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Natural Pink Diamonds

A natural pink diamond is a diamond whose pink colour formed in the earth through a distortion of the crystal lattice, with no treatment involved. Pink is among the rarest fancy colours, and the Argyle mine that supplied most of the world's pink diamonds closed in November 2020. Byrex Gems offers natural pink diamonds to the trade from Toronto, most with GIA reports and each filmed unedited in our office, with prices shown to approved buyers and viewings by appointment.

Where to buy natural pink diamonds in Toronto

Byrex Gems lists 320 natural pink diamonds online today. 319 of them come with a report from laboratories including GIA and Argyle. Viewings are at our Toronto office, 27 Queen Street East, Suite 407, steps from Queen subway station, by appointment. We have supplied coloured gemstones and natural fancy colour diamonds to jewellers and designers since 1988, and welcome private clients by appointment. Prices are shown to approved trade accounts; private clients can ask us on WhatsApp, where we reply within 12 hours, or by email within 24 hours. Every stone ships insured, worldwide.

What is a natural pink diamond?

A natural pink diamond owes its colour to plastic deformation: while the crystal was still deep in the mantle, pressure and movement distorted its lattice along narrow planes, and those planes absorb light in a way that leaves pink. No trace element is responsible, which is one reason pink is so unpredictable and so scarce. Under magnification the colour often concentrates in parallel bands called graining, and the body of the stone between them can be nearly colourless.

The Argyle mine in Western Australia, operated by Rio Tinto from 1983 until November 2020, produced most of the pink diamonds the world has seen, typically small and strongly coloured, with purplish or brownish modifiers. Other sources are occasional rather than steady: Brazil, Russia, South Africa and Tanzania have all yielded pink, and the historic Golconda region of India produced the pale pinks of royal collections. Pinks from these sources tend to be lighter and larger than Argyle's.

Because supply is so thin, the category covers an unusually wide range. A Faint pink and a Fancy Vivid pink are both natural pink diamonds, but they are different objects in the market, and a buyer should read the grade before anything else.

How GIA grades pink diamonds and modifiers

GIA grades pink by tone and saturation on the fancy colour scale: Faint, Very Light, Light, Fancy Light, Fancy, Fancy Intense, Fancy Vivid, Fancy Deep and Fancy Dark. Unlike yellow, pink is a fancy colour from the Faint grade upward, so a report will never describe a pink diamond with a D to Z letter.

Most pinks carry a modifier. The common ones are purplish, brownish and orangy, and GIA can also use purple-pink, brown-pink, orange-pink and brownish orangy pink. The last hue named is the dominant one. A purplish pink is a pink with a slight purple cast; a pink-purple, by contrast, is a purple diamond. A grade that reads simply Fancy Intense Pink, with no modifier, is what the trade calls a pure pink, and it is the least common wording.

The report also states colour origin. Natural confirms the colour formed in the earth. Pink can be produced in laboratory-grown diamonds and, in some natural stones, by irradiation and annealing or by HPHT treatment, and any such treatment must be disclosed. Laboratories detect it by inclusions, spectra and trace-element chemistry.

What a jeweller should check before buying

Verify the report first: confirm the number with GIA, match the girdle inscription and read the colour origin line. If the stone is sold as Argyle, ask for the Argyle lot number and certificate.

Judge the colour as it will arrive. Pink diamonds are graded viewed from the top, and the cut decides how much colour returns to the eye. Radiant, cushion, oval and pear shapes hold pink well; round brilliants can lose it, which is why rounds are scarce in strong pink. Look for evenness, for the modifier the report names, and for how the stone behaves under daylight and under shop lighting. Byrex films each pink unedited so the modifier and the graining can be seen before a stone is sent.

Clarity is secondary to colour but should not be ignored. Argyle pinks often carry graining and small feathers, and a report of SI clarity is normal in this hue; what matters is that nothing is visible in the mounted stone. For earrings and side stones, matching pairs are judged on hue and modifier before size, and a brownish pink beside a purplish pink will never read as a pair. Rose gold supports lighter pinks; white metal lets a strong pink stand on its own.

What drives the value of a pink diamond

Saturation sets the first tier. Fancy Vivid pink is the grade every buyer asks for and the one least often seen, followed by Fancy Intense and Fancy. Within each grade the modifier shifts value: a pure pink leads, purplish pink is close behind and often preferred for its lively look, while brownish and orangy pinks are valued below. Very dark tones, graded Fancy Deep or Fancy Dark, are judged on how much pink still shows.

