Pink Argyle Diamonds

the Pink's of Argyle have stunned the diamond world nothing like them has been found anywhere else the color itself is a mystery no one knows what creates these exquisite hues but one thing has become very clear there's something new that diamond collectors simply have to have in an undisclosed Hotel in midtown Manhattan jewelry designer and dealer Alan Friedman is preparing for battle Alan has been invited for the first time to argyles annual tender to bid on the finest pink diamonds the mine has produced this year these are diamonds that never reach the open market diamonds only a privileged few will ever see good to see you again Alan is a third-generation jeweler in Beverly Hills he creates original pieces for exclusive retail stores and we have got some fantastic stones here to show you as you know you know a lot about pink diamonds but you might like to just have a a quick look to start with before we settle down to a very serious look at the stones phenomenal collection that between half a 51 stones have been selected from the 30 million carats mined this year one and two carat just while you're on that side peps lot 44 is a very special stone which is a one carat seventy-three Radian the stones are not large but don't be fooled deep purplish pink is viously their colors are so unusual these are some of the most valuable diamonds in the world another one that we've got here every collection has its masterpiece in this case a once-in-a-lifetime gem this is the one that's featured in the catalog which is a seventy three point emerald but it's a fancy red diamond and as you know Alan there's been less than than a handful ever graded which makes it extraordinarily rare and real collector's piece probably the most collectible stone in the last decade it's certainly in that sort of Lake straight rad Wow Alan is here not just to look he's here to buy but the stones have no set price tag Alan must decide what he is willing to bid he can bid on an individual stone a handful of them or go for the entire collection which one is that we're going to his bid is kept strictly confidential include these in the bed okay one two three four or five at the end of the tender argyll decides who gets the diamonds this is a collection that could take 100 years to build it just absolutely fantastic each piece is breathtakingly beautiful each one is unique the question is what is each one worth this is nature's art this is nature's most beautiful art this is this is the essence I mean this is diamonds that they're their rarest form they're their most incredible beauty they're these are the diamonds that people look at in awe Allen is used to handling fine diamonds but even he has fallen under the red diamond spell well that's exciting to be holding probably one of the rarest diamonds available in the entire world today Wow and this is a true collectible diamond it's a as rare and gemstone that there is on earth the only fancy red diamond ever auction at Christie's fetched a million dollars a carat Allen is feeling the pressure and you want to own one of them well I'd love doing this one for two days Alan studies the stones trying to reach a final decision well that's pretty soon which one is that that's my max yeah otherwise doesn't make sense we're talking a lot of money so we'll see what happens back at Argyle the search for more Pink's goes on the giant conveyors and crushers are on the job 24 hours a day but amidst all the rock and the dust and the machines there's not a diamond in sight they are still buried treasure he wouldn't even think that in storage in there to some target ride basal Edge's remodel rocks you like that ah I like to look at him I don't like to fry them especially a girl's best friend are they yeah I think I love de Cannes more than dogs most of the diamonds here are industrial and the mine has made an economic decision to crush rock to a certain size Argyle may be the world's largest diamond mine but it will never produce the world's largest diamonds the majority of what you see on the surface of dargol is crushing and screening plant we don't want to crush a diamond so we're very careful with our initial crushing processes to keep the rocks bigger than fifteen millimeters not to crush smaller than that because that's the biggest diamond that we can expect to extract as the rock is reduced the treasure begins to appear we're getting towards the last final stage of the process at our goal as you can see this is our stockpile we've now crushed it down to a certain size which is ready to be separated then the x-ray to this work they'll get the Diamonds out let's say it's about thirty thousand rocks is one gone he says a hell of a lot of relative that these dancers enormous as diamonds begin to emerge security gets tighter fewer and fewer workers are allowed into ever more restricted areas as we go around most of the plant you'll never see a diamond it's still a very secretive item 80% of the people who work here would say that they're never actually seen a diamond that's just a reality of the security that we have here at our go if you don't need to get your hands on diamonds you can't get your hands on dynamism security is so paramount that argyles patented x-ray process which locates the diamonds hidden in the rocks is strictly off-limits to cameras we are here all the diamonds now leave the mine behind and had 1,300 miles south to Perth the diamond capital of Australia every week hundreds of plastic tubs carry thousands of carats worth millions of dollars one by one the stones are graded for size color and quality as at the mine much of the work is automated but machines can only take the process so far ultimately it's what the human eye sees in a diamond that counts Gavin Begbie has been handling diamonds for 25 years it takes an expert to evaluate the raw material he's the front line for idea a special find when it's still uncut and unpolished I don't think you're ever prepared for some of those special stands that come along it's the big stones that really surprised you it just takes your breath away Gavin is grading the Pink's only a handful will be fine enough to reserve for the tender tender goods extremely rare if you think of a year's production of say 40 million carats to take your 40 or 50 most intense colors largest stones of best quality you're looking for at an absolute needle in a haystack this done here is one of the largest stones we found just recently it's seven seven carats thirty-five quality is very nice and the color is that beautiful bubblegum bubblegum pink and I'm sure it's a good contender for the for the tender this year far from the rock from which they emerged the diamonds finally reveal themselves and when they do it's all but impossible to resist them there's a romance about the dialogue that you just you can't deny it's there there's something special about the nature of diamonds that you just can't walk away from no other stone present the other stones they translucent you can see through them the diamonds you can't there's something in there that's reflects back abuse maybe something that you you see within yourself I don't borrow it but it's just something that you don't get from another stone perhaps that's why they can also break your heart Alan Friedman waited six weeks for the results of the Argyle tender but Alan didn't win a single stone 13 other bidders were successful in claiming the Pink's their bids were never revealed and as for the stunning red diamond it's now part of a fabulous brooch that were sold in Hong Kong to a dealer from the Middle East for extravagant diamonds it's an inevitable fate it seems they were made to adorn the privileged but that's not all that diamonds can do for diamonds have untapped capabilities and after 3 billion years were finally discovering what they are

Channel: Hung Do

Views: 262,830

Rating: 4.7141333 out of 5

Keywords: VTS, 01, 1

Id: dUu3DiZNb_4

Length: 12min 52sec (772 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 25 2012