Cryptocurrency for Diamonds in $20m Auction

Auction includes a collection of diamonds consigned by the former Chief Diamond Polisher at the Argyle diamond mine

It seems the bitcoin frenzy has spread to the diamond industry.

An Australian technology start-up, Yourdiamonds.com, has announced that it will accept bitcoin at its second auction/tender of fancy pink diamonds originating from the recently closed Argyle diamond mine.

Sotheby’s announced last week that it would accept bids in Ether (ETH) in the wake of receiving cryptocurrency for payment of US$10.3million for the sale of a 100-carat diamond.

Christie’s recently sold non fungible tokens (NFT) for funky new digital art for staggering prices shocking the art establishment.

Yourdiamonds.comtm (YD) is the brainchild of Tim Goodman, former Executive Chairman of Sotheby’s Australia. The YD Non-Exec Chairman, Jim Fernandez, is the former Senior Vice President of Tiffany & Co in New York.

YD sold a 2.00 carat fancy pink diamond for A$2.2 million in its first public tender in July, a new world auction record.

“Following the extraordinary results at our first tender we have gathered the largest collection of Australian pink diamonds ever to appear on the secondary market,” Tim Goodman said in Sydney.

“We were approached by a potential buyer asking if we would take bitcoin. This was a mystery to us until we found another Aussie start up, https://ausmerchant.io/  “

Yourdiamonds.comTM has engaged https://ausmerchant.io/ to enable receipt of bitcoin at the tender with the ability to immediately convert coin to cash. “It’s just like our traditional merchant facility. It is surprisingly simple,” Goodman added.

“The backend office accounting system Aus Merchant provides to YourDiamonds enables concise accounting of all transactions to reconcile with an Australian cost basis.”

Ending on 06 December, the YD auction/tender is open to both the public and the diamond trade. It consists of 53 pink, blue and red diamonds consigned for sale by fifteen private sellers including self-managed super funds, estates, collectors and investors. Every lot carries a pre-tender estimate and is available for public viewing at a travelling roadshow in Australian capital cities.

Some of the star lots have been consigned by seventy two year old David Burger who was the Chief Diamond Polisher at the Argyle diamond mine for 30 years before his retirement in 2015. Mr Burger acquired the stones from a Perth jeweller in the late 1980s and recut them soon after.

The 1.14 carat fancy deep pink coloured diamond to be auctioned next month with a pre-sale estimate of A$500,000 – 700,000
This almost red diamond belongs to the former Chief Diamond Polisher at the Argyle diamond mine, now closed. It is expected to fetch A$400,000 – 600,000 at the auction
A collection of matching pairs of rare round cut pink diamonds expected to fetch as little as A$10,000
David Burger, former Chief Diamond Polisher at the Argyle diamond mine (1987 – 2015)
All bids must be in by 06 December when the tender closes.

FOR MORE PRESS INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT

Julian Roup / +44 (0) 7970 563958 / info@bendigopr.co.uk

Tim Goodman / +61 48 1780 302 / tim.goodman@yourdiamonds.com

Joshua Burke – Director of Sales / +61 425 270 313 / Josh@ausmerchant.io

To arrange Interviews with David Burger please contact Tim Goodman above.


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This $3.2 million diamond is having ‘surgery’ to be more pink – if it survives, it could double in value

By Erica Wrightn + Ray Parisi

I’d never heard of a diamond going into “surgery”, so when I was invited to watch a massive 5-carat pink diamond worth $3.2 million go under the knife (aka, diamond cutting wheel), I was more than a little curious.

“One wrong move and the stone could just shatter, then millions of dollars right down the drain”, Scott West tells me as he looks at a bright pink diamond in the palm of his hand.

The thought of shattering such a perfect gem makes me cringe, but Scott West knows what he’s doing. He and his dad, Larry West, are the father-son duo who run L.J. West Diamonds, a wholesale diamond house in New York City that’s been around for 41 years. The Wests are known as ‘diamantaires’ in the industry, experts whose primary business is sourcing and cutting rare colored diamonds.

Crypto rocks: Sotheby’s sells first world-class 100-carat diamond to crypto-buyer

By Sotheby’s

THE HIGHEST PRICE ACHIEVED FOR ANY JEWELLERY OR GEMSTONE PURCHASED WITH CRYPTOCURRENCY

Another milestone in the adoption of cryptocurrencies is reached Landmark sale at Sothebyu2019s Hong Kong sees FIRST WORLD-CLASS 100-CARAT DIAMOND SELL TO CRYPTO-BUYER. An anonymous buyer purchases exceptional 101.38-carat Pear-Shaped D Colour Flawless Diamond for HK$95.1m / US$12.3m

Don’t we owe it to Millennials and Generation Z to tell them the truth about natural diamonds?

By Richard Chetwode

15 years ago, civil rights activist Dr. Benjamin Chavis, one of the co-founders of the non-for-profit organisation Diamonds Do Good, met with Nelson Mandela, and the great man personally asked the good doctor to help u201cto raise more awareness about the benefits to Africa that are derived from the good that diamonds do.u201d.

Funded by the natural diamond industry, Diamonds Do Good recently gave donations to the Flaviana Matata Foundation in Tanzania (set up by supermodel Flavia Matata to support education and empowerment for girls) as well as to Sentebale (set up Prince Harry to supports the wellbeing and mental health of young people afflicted with HIV in Lesotho and Botswana). It plays to a lot of the many good news stories about natural diamonds and for an industry that produces the ultimate luxury, it makes sense that Social Purpose and Sustainability are so often central to what they do.

