The first time I came across the mention of a pink diamond was in a novel. The diamond was set into a post-baby-engagement ring given by a soccer star to his girl friend/baby mama. The pink diamond symbolised rarity, beauty and poignancy of love in the story. While I forgot the title of the novel (I read it 10-12 years ago), the idea of pink diamonds have remained a clear memory.
What is a pink diamond? How is it formed?
A pink diamond, is a diamond that exhibits a pink or pinkish colour. It is a member of the family of coloured diamonds known as “fancy colour diamonds.” The colour is the primary characteristic that sets them apart from the colourless (white) diamonds. GIA’s research article by Russell Shore states that “the colour of 99.5% of pink diamonds comes from distortion in their crystal structure, and not from trace elements.” A miniscule percentage of natural pink diamonds have a nitrogen-vacancy center (a missing carbon atom adjacent to a nitrogen atom within the lattice). Though such stones although called Golconda pinks, they have no connection to India or to the Golconda mines.
Did you know
An ancient cache of pink diamonds have been discovered at Argyle in Australia according to this CNN report. The research team found that the Argyle deposits were 1.3 billion years old, when the supercontinent Nuna broke into fragments. Pink diamonds exhibit fractures or cleavages as well as mineral inclusions like other diamonds. Notable pinks include the Pink Star, the Darya-I-Noor, and the Noor-ul-Ain, the last two belonging to the Iranian crown jewels.
Pink is not a single colour and as you can see from the GIA chart. It includes red, salmon, and purples as well. Much like other coloured diamonds, pink diamonds can also be man made. Laboratory-grown pink diamonds get their colour through exposure to radiation.
Pink Diamonds in Trend
According to WGSN, a premier forecast agency, Pink diamonds are in trend for SS24. Here is a snippet of their report
Inspiration – Chopard’s Rose of Caroline, displayed during Paris Couture Fashion week.
Surface and materials: no longer limited to icy transparency, colour-infused pink diamonds update jewellery and watch assortments and reflect the growing trend for pink stones. One was recently sold by Christie’s $126000
Use – responsibly sourced natural diamonds or lab-grown variations. Play with rhinestones and crystals in pink for costume jewellery
Pink diamond Jewellery ideas
The best way to wear such a rare stone is to show it off in the simplest of settings. Prong or claw settings work best. Alternatively, you can combine it with other gemstones such as colourless diamonds, white sapphires, yellow sapphires, dark blue sapphires and greens such as emeralds or tsavorites.
Choose the metal depending on the hue of the stone and your skin tone. If you prefer the whole piece to be “pinkier” choose rose gold, otherwise choose silver tone – platinum or Rhodium plated gold if you are looking for a cheaper option. When using rhinestones, a cold sterling silver setting or the cheaper Pewter would work best. I would only use yellow gold, if using reddish, peachish, or orangish diamonds.
You can also try Morganite as an alternative for a diamond. It is a pink Beryl and was quite the trend in 2015.
If you are interested in knowing about different gemstones in colour do check out my new round-up post.
I hope you find it interesting
Cheers
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