Rio Tinto showcased Argyle pink diamond jewellery worth over $60 million in a unique one-day exhibition at Kensington Palace on Tuesday October 9.
The ‘Out of the Vault: Pink Diamonds and Royalty’ exhibition featured 41 pieces of jewellery by 12 jewellers and designers from around the world including four from Australia – Linneys, Calleija, Glajz and Mondial Neuman.
According to Rio Tinto, the inspiration for the pink diamond jewellery exhibition came from Her Majesty the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee as The Queen had a solitaire pink diamond, gifted to her and set in the centre of a flower spray brooch created by Cartier, in the year of her coronation.
“We therefore consider it fitting in this Jubilee year, for Argyle Pink Diamonds to celebrate the special relationship that rare pink diamonds have played, and continue to play, in royal occasions,” said Argyle Pink Diamonds manager Josephine Johnson.
“Throughout history the pink diamond has always been treasured, by kings and emperors, princes and potentates, for its nobility, rarity and sheer beauty. Pink diamond production however had always been sporadic and it wasn’t until the discovery of the Argyle Diamond Mine in 1979, that there was a regular, albeit very small, supply of pink diamonds of a colour and vibrancy never seen before.”
The exhibition was an invitation-only event which attracted international buyer interest.
Linneys founder Alan Linney told News Ltd that the exhibition will go down in history for displaying “the most important pink diamond creations that ever existed with almost 20 carats of pink diamonds and each of the 178 stones certified as having Argyle provenance”.