Female Beauty

One of only seven red diamonds ever discovered is again on sale, but only if the offer is over US$2 million. Named “The Lady in Red“, the diamond weighs only 0.54 carats and has a clarity of only l1, meaning it has flaws visible to the naked eye. Yet, the very rarity of red diamonds makes it highly prized.
Less than 1% of diamonds are classified as pink, and the odds for a red diamond drop to one in 60 million. 

The latest buyer of The Lady in Red is jeweller Cameron Robinson of Brisbane, Australia, who recently bought the diamond for an undisclosed amount. He bought the diamond in the invitation-only 2006 Argyle Pink Diamond Tender, one of 65 stones being sold.

The Lady in Red, mined in Australia’s Kimberly region in the west, “started out as a 1.46 carat crystal that was cut back to a 54 point rough diamond”, says Cameron. The brilliant cut (round) diamond is only 5.13mm in diameter but its color more than makes up for its small size, he says.
“This is a very rare and unique diamond,” he said. “It’s one of only seven ever found world wide and is exquisite, like a full-bodied red wine.”
Accompanied by an “escort” of armed guards, the red stone will be displayed in the window of Bruce Robinson jewellers in the inner Brisbane suburb of New Farm.

Sales of red diamonds are rare – the last such sale was 20 years ago, and the price was $980,000 per carat.
Yet, Mr Robinson says he might part with it, for the right price. Cameron said he was prepared to look at offers over $US2 million (A$2.6 million) and has had three offers already “over seven figures”.

“It’s not necessarily for sale but I am a bit of a (gemstone) tart and I have grown fond of this diamond. And at the end of the day, I am a jeweller still and all reasonable and serious offers will be considered.”
“We only talk US (dollars) when you get into this sort of material because diamonds in essence are an international currency. The Argyle tender is in US dollars for this reason.”

Reacting to a suggestion that perhaps a red cubic zirconium costing a few hundred dollars might be passed off as a red diamond to a would-be red diamond owner, Cameron says the zirconium wouldn’t have the “bling”.
“There is a case that could be built for the lustre of the diamond. The only thing in the world that has this adamantine lustre is the diamond.”
Its inclusions would also mark it out as the genuine article, unlike the cz which was manufactured flawless.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 31st, 2006 at 1:05 pm and is filed under Beauty, Lifestyle. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.