Pink diamonds are beautiful, but they are extremely rare and precious because of their unique color. Experts believe that only 2% of total diamond rough produced is deemed “fancy colored”. The majority of fancy colored diamonds are yellow or brown, making the percentage of pink diamonds extremely rare by comparison. If a diamond exhibits any amount of pink or reddish hue, it qualifies as a fancy pink colored diamond. The difference between pink and red diamonds is simply the level of hue, tone, and saturation. All fancy colored diamonds are evaluated by these scales for judging color.
Pink diamonds are also rare because they are primarily mined in only one part of the world: Australia. The Argyle mine has been the only active source supplying the entire world with pink-red colored diamonds since 1985. Prior to that, fancy pink diamonds were even less well known and available. Having a single source controlling the majority of pink diamond production keeps the prices high and stone availability tightly controlled.
It is no coincidence that the Argyle mine is the only major source of fancy pink diamond production. Pink diamonds require specific conditions in order to form that are different than any other white or yellow diamond. Unlike yellow diamonds, which require the presence of nitrogen atoms to form, pink diamonds are pink because of a structural defect that occurs due to the environment. Sometimes a structural defect can be as simple as missing atoms at the time of formation. In pink diamonds, there is a distortion in the crystal lattice known as ‘graining,’ which causes the unique color. Graining effects how the diamond absorbs light, causing it to not absorb the colors on the pink-red spectrum. This results in the pink color of the diamond.
Here at deBebians, we do manufacture halo engagement rings and double halo engagement rings with melee sized pink diamonds direct from the Argyle mine in Australia. If you are interesting in customizing any of our settings to feature fancy pink diamonds, please contact one of our jewelry experts at your convenience.