Origin of name
The origin of the name "Pink Sunrise" is unknown as are
other important details of this rare and unique diamond which first made
it's appearance at the beginning of the 21st century. Perhaps, the name
seems to reflect the unique color of this diamond, which is reminiscent of
the shades of pink and red colors associated with the sun's appearance in
the early morning eastern skies.
Characteristics of the
diamond
The "Pink Sunrise" is a 29.79-carat, fancy pink,
internally flawless (IF), diamond, with a modified heart shape, reminiscent
of the renowned 273.85-carat, D-color, De Beers "Centenary Diamond", which
had an identical shape.
The "Pink Sunrise" is a type IIa diamond. The important
features of this class of diamonds are :-
1. They are Nitrogen free or contain undetectable
quantities of Nitrogen.
2. The crystals are plastically deformed, which imparts
the pink color to the diamonds.
3. They are very rare in occurrence, perhaps much less
than 0.1 % of all naturally occurring diamonds.
History
Besides the color, cut, clarity and weight of the
diamond, nothing else is known about the early history of the "Pink
Sunrise", such as the date of discovery, the country of origin, the mine of
origin, the original owners of the diamond, the circumstances of the
discovery etc. The only fact we know for certain about the diamond is that
it was cut by the world renowned master cutter Gabi Tolkowsky, perhaps in
Antwerp, Belgium, and the finished stone was unveiled to the world at the
beginning of the 21st century.
A casual inspection of the photographs of the "Pink
Sunrise" and the "Centenary" diamonds immediately reveals a striking
similarity in their shapes. This similarity is not a matter of coincidence,
but caused by deliberate design, as the two stones were cut by the same
world renowned master cutter Gabi Tolkowsky, who lives in Antwerp, Belgium,
and hails from a family of diamond cutters, with five new diamond cuts to
his credit. Gabi Tolkowsky has also earned the rare distinction of cutting
the world's largest faceted diamond, the 545.67-carat, fancy yellow brown,
IF clarity, cushion shaped diamond, the "Golden Jubilee", which was
presented to the King of Thailand, by his subjects in 1997, to mark the
Golden Jubilee of his Coronation. Tolkowsky referred to the cushion-cut
employed on the "Golden Jubilee" as a "fire rose cushion-cut."
According to Gabi Tolkowsky, the "Pink Sunrise" was the
first rare and unique historical diamond, that was ready to appear at the
beginning of the 21st century. The cutting and polishing of the "Pink
Sunrise" into a modified heart shape took more than an year, in spite of the
smaller size and carat weight of the rough stone. Even though the shape of
the two diamonds were strikingly similar, the "Pink Sunrise" had it's own
individual beauty, with it's own pattern of facets and design.
Gabi Tolkowsky is reported to have said that the
inspiration which he gets to select an appropriate design for a rough stone,
from a range of available cuts, result from an imposed fact. According to
him, "every diamond large or small is a unique individual. None is similar
to another. The shape, volume, hue and purity in the rough appearance have a
combined effect on the mind. All what happens is the fact of revolving the
rough stone between two or three finger and peering onto and into it, with
the small folding hand loupe." The greatest challenge to the cutter is to
reveal the hidden potential and beauty of the rough stone by selecting the
appropriate cut.
Perhaps being a new discovery, the stone doesn't have any
legend or history associated with it, but without any doubt it has the
potential of becoming a famous diamond, and building it's own legends as it
passes down from generation to generation.
Occurrence of pink
diamonds
Pink diamonds are extremely rare in occurrence. There are
only about ten notable and famous pink diamonds in the world today, and
almost all of them are less than 100 carats in weight. Even the smaller pink
diamonds such as the ones produced in the Argyle Mines in Australia, are
also extremely rare. A statistical estimate at the Argyle Mines in western
Australia has shown that only a single carat of pink diamond is
produced for every 1,000,000 carats of rough diamonds. This woks out to an
astonishingly low percentage of 0.0001 %.
The earliest known source of pink diamonds in the world
was the Kollur mines near Golconda, in Southern India. The Darya-i Nur,
Nur-ul-Ain, Hortensia, and the Conde Pink might have originated in these
mines. The next known source of pink diamonds were the diamond mines of
Southern Africa. The Steinmetz Pink, Mouawad Lilac and the Mouawad Pink
might have originated in these mines. Today the Argyle mines of western
Australia have become a consistent source of pink diamond even though they
are much smaller in size and have an average weight of about one carat. In
spite of their smaller size the Argyle pink diamonds are noted for their
intense pink colors which are superior to the lighter shades of pink, of
diamonds from other traditional sources. At a Christie's auction in New York
in 1989, a 3.14-carat Argyle pink diamond was sold for $ 1,510,000. This
works out to about $ 480,000 per carat. But, privately Argyle had sold pink
diamonds for up to $ 1,000,000 a carat.
List of famous and
notable pink diamonds arranged in descending order of weights
|
S/N |
Name |
Carat Weight |
Shape/Cut |
Color |
|
1 |
Darya-i-Nur |
186.00 |
table |
light pink |
|
2 |
Nur-ul-Ain |
60.00 |
oval |
light pink |
|
3 |
Steinmetz Pink |
59.60 |
cushion |
fancy vivid pink |
|
4 |
Shah Jahan |
56.71 |
table |
light pink |
|
5 |
Agra |
32.34 |
cushion |
fancy light pink |
|
6 |
Pink Sunrise |
29.79 |
mod. heart |
fancy pink |
|
7 |
Mouawad Lilac |
24.44 |
emerald |
fancy pink |
|
8 |
Graff Pink Orchid |
22.84 |
marquise |
fancy purplish pink |
|
9 |
Mouawad Pink |
21.06 |
radiant |
fancy pink |
|
10 |
Hortensia |
20.00 |
pentagonal |
light orangish pink |
|
11 |
Graff Pink Supreme |
10.83 |
fancy pink |
pear |
|
12 |
Conde Pink |
9.01 |
light pink |
pear |
