Lot 1691. Exquisite Fancy Red Diamond, Pink Diamond and Diamond Brooch. Estimate 3,500,000 — 4,000,000 HKD. Photo: Sotheby's

Designed as three flowers, each set with a cut-cornered rectangular modified brilliant-cut fancy red diamond weighing 0.40, 0.39 and 0.31 carat respectively, to a pink diamond surround, the petals and stem set with brilliant-cut and baguette diamonds weighing approximately 8.55 carats in total, mounted in platinum and 18 karat pink gold.

Accompanied by three GIA reports numbered 2115668509, 2125587178 and 2125449552, dated 9 February 2010, 24 September 2010 and 17 August 2010 respectively, stating that the 0.40, 0.39 and 0.31 carat diamonds are natural, Fancy Red Colour, SI1, VS2 and VS1 Clarity respectively. The pink diamonds have not been tested for natural colour origin.

RED SCARLET TRIO

Though gem connoisseurs would agree that all natural fancy coloured diamonds are prodigiously rare, none could remotely challenge red diamonds as the rarest occurrence in nature. The cause of scarlet hue in diamonds still remains a mystery to gemologists and scientists.

Many suggest that it is due to an uncommon deformation in its atomic structure, same as that of its pink counterparts. Indeed, natural diamonds of reddish hue are graded as ‘Fancy Red’ by GIA only if they have achieved the highest level of colour with their vibrancy. Red diamonds do not fall into the usual diamond colour grading scale, as the words ‘vivid’ and ‘intense’ are considered superfluous.

Modern sources for red diamonds are Brazil and Australia, yet their discovery are such rare occasions that for the past twenty years, between 1985 to 2014, only thirteen diamonds of the pure red hue were found from the famous Australia Argyle mine which is the world’s largest supplier of natural pink diamonds. Some people even claimed that there are only approximately thirty red diamonds known to exist to date, with the majority of them less than half a carat in size.

This brooch, where three of such exquisite red treasures are mounted, represents a singular occasion in which the description ‘rarer than rare’ is an understatement. The possibility of owning one red diamond is seemingly unimaginable for many collectors, and to own three of them is truly an opportunity of a lifetime.

Sotheby’s. Magnificent Jewels & Jadeite, Hong Kong, 04 Oct 2016, 02:00 PM