Tickled Pink, Leibish & Co. Wins at the 2011 Argyle Pink Diamond Tender

Published on: November 15th, 2011

Leibish & Co. secured winning bids for six of fifty-five pink diamonds at Rio Tinto’s annual Argyle Pink Diamond Tender. The fancy color diamond retailer has participated in the invitation-only event for several years and also acquired six diamonds at the 2010 tender.

The Argyle mine produces over 90% of the world’s pink diamonds, which are collected, polished and graded the year before each tender. Fancy pink diamonds are exceedingly rare, as it takes one million carats of rough diamond to yield a one-carat pink to be sold at the tender.

Leibish & Co. is hosting the company’s inaugural Pink Diamond Festival in celebration of the newly acquired pinks. The company also noted one rare exception to this year’s win, an .80ct fancy red diamond, which was the only red sold at the tender.

Six Pink Diamonds Won by Leibish & Co. at the Argyle Pink Diamond Tender

6 lots won by Leibish & Co. at the Argyle Pink Diamond Tender (from left to right)

1.71 Carat, Fancy Intense Purplish Pink, Radiant

0.65 Carat, Fancy Intense Purplish Pink, Emerald

0.66 Carat, Fancy Vivid Pink, Oval

* 0.80 Carat, Fancy Red, Oval

0.36 Carat, Fancy Vivid Pink, Square Emerald

0.42 Carat, Fancy Deep Pink, Square Emerald

* The Fancy Red represents the only red diamond sold at tender.

“I have seen a number of beautiful red stones during my career. I found the color of this diamond incredibly rich and immediately saw the stone had a fantastic make. There were not many pure red stones like this sold at the Argyle tenders in the past and this was the only Red stone sold in the tender this year. To me, this stone reflected power and contained a dominating, alluring affect,” said Shmulik Polnauer, GG, Chief Buyer for Leibish & Co.