Most of the pink and red diamonds available today come from the Argyle Mines in Australia. The Australian aboriginal people have an ancient myth about how the diamonds came to the area: A type of fish called a barramundi is being chased by a group of old women. The barrimundi swims into a cave and the women set up their nets at the mouth of the cave, waiting for the fish to return. When the fish cannot find a way out, she swims back to the entrance and leaps over the women, shedding some of her sparking scales. The scales become the diamonds which are found in the area traditionally called Barrimundi Gap – the location of today’s Argyle Mines.
The pink diamonds themselves are rare – one tenth of one percent of the annual yield of all Argyle diamonds. Red diamonds are even rarer. Since Argyle Mines was opened in 1983, there have been only six red diamonds offered. This year there are three red diamonds up for sale – increasing Argyle’s all-time figure for red diamonds by 50% with a single tender.
The largest of the three red diamonds is named the Argyle Phoenix – a 1.56 carat fancy red diamond. It joins five other unique diamonds that were given names as the centerpieces of this year’s tender.
Do you want to own the Argyle Phoenix? Sorry – Argyle Mines’ diamonds have traditionally been sold at closed tenders: invitation only. Another Rio Tinto-owned mine in Canada just changed their annual diamond sale to an open-auction model, however, so you never know. Maybe in a few years some rare red diamonds will make another appearance – this time a public one.
Images from Argyle Mines website: http://www.argylepinkdiamonds.com
