Takara pink diamond, lab grown
Based on customer questions,
we've prepared a quick overview of both natural and lab grown pink
diamonds.
Why are natural pink
diamonds so expensive?
Natural pink diamonds are
extremely pricey ($100,000+ per carat) due to their extreme rarity.
The only consistent supply of pink diamonds comes from the Argyle mine
in Australia.
For every one million carats of
diamonds they mine, they get one carat of top grade pink diamonds.
Thus, even at their source, a top grade pink diamond (over .50ct, Fancy
Intense+) is literally a one in a million diamond. If you factor
that most mines produce only whites, a pink diamond is probably one in
five million diamonds mined.
Since 1985, the Argyle mine has
averaged 60-65 top grade pink diamonds per year (or 750 total pink
diamonds that are over .50ct and intense color). As their site
states, you could hold their annual pink production of top pinks in your
hand.
That is the reason that natural pink diamonds
have sold for as much as $1,000,000 per carat. In a world of over
4 billion people, very, very few will ever own a top grade natural pink
diamond (effectively less than 1 in 5 Million).
Why aren't there more pink lab grown diamonds
available?
Given the extreme rarity of natural pink diamonds, and
the corresponding high demand, the next question would be why are larger
lab grown pink diamonds (over .50ct) so scarce? The answer is that
much like natural pink diamonds, its not easy to produce a lab grown
pink diamond.
Our working theory on why pink diamonds are 'pink' is
due to trace amounts of nitrogen being moved into specific positions
called 'Nitrogen Vacancy centers'. To get a nice pink requires a
very set amount of nitrogen (not too much, not too little), a proper
amount of radiation to create some vacancies, and then a bit of luck
during the high pressure, high temperature treatment to move the
nitrogen into the right place next to the vacancies.
Thus, even when growing them in the lab, the majority
of them will not come out with the optimal 'pure pink' or 'purple pink'
color.
Thats why in our five years of selling lab grown pink
diamonds, we've had fewer than 10 pink diamonds over .50ct that had the
desired stunning pink color.
Thus, ironically, the lab grown pink diamonds are
nearly as rare as their natural pink counterparts. Lab grown pink
diamond tend to sell on parity with their mined white diamond
equivalents however ($5500/carat) vs. the $100,000+ per carat natural
pink diamond pricing.
We do not lack for demand with lab grown pink
diamonds, rather its lack of supply that constrains us. We are
currently working with two new labs to attempt to create additional
supplies, but right now, even the lab grown pink diamond has a very high
amount of rarity.
