Is there a Problem With 5 carat Pink Diamonds?

May 22nd, 2014 by Noam Flint

Many areas in our life are surrounded by “Magic Numbers“. There are certain numbers, Magical numbers, that have meaning almost in every aspect of our life – in Physics, Programming, Sports and even music:

 

But most didn’t think they exist in the diamond industry… but they do. After all, how else can you explain why a 1 carat diamond often costs more than 10% more than a 0.99 carat diamond? And this goes all through the round weight numbers, and especially with popular numbers like 5 carat diamonds and 10 carat diamonds.

So, what is the problem with 5 carat pink diamonds?

5 carat fancy pink diamond isn’t sold

Yesterday (May 21^st 2014) Bonhams, one of the most respected auction houses, held their HK Fine Jewelry and Jadeite auction. Beautiful auction that featured beautiful diamonds. But the highlight of the show was a 5 carat Pure Fancy Pink Diamond Ring by Kwiat. As explained by Graeme Thompson (Bonhams Asia Jewelry Director):

Approximately 1 in 10,000 carats of minded diamonds are gem quality fancy colored diamonds and only 0.01% are fancy pink diamonds of which very few exceed 5 carats in size.

The ring was estimated (and expected to sell) at approximately $300,000 per carat – a total of $1.5 Million.

 

However, it seems that the right buyer simply wasn’t there.

But this is not the first time that a 5 carat pink diamond doesn’t sell…

Back in April 2012 Sotheby’s also had their “run” on a 5 carat pink but with a small (big) difference – it was a 5.03 carat VIVID pink. But that time, being vivid, the estimation was at $5.4-$6.7 Million (Over a Million Dollars per carat). Unfortunately for them, it also didn’t sell (though they did sell an 8.01 carat vivid blue for $12.4 Million and a 3.28ct Flawless vivid pink for $3.1 Million).

So… are 5 carat diamonds considered cursed diamonds?

5 Carat Vivid Pink Sold at Christies

To answer this question I had to go back in time quite a bit till I found the lucky winner. Back in December 1^st 2009 at the Christie’s Jewels sale in Hong Kong featured a perfect 5 carat vivid pink diamond ring by Graff.

 

The diamond was with high clarity grading of VS1 and was accompanied by a GIA certificate that authenticated the findings including the fact that it was a Type IIa diamond.

The ring was estimated at $5.0M – $7.1M but was eventually sold for the astounding amount of $10.8 MILLION – over $2 Million per carat and more than twice the original low estimation.

What can we learn from it?

So as it seems, there is no curse behind pink diamonds, 5 carat or any other weight – the only thing wrong with them is probably their extremely high price.

A beautiful 5 carat intense yellow is highly searched and it costs less than $100,000 (total) whereas the 5 carat fancy pink Bonhams offered (not even intense) was estimated well over a Million. A price tag that very few can afford…

With that said, there are also “cheaper” pink diamonds. If are you not willing to settle on the pink color but are willing to settle on the intensity, light pink diamond can be the answer for you. While Sotheby’s didn’t sell the specific 5 carat vivid pink at the time, another 5 carat pink was sold. Not too long ago, on February 2014, Sotheby’s auctioned an AMAZING 5.20 carat heart shaped Very Light Pink Diamond mounted onto a rose gold diamond ring. The ring was estimated at $225k-$275k and was realized (sold) for $317,000 total.

While often people are gazing towards diamond auctions and use them for benchmark, this can be very misleading. These diamonds are SO RARE and therefore so few are sold each year that every auction can tilt the average. Why did one 5 carat vivid pink sell for 10 Million and the other (2.5 years later) didn’t sell for $5M? Every colored diamond is unique and special. Using these diamonds as a scale can be dangerous – don’t you agree?