As the hardest mineral this planet has to offer, as well one of the most visually stunning, it’s no surprise that diamond typically carries a scarier price tag than other gemstones, much to the detriment of many a love-struck proposer’s bank account.
But within the diamond family, it’s not just quality that will see you paying a premium, but perhaps the color as well!
There are a number of different color diamonds lurking in the dirt waiting to be discovered, twelve to be precise: white (the classic), black, yellow, gray, violet, purple, brown, pink, blue, green, orange, and, the rarest of all – drum roll, please! – red!
As I’m sure you’re aware, scarcity and value are negatively correlated — As resources run low, value skyrockets, placing the fabled red diamond on the gemstone throne as the most expensive rock (per carat) you can buy.
Not Just Rare — Special
Red diamonds aren’t just rare; on an atomic level, they are different. To explain what’s really going on here, we first have to explore why it is that diamonds can be different colors.
Why Do Diamonds Come In Different Colors?
If a diamond were to form over millions of years, completely isolated from other rock formations, it would be composed purely of carbon and would be crystal clear, but here’s the thing… there are almost always going to be some other elements around.
They don’t keep to themselves either! These mischievous elements get involved with the diamond formation process, working their way into the carbon and finding rest within the final product as impurities.
It’s these little elemental invaders that determine the color of the diamond. Boron, for example, will give a diamond a bluish hue, while sulfur will turn a diamond green. This is the way it works for all diamond colors bar two… the pink and the red.
It’s not actually any form of impurities that give a diamond a pink or red hue. In fact, much like their colorless counterparts, these diamonds don’t have any impurities at all; they’re composed of pure carbon! So what then gives them their remarkable color?
The Magic Of Pink & Red Diamonds
The closest to an answer scientists and mineralogists can come up with is that this vibrant color profile has something to do with a mutation in the atomic structure of these magnificent stones that leads to a distortion in the crystal lattice, but this wouldn’t happen for no reason.
It’s thought that such a mutation could only be possible in very specific conditions — we’re talking unimaginably intense heat and insane pressure from literally every single direction, which is a rare event known as non-isotropic stress.
This all happens after the initial formation of the diamond, the result being that many of the carbon atoms are displaced, which alters the relationship between the stone and light.
Therefore, when we see them, rather than colorlessness, we see pink, or in incredibly rare instances, vibrant red.
How Rare Are Red Diamonds?
Red diamonds are so rare, they’re basically non-existent, and to those with normal-sized bank accounts, they might as well be. To put it into perspective, consider this.
The Argyle mine in remote Western Australia in which most pink and red diamonds were found, produced only one carat of high-quality pink or red diamond for every million carats processed.
Now, considering that the Argyle mine – the producer of 90% of the world’s red diamond supply – is now closed, these stones are something of a unicorn, and consequently, their value is only going to go up as time goes on.
How Are Red Diamonds Graded?
The quality of red diamonds is assessed in much the same way other diamonds are, the 4 Cs: clarity, cut, carat, and of course, color, but the color itself is graded differently to other diamonds. Well… it’s not really graded at all.
The color of other diamonds will be measured against a scale spanning Fancy Faint to Fancy Vivid, but seeing as red is just a super-saturated version of pink, a red diamond is vivid by definition.
That said, there may be tinges of other colors that bring down the overall value of the piece. Purple is the least damaging to value, while brown or orange notes can reduce the market price of a red diamond significantly.
How Much Do Red Diamonds Cost?
Do you really want to know? Okay, I’ll tell you, but brace yourself, these diamonds may be pretty, but their price tags ain’t! For less than 1 carat, you can expect to pay over half a million dollars.
For one nearing the 1-carat threshold, we’re talking $1.5 million, and the largest red diamond ever sold (5.11 carats) went for the modest sum of $8 million ($1.6 million per carat).
So yeah… you may have to smash your piggy bank if you want to pick one of these resplendent stones up for yourself.
Is That $8 Million Red Diamond The Most Expensive Diamond Ever Sold?
This is going to blow your mind… no, the red diamond that cost a cool 8 mill isn’t even close to being the most expensive ever sold.
Composed of 59.60 flawless carats, The Pink Star Diamond is the most expensive diamond ever sold, bringing in a total of $71.2 million dollars.
Final Thoughts
There you have it — The most expensive color diamond is red, followed closely by pink, followed not so closely by blue, and then, by a great distance, the rest of the diamond rainbow.