It is estimated that there are only 30 red diamonds in the world, with each being less than half a carat. Its red color is due to an atomic deformity caused by extreme pressure. When light passes through it, the deformity causes the light to bend and give off that red hue; in fact, that they are said to look the best under daylight and candlelight. Usually, colored diamonds have prefixes such as “vivid” and “intense”, but because the red color is so unique, it is considered as “vivid” and “intense” itself, so it didn’t necessitate such prefixes, though over the years red diamonds have been categorized as “Fancy” or “Fancy Intense”. Red diamonds sometimes vary in color depth and hue.
Red diamonds were found in South Africa, India, Brazil and Indonesia until 1985 when the Argyle mine began exploring. The Argyle mine is owned by the English-Australian global mining group Rio Tinto and is in the East Kimberly region of Western Australia. So far, the Argyle mine has produced about 800 million carats of rough diamonds and is known for its supply of natural colored diamonds whose grade and richness have set new standards in the diamond industry and among gemologists. The “Argyle Pink” diamond mined in that location was also considered as very unique since it couldn’t be found anywhere else; it only accounted for 1% of stones mined in Argyle, and out of this lot, only 1% was graded as pure red diamonds, just to give you an idea of how scarce red diamonds are. However, the Argyle mine is set to close by 2019 or 2020 at the most, which is already being discussed as a milestone that will cause tremors in the colored diamonds industry. This information has caused the prices of these diamonds to skyrocket. Today, the starting value of a pure red diamond is estimated at 100,000 USD.
Most famous red diamonds: In 1956, Warren Hancock, a famous collector acquired a 0.95-carat red diamond that also had rare purple hues which cost 13,500 USD, but sold it for 880,000 USD in 1987. The diamond was named after him, the Hancock Red Diamond.
The Rob Red, a 0.59-carat diamond discovered by diamond dealer Robert Boger in the interior of Brazil, is also considered extremely rare. Renowned gemologist and color scientist Stephen Hofer has said that the Rob Red is “the most saturated and purest red diamond measured visually and instrumentally to date in the world” and believes that its purity and saturation of red is higher than that of the Hancock red.
The De Young Red, 5.05 carat brownish-red diamond in the Smithsonian Institute, and the purplish-red Moussaieff Red have been discovered, but have earned the color grade of “Fancy” as opposed to the very saturated “Fancy Intense”. The Moussaieff Red is a 5.11-carat triangular fancy red discovered in 1990 by a Brazilian farmer. It was acquired by the Moussaieff jewelry firm for an impressive sum of @8 million USD and is the largest red diamond in the world today.
In July of 2017, Rio Tinted presented its largest Fancy Red diamond called the Argyle Everglow weighing an impressive 2.11 carat. It was expected to sell for 10 million USD. The Rio Tinto’s annual tender on October 11 showcased a total of 58 diamonds, including “five hero diamonds”, judged unique and beautiful than the others. As for the Argyle Everglow, Rio Tinto declared that since they will be closing soon, it is unlikely that another diamond as rare as this one will ever be discovered again, hyping its value.
