Rio Tinto’s second Beyond Rare™ Tender: The Art Series 02 has delivered a strong result, reflecting the extraordinary rarity and unique provenance of the collection, together with the ongoing appeal for truly scarce natural fancy coloured diamonds.
Titled Colour Awakened, the collection comprises 76 diamonds in 48 lots, including legacy inventory of pink, red and violet diamonds from the Argyle Diamond Mine, together with white and yellow diamonds from Rio Tinto’s Diavik Diamond Mine in the Northwest Territories of Canada. For the first time, the collection also featured seven Old Masters, notable historic diamonds from the Argyle Mine.
Continuing the success of the inaugural event in 2023, bidding for the carefully curated collection resulted in a broad geographic spread of 12 successful bidders from Australia, Europe, Japan, Hong Kong, the Middle East, Singapore and North America.
Sinead Kaufman, Chief Executive of Rio Tinto Minerals said “The continued strong global interest in highly collectible natural coloured diamonds and the resulting value creation, reflects their stature as works of art to be treasured for future generations.”
Careful custodianship is a hallmark of Rio Tinto’s diamonds business and many of the diamonds sold in the Beyond Rare™ Tender are destined for one of a kind jewellery pieces, befitting their extraordinary provenance.
Lot 40 comprising an exquisite 4.04 carat pear shaped pure white diamond from the Diavik Diamond Mine, together with two extremely rare pear shaped violet diamonds from the Argyle Diamond Mine, is entrusted to Danish luxury jeweller Hartmanns, who will collaborate with Argyle Pink Diamonds Icon Partner™ Glajz to craft an heirloom piece of jewellery.
Ulrik Hartmann, owner of Hartmanns said “I am honoured to be creating a jewelled treasure that reflects each magnificent birthplace of these three esteemed diamonds – Argyle in the remote East Kimberley region of Western Australia and Diavik, just below the Arctic Circle on the frozen edge of the earth in Canada’s Northwest Territories.”
There was also strong interest across the North American market with distinguished US jeweller and world renowned coloured diamond specialist, J FINE, one of the successful bidders from this region. Owner Jordan Fine said “we have a long relationship with the beautiful Argyle Pink Diamonds™ and we see strong ongoing market demand for the truly rare – irreplaceable fancy coloured natural diamonds with impeccable provenance.”
Almost the entire world’s supply of rare pink and red diamonds come from Rio Tinto’s Argyle Diamond Mine which ceased production on 3 November, 2020. With 37 years of Argyle production in global markets, Rio Tinto continues to manage the Argyle Pink Diamonds™ brand through sales of remaining inventory, secondary market platforms, certification processes and creative collaborations with Argyle Pink Diamonds Icon Partners™ and other renowned national and international jewellers.
Jewellery historian Vivienne Becker said “Mysterious, mesmerising and miraculous, there is something unfathomable about Argyle Pink Diamonds™. At more than1.5 billion years old their beauty, light and colour has been unleashed by human skill and transformed into the finest of natural treasures.”
In addition to owning the Argyle Pink Diamonds™ brand, Rio Tinto is the majority owner and operator of the Diavik Diamond Mine in the Northwest Territories of Canada. Rio Tinto continues to be active in exploration in Canada and Africa where it has signed an exploration joint venture agreement with Endiama, the national diamond mining company of Angola, to evaluate the Chiri kimberlite in the Lunda Sul Province of Angola.
