff Pink Orchid" must be a
Type IIa diamond, free of nitrogen, and having a plastically deformed
crystal structure, that imparts the pink color to the stone, by changing
it's absorption spectrum. Their occurrence however, is much less than 0.1 %
of all naturally occurring diamonds. But, not all pink diamonds are Type IIa.
Pink diamonds produced in the Argyle mines are Type Ia, because they contain
detectable amounts of nitrogen, but not sufficient to mask the pink color.
In the table below, the "Graff Pink Orchid" occupies the
10th position on the table.
List of famous pink
diamonds
|
S/No |
Name |
Carat Weight |
Color |
|
1 |
Darya-i-Nur |
186 |
light pink |
|
2 |
Nur-ul-Ain |
60 |
light pink |
|
3 |
Steinmetz pink |
59.60 |
fancy vivid pink |
|
4 |
Shah Jahaan |
56.71 |
light pink |
|
5 |
Agra |
32.34 |
fancy light pink |
|
6 |
Pink Sunrise |
29.79 |
fancy pink |
|
7 |
Rose of Dubai |
25.02 |
fancy pink |
|
8 |
Mouawad Lilac |
24.44 |
fancy purplish pink |
|
9 |
Williamson |
23.56 |
fancy pink |
|
10 |
Graff Pink Orchid |
22.84 |
fancy purplish pink |
|
11 |
Mouawad Pink |
21.06 |
fancy pink |
|
12 |
Hortensia |
20.00 |
light orange pink |
|
13 |
Graff Pink Supreme |
10.83 |
fancy pink |
|
14 |
Conde Pink |
9.01 |
light pink |
History
The diamond being a new discovery, does not have any
history associated with it, but the rarity of the purplish pink color,
combined with the relatively larger size of the stone, makes the "Graff Pink
Orchid" , unique and notable, and has the potential of becoming famous in
the future.
The early history of the diamond, such as the country of
origin, mine of origin, date of discovery, original owners of the diamond
etc. are not known, but the diamond seems to have been cut in one of the two
workshops of Graff, specializing in the processing of large diamonds,
situated in New York and Antwerp. The diamond had been subsequently set in a
platinum ring, probably by the expert craftsmen of the handcrafted jewelry
workshop, of Graff, situated in London.
The Marquise-cut of the diamond, is a variation of the
brilliant-cut, with 58 facets, in which the girdle outline is boat-shaped
and each end tapers to a point. It is said that a ring set with a
marquise-cut diamond, makes one's fingers appear long and slender. An ideal
marquise-cut diamond should have a length-to-width ratio of between 1.75 and
2.25.
Along the course of history the source of pink diamonds
in the world had also changed. the earliest source of pink diamonds, was the
Kollur mines of Golconda, in Southern India. The famous and historic pink
diamonds, the Darya-i-Nur, the Nur-ul-Ain, Shah Jahaan, etc. may have
originated in these mines. After the late 19th century, the South African
diamond mines became the main source of pink diamonds in the world. The
Mouawad lilac, the Mouawad Pink, the Steinmetz Pink, and other recently
discovered pink diamonds, all originated in the diamond mines of Southern
Africa. But today, the main source of pink diamonds in the world is the
Argyle Diamond Mines in Australia, founded in 1983. The Argyle mines
are situated in the remote north-east region of Western Australia. It is
currently the World's largest producer of diamonds by volume. In the year
2000, production reached 26.5 million carats, which is approximately 25 % of
the annual world production. 1994 was the peak production year in this mine,
producing 42.8 million carats, which was 40% of the annual world production.
A large proportion of the staggering output consists of small brown to
yellow rough diamonds, as well as some near colorless and colorless rough
diamonds.
The average annual production in the Argyle mines is
about 35 million carats. Almost 50 % of this production is industrial, 45 %
near-gem quality and 5 % gem quality diamonds. Out of the 5 % gem-quality
diamonds, 80 % are brown, 16 % yellow, 2 % white, 2 % grey, and less than 1
% fancy colored diamonds, such as pink, red, green and grayish blue. All
Argyle diamonds, whether brown, yellow or fancy colored are Type Ia,
containing varying amounts of nitrogen, from 10 ppm to 1,000 ppm. The
nitrogen content of colorless diamonds are 500 to 1,000 ppm, brown diamonds,
100 to 500 ppm and pink diamonds, 10 to 100 ppm.
The mean size of the Argyle rough is less than 0.10
carats. The largest rough crystal recovered to date weighed only 42.6
carats, and was found in 1991. It has been retained in it's rough state and
now forms part of the company's diamond exhibit at the mine. Inclusions are
found in the vast majority of Argyle diamonds. Graphite is the most abundant
inclusion, and is generally seen as black spots. Therefore, even though the
Argyle diamond production accounts for almost a third of the world's annual
output, in terms of size the diamonds are very small.
Processing of small diamonds is very labor intensive and
requires skilled manpower. Around the time the Argyle mines started
production, India was emerging as an important cutting center for diamonds,
and manufacturers were eager to get more rough diamonds to feed their
booming industry.
The three companies that controlled the operations of the
Argyle mines-Rio Tinto Ltd., Ashton Mining Ltd., and Western Australian
Diamond Trust, established a relationship with the Indian diamond cutting
industry, to process the small diamonds produced by Argyle. The affordable
labor available in India, would make the mine's production economic. The
partnership was advantageous to both sides. Between 1983 and 2000,
processing of diamonds in India grew 201 % in volume and 152 % in value.
The Argyle mines together with their Indian partners,
embarked on a strategy to popularize their brown and yellow diamonds. They
produced jewelry set with brown diamonds, and marketed them under the name
of cognac and champagne diamonds, and these jewelry became very popular.
Thus they were able to popularize their products among the consumers, and
the economic viability of the company was ensured. The company expanded it's
production and introduced new techniques to the industry, including a
state-of-the-art X-ray diamond sorting technique, that could sort
approximately 200 diamonds per second at peak sorting rates.
The Company adopted a different strategy to market the 1
% of it's high quality colored stone production, which was mainly pink in
color. The Argyle mines became a consistent source of pink diamonds in the
world, even though the stones were quite small. Pink diamond production from
other mines around the world was not consistent. The more exceptional pink
and other colored diamonds from each years production at the mine were sold
individually in special auctions known as "tenders". Viewings were held in
New York, Sydney, Tokyo, Hong Kong, London and Geneva. These events were
held for invited clients. Each event was preceded by the distribution of a
tender catalogue. The size of these polished pink diamonds average about one
carat. Around 40 to 50 carats are sold at these auctions each year, with
prices of over $ 100,000 achieved per carat. Since 1985, more than 700
stones have been offered for sale, at the tender, at a total weight of
almost 550 carats.
Most Argyle diamonds exhibit evidence of having been
plastically deformed, following formation in the Earth's mantle or during
their ascent to the surface. This is apparent in their highly strained
character when observed with cross polarizing filters. The plastic
deformation is thought to cause both the brown and pink coloration, although
the exact origins of these colors are still uncertain.
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