Blacklock

Next Tuesday will be one of the most fascinating days in the fine jewellery world. Anticipation has been building for a while now as Sotheby's are holding an auction in Geneva entitled 'Maginificent Gems', some of the rarest and finest gems in the world are going under the hammer. As you may appreciate this will be some auction.

The centrepiece is a 24.78 carat 'Fancy Intense Pink' emerald cut diamond. This diamond is remarkable in many ways and is causing a stir across much of the world.

Firstly it has been graded 'Fancy Intense Pink' by the GIA, now what is exceptional about this is that with most coloured diamonds and in particular pink diamonds is that there is often an undertone or hue of another colour, maybe orange or violet. In this case there is no other undertone other than pink!

Secondly the clarity of this rare diamond is VVS2. There is supporting GIA literature that indicates with repolishing it will go to 'Flawless'. What needs to be understood is that coloured diamonds and in particular pinks are known to be imperfect in their clarity - the impurities generally allow them their colour, however it is generally accepted that they will not have fantastic clarity. Again this stone is exceptional in this characteristic.

Thirdly another important characteristic is the distribution of colour - in all coloured diamonds you are looking for even colour distribution so that no one part of the diamond has more colour than another. I recently viewed a 'Fancy Intense Yellow' diamond with uneven colour distribution which was quite apparent - to an untrained eye maybe not! In this case the distribution of colour is even.

The final thing that strikes me about this stone which makes it even more noteworthy is that it has been cut as an emerald cut. An emerald cut is more often than not the preserve of fine colourless diamonds with few imperfections where you can look deep into the heart of the stone. To find a pink diamond that has been cut in this fashion is nothing short of remarkable, it requires the stone to be exceptional on many levels so that the heart of the stone can be viewed in its' maginificence. The cut and polish need to be precise to allow this and they certainly are in this case!

It is estimated to reach a price of somewhere between £17,000,000 and £24,000,000. In short it will be a historic day. As all the 'big players' from many spheres round in on Geneva the ineterest will lie in who will buy this stone which will significantly increase in value over the years.

The Head of Sotheby's in Europe is quoted as saying 'During my long career at Sotheby's I have had the opportunity to examine some of the rarest and finest jewels, not only at auctions but in private collections internationally. I can say without hesitation that this spectacularly beautiful stone is, quite simply, one of the most desirable diamonds I have ever seen.'

Powerful words from an important person