Rio Tinto hosts second last Argyle diamonds tender

The Argyle Eternity is the crown jewel in the collection of 62 pink, blue, violet and red diamonds and is the largest fancy vivid round brilliant diamond ever offered as part of Argyle’s tenders.

Argyle Eternity records a weight of 2.24 carats and is a stunning fancy vivid purplish pink gem.

The 62 diamonds weigh in at a total of 57.3 carats and feature six ‘hero’ diamonds, which are named as such for their unique beauty, ensuring there is a permanent record of their contribution to the world’s most important diamonds.

The hero stones are Argyle Eternity, 2.45 carat fancy intense purple-pink Argyle Ethereal, 1.84 carat pear shaped vivid purplish pink Argyle Sakura, 0.43 fancy deep greyish violetish blue Argyle Emrys, Argyle Skylar (0.33 carat heart shaped fancy dark grey-violet) and Argyle Infinité (0.70 carat oval shaped fancy dark violet-grey).

Also in the tender are 12 lots of miniature rare Argyle pink, red, blue and violet diamonds, the Petite Suites, which have been curated over a five year period weighing a total of 13.90 carats.

The sale comes at a turning point in pink diamond production. Earlier this month, Rio Tinto ended 37 years of diamond production from the iconic East Kimberley, Western Australia mine – the only consistent source of pink diamonds and responsible for 90 per cent of the world’s supply.

Argyle mine that holds a record of producing 865 million carats of rough diamonds, including rare pink and blood diamonds.

The current sale forms Argyle’s penultimate tender from the mine, with a final tender to take place in 2021 based on the 2020 production.

“We are delighted to showcase this highly sought-after collection of rare diamonds in Singapore,” Rio Tinto general manager of sales and marketing Patrick Coppens said.

“We have seen and continue to see strong demand in the Asia market together with an appreciation of their ever-increasing rarity.”

The collection is being showcased in Singapore, Perth and Antwerp, Belgium with bids for a chance to snag one of the precious gems closing on December 2.