Rare Argyle Pink Diamond collection coming to Hong Kong

Three small towns outside Mumbai in India have replaced Antwerp in Belgium as the world’s diamond-cutting centre. Instead of stones being cut and polished by Orthodox Jews who have a centuries-old connection to the jewel industry, they are now processed by Indians using sophisticated tools in a hi-tech environment. The customer base is changing too – many buyers are likely to be from Hong Kong and increasingly the mainland and Taiwan.

The highly portable asset has retained its exclusivity and expensive benchmark prices. Diamonds such as the Cullinan which measured over 3,000 carats as a rough are few and far between but even much smaller diamonds can command stratospheric prices. Earlier this year a buyer in Geneva paid US$57.5 million for the 14.62 carat Oppenheimer Blue diamond.

The previous record holder for most expensive gem retains the title of most expensive price per carat – the Blue Moon of Josephine fetched US$4.03 million per carat in Geneva in 2015.

Pink and red diamonds don’t come cheap either. A 15.38 carat vivid pink diamond sold for US$42.8 million earlier this year in Geneva. In 2014 a buyer in Hong Kong paid US$5 million for a 2.09 carat fancy red diamond.