Strong Colored Diamond Auction Results to Continue in 2018

Over the last decade, the market for fancy colored diamonds has shown consistent growth, predicated in part on growing rates of return on investing in colored diamonds and increasing demand for colored diamonds.

Highlighting the continued demand for fancy colored diamonds, Paragon International Wealth Management, a leading firm in the investment and management of colored diamonds, noted the number of colored diamond auctions last year that yielded record-breaking bids.

In April last year, the famed Pink Star diamond, a 59.60-carat fancy vivid pink diamond mined by De Beers in South Africa in 1999, shined when it was successfully auctioned for $71.2 million at a Sotheby’s Hong Kong auction. Purchased by Chow Tai Fook, a Hong-Kong-based jewelry retailer, the auction of the Pink Star also happened to be highest price ever paid for a jewel.

Later in the year, in May, a pair of earrings containing fancy colored diamonds, one blue and one pink, sold for more than $57.4 million at a Sotheby’s auction in Geneva. The 14.54-carat, internally flawless fancy vivid blue diamond Artemis Blue, the largest of its type ever to be offered at auction, sold for more than $42.1 million. While the Artemis Pink, a 16-carat, fancy vivid pink diamond, sold for more than $15.3 million.

In mid-October 2017, the Argyle Everglow, an extremely rare 2.11-carat fancy red diamond, was shown by Rio Tinto at its exclusive Argyle Diamond Tender. Rio Tinto does not report on the amount of winning bids, but one gem expert, quoted in an article on CNN, stated that he believed the Argyle Everglow could fetch $10 million or more.

A month later, at Bonhams Fine Jewelry sale in London, a pear-shaped, fancy intense blue diamond, 4.03 carats in weight, sold for $3.6 million. Bonhams had estimated that the jewel would sell for between $1.5 to $1.9 million.