So why arenu2019t consumers hearing more about good news stories like Diamonds Do Good? To some extent, itu2019s the fault of our industry, which remains fixated with the 4 u201cCu2019s of Carat weight, Cut, Colour and Clarity, and has been slow to grasp the need to talk to todayu2019s new consumers about the fifth u201cCu201d; Community. The good news is that there are some great stories to tell, because natural diamonds make a huge financial, environmental, and social contribution to almost all the countries in which they are found. But maybe these good news stories are being undercut by another, very worrying narrative. A narrative which is being peddled by a handful of lab-grown companies predominantly (but not exclusively) in the US, who publish inaccurate information, and/or through innuendo and misrepresentation denigrate the natural diamond story, tarring the whole industry with the same brush; (please see the second half of this article under the heading; u201cA lie will fly twice around the whole world while the truth is still getting its boots onu201d for examples).

Banking on diamonds

By Avi Krawitz

Having improved its creditworthiness before and during the pandemic, the industry is learning to rely less on its lenders.

In both financial and diamond industry terms, 2017 seems like an eternity ago. Bankers at the Dubai Diamond Conference in October of that year gave a stark warning to the diamond sector: The trade is over-financed, insufficiently transparent, not profitable enough, and altogether too risky. This was their unanimous observation, to the discomfort of the audience.

With bank credit amounting to an estimated $13 billion at the time, lenders claimed the industry could function sufficiently on just $8 billion. Bankers were already reducing their exposure to the tradeu2019s risks, and many had closed their diamond units altogether.

Today, bank credit has reached that $8 billion level, according to estimates from Bain & Company (see graph). Meanwhile, the diamond industry appears to have enhanced its stature among lenders. In an unexpected twist, the midstream radically improved its liquidity position during the challenging pandemic period.

u201cWeu2019re seeing that our clients had much better profitability in 2020 than 2019,u201d reports Davy Blommaert, head of diamond lending at the Dubai-based National Bank of Fujairah (NBF). Because supply was limited, he explains, diamond value went up during the pandemic, whereas 2019 was a tough year that saw an excess of polished on the market.

Final Argyle Pink Tender Sees Record Result

By Leah Meirovich

RAPAPORT… Rio Tinto achieved record-breaking figures at its 2021 Argyle Pink Diamonds Tender, with prices strong amid dwindling supply from the mine.

The Australian miner offered 70 rare pink and red diamonds at the last-ever edition of the tender, which follows Argyleu2019s closure in November 2020. The u201chistoricalu201d collection, called The Journey Beyond, comprised the final diamonds mined during the Western Australian depositu2019s last year of operation, Rio Tinto said Thursday.

u201cThe 2021 Argyle Pink Diamonds Tender delivered a record-breaking price performance across individual diamonds and for the overall collection,u201d the company noted. u201cThe diamonds were fiercely contested around the world in a series of virtual and face-to-face viewings.u201d

A total of 19 bidders from nine countries successfully acquired lots, with prices maintaining their upward trajectory, Rio Tinto explained. Australian jeweler Calleija bought several stones, including the Argyle Eclipse, a radiant-shaped, 3.47-carat, fancy-intense-pink diamond, and the Argyle Bohu00e8me, a radiant-shaped, 1.01-carat, fancy-red diamond.

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Do you own a diamond? Why are they so rare and sought after?nnPhilip Clark spoke to Garry Holloway, geologist, owner of two jewellery stores in Melbourne and a diamond educator who is writing a book on diamonds.nnMr Holloway told you everything you need to know about the precious stone.

Pre-owned Argyle pink diamonds hit market in unique public tender

By Stephanie Sinclair – The Kimberley Echo

The Argyle diamond mine may have closed, but a new market for its rare East Kimberley gems has opened with the first public tender of Argyle pink diamonds this week.

Over the next week, members of the public have the chance to get their hands on 36 previously owned Argyle pinks from across Australia as part of diamond technology start-up yourdiamonds.comu2019s first secondary market diamond sale.

The collection of pre-owned stones is estimated to fetch a combined value of up to $18m, with the highest value diamond u2014 a two carat round brilliant cut stone u2014 tipped to sell for up to $2.5m.

Pink diamond collection set to fetch millions with rush to invest following Argyle mine closure

By Courtney Fowler

A private collection of rare Australian pink diamonds is expected to fetch up to $18 million when it goes up for sale next week.

Only months after the closure of the Argyle diamond mine in the East Kimberley, an Australian online start-up is offering the first known public tender of the iconic pink gems which closes July 1.

The collection of 33 pre-owned stones includes a two-carat vivid pink, which alone is estimated to be worth up to $2.5 million.

From birth to timeless legacy: The complete story of Argyle pink diamonds

By Arabella Roden

As the era of the Argyle Mine draws to a close, ARABELLA RODEN explores the compelling history and enduring legacy of the worldu2019s premier source of pink diamonds.

The colour pink is associated with many things u2013 beauty, love, and femininity, to name a few. And so too are pink diamonds, which in addition to their captivating colour, are also some of the rarest treasures on Earth.

There is no way to discuss the pink diamond category without the Argyle Mine. Discovered in 1979 and operational since the mid-1980s, the Rio Tinto owned-and-operated site u2013 located 550km southwest of Darwin, in the remote Kimberley region of Western Australia u2013 produced 90 to 95 per cent of the worldu2019s pink and red diamonds before its closure in November 2020.