Size then multiplies rarity. Argyle's pinks were mostly well under a carat, so a strongly coloured pink above one carat is in a different class, and a Fancy Vivid pink of several carats is an auction stone rather than a stock item. Value climbs in steps at the weights buyers search for, not in a smooth line.

Provenance has become a factor of its own. An Argyle lot number, certificate and laser inscription are now a form of documentation that a buyer pays for, because the mine is closed and the supply is fixed. Clarity, cut quality and fluorescence refine price within a colour grade. Byrex shows full trade prices to approved accounts, keeps larger pinks on request and does not publish prices.

Argyle's closure and the famous pinks

The pink diamond market has a before and after. Rio Tinto closed the Argyle mine in November 2020, ending the only steady supply of pink diamonds the trade had known. Argyle's annual tender of its finest pinks and reds, held for more than three decades, had already made the mine's name a brand, and the stones sold through it are now traded as collectables. Since closure, demand has moved to certified stones already in circulation, and prices for small Argyle pinks have climbed as jewellers compete for matched goods.

The great pinks come from elsewhere. The Pink Star, the largest Fancy Vivid pink graded by GIA, was cut from a rough mined in Africa and sold at auction in Hong Kong in 2017. The Graff Pink, a Fancy Intense pink in an emerald cut, set a record when Laurence Graff bought it at auction in Geneva in 2010. The Winston Pink Legacy, a Fancy Vivid pink, was bought by Harry Winston at auction in Geneva in 2018. Historic pale pinks such as the Darya-i-Noor in Iran trace back to Golconda. None of these stones came from Argyle, which shows that exceptional pink can appear anywhere, just never on schedule.

Buying pink diamonds from Byrex Gems

Since 1988, Byrex Gems has supplied pink diamonds to the jewellery trade from Toronto. The confidence of more than seven thousand trade customers has been earned one stone at a time. Many of our pink diamonds come with reports from GIA and other leading laboratories, and each stone is filmed in our office, exactly as it is.

Approved trade buyers see prices online. Everyone else is welcome to write: WhatsApp +1 (437) 450-3786 brings a reply within hours, and an email to info@byrex.com an answer the same day, seven days a week. What is listed is a part of what we hold: more pink diamonds are kept in the vault, and what we do not hold ourselves we can source through our offices worldwide. We receive clients by appointment in Toronto, Hong Kong, Bangkok and Dubai.

Natural Pink Diamonds: questions buyers ask

Where can I buy natural pink diamonds in Toronto?

Are natural pink diamonds really untreated?

Yes. A natural pink diamond's colour formed in the earth through lattice distortion. Pink can also be created by treatment or in laboratory-grown diamonds, so the colour origin line on a GIA report is the proof a buyer should ask for.

What does purplish pink mean on a GIA report?

It means a pink diamond with a slight purple cast. In GIA wording the last hue named is dominant, so purplish pink is pink first. Purplish is the modifier most buyers accept readily, since it often makes the pink look brighter.

Does Byrex sell pink diamonds to private clients?

Yes. Byrex sells first to jewellers and designers, but private clients are welcome by appointment at 27 Queen Street East in Toronto, where pinks can be compared in person and a stone can be reserved for a jeweller to set.

Can Byrex source an Argyle pink diamond?

Often, yes. Byrex keeps certified Argyle stones when they are available and sources others through contacts in Australia, Hong Kong, Antwerp and New York. Each Argyle stone comes with its lot documentation and, where present, the laser inscription.

Are the pink diamonds GIA graded?

Most are. GIA grades the majority of our pink diamonds, and the colour wording from the report is quoted on each stone page. Argyle stones may carry an Argyle certificate as well as a GIA report.

Why are round pink diamonds so hard to find?

Round brilliants return a lot of white light, which dilutes pink. Cutters prefer radiant, cushion, oval and pear shapes that hold colour, so a round pink in a strong grade is rare and is priced accordingly.

Can I see pink diamonds in Toronto before buying?

Yes. Viewings are by appointment at 27 Queen Street East, Suite 407, Toronto. Pinks can be seen under daylight-equivalent light, compared with each other and checked against their reports and the videos on the site.

Does clarity matter much in pink diamonds?

Less than colour, but it still counts. Graining and small inclusions are common in pink, and SI clarity is normal in Argyle stones. What matters is that nothing shows in the set stone and that colour is not interrupted.

Byrex Gems, 27 Queen Street East, Suite 407, Toronto. Coloured gemstones and natural fancy colour diamonds for the trade since 1988, and for private clients by appointment.

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