Argyle diamonds.

To tell of the beauty of the stunning argyle diamonds, you must tell a little of the region, a little about what makes a diamond sparkle and a little of the story of the land. Then, you might understand the magic of the essence of an Argyle diamond.

The Argyle diamond mine is situated in the East Kimberley region of Western Australia. On the far north west coast of Australia. It is a ruggedly beautiful part of Australia, with vast distances and vivid landscapes that have this amazing mine nuzzled in its landscape.

The essence of this rugged and wild outback landscape is encaptulated in these beautiful, colourful and distinctive diamonds.

Argyle diamonds are Australian. They are the gemstone of this powerful land, with beauty, color and are distinctly Kimberley.

The champagne diamonds of the region are especially prized. The quality is par none. Recognized as uniquely divine expressions of this aspect of the Australian land. With pinks that may be worn as a glimpse of the North West Dusk, with an array of tones that reflect the beauty of this land in a dimension that could not be otherwise expressed with such an essence to last more than a lifetime.

You cannot have the Kimberley landscape without the sky. In 2009, Argyle diamond mine announced a range of rare blue diamonds.

The rarity of the tender quality Pink diamond that is produced from the Argyle diamond mine is explained by the amount of diamonds that have gone to the special international tender auctions. There have been approximately 750 pink diamonds with a total of 600 carats.

Argyle diamonds explains that for every 10,000 clear diamonds, there is one pink diamond. This may explain the relative scarity of these beautifully coloured stones. Argyle diamond mines produces over 90% of the worlds pink diamonds and their tendered pink diamonds, showcased globally are

Carat, Clarity, Colour and Cut.

The quality of a diamond is measured by the 4 c's.

• The carat is the weight, with one carat being equal to .02 grams. Smaller diamonds may be measured by points. One point is equal to 100th of a carat.
  
• The clarity being the clearness of the diamond. A Flawless diamond is said to be the highest quality diamond and has the least internal or external inclusions or flaws.
  
• The colour of a diamond is graded in an A to Z style. With an exceptional white diamond being graded a D and those of a lesser quality being graded according to the tint. Specially coloured diamonds or fancy diamonds, are graded seperately, with the depth of colour being the measure used. Champagne diamonds for example have a grading between C1 and C7.
  
• The cut is not the shape, but the "symmetry, proportion and polish of a diamond." There are different measures of the cut quality, with the AGA measure being relatively universal. You may also be able to tell the age or time frame of a diamond by the cut, with different cuts developed according to era, style and technology.
  

Note the 4 C's here. A classically round cut diamond, is made up of the table, the crown, the girdle and the pavillion. It is the quality of the cut that determines the symmetry and the polish of the diamond facets and this is measured by the reflective index (RI) which is said to tell the diamonds brilliance and the diamonds ability to split white light into its spectoral colours is what is described as the diamonds fire.

The Argyle Pink Diamonds colour is measured by a scale ranging from 1 to 8 for its intensity and then, according to Kimberley diamonds, it is then "given an additional grade according to each individual diamond hue."

Champagne diamonds range in colour from light hues to rich and deeply coloured cognacs.

The colour palette is described by gemologists as being made up of the hue, tone and saturation of color. The colour scale of C1 to C7, for Champagne diamonds produced by the Argyle diamond mine, grades these amazing stones through the (C1) light, medium, dark and cognac (C7).

There are some stunning examples of champagne diamonds displayed in The Champagne Diamond blog. Where appearing on the catwalk along with Prada and Valantino at this years New York fashion week, these diamonds are described as the haute couture of the natural colored diamonds.

Champagne diamonds range in colour from light hues to rich and deeply coloured cognacs.

The colour palette is described by gemologists as being made up of the hue, tone and saturation of color. The colour scale of C1 to C7, for Champagne diamonds produced by the Argyle diamond mine, grades these amazing stones through the (C1) light, medium, dark and cognac (C7).

There are some stunning examples of champagne diamonds displayed in The Champagne Diamond blog. Where appearing on the catwalk along with Prada and Valantino at this years New York fashion week, these diamonds are described as the haute couture of the natural colored diamonds.

An amazing blue diamond has been found to exist in the East Kimberley mine. The Once in a Blue Moon Collection, showcased in 2009, is described by Argyle diamonds as “ this first ever collection comprised a range of precious blue and violet diamonds." Sourced from several years and tendered production,16 lots weighing in total 287 carats" were introduced.

Back before white Australia began, the tribal nations of the region lived their dreaming.

The Gidja and Mirriuwong speaking people and neighbouring language groups have a dreamtime story as to how the Argyle diamonds became coloured. " The Aboriginal people believe that the
Argyle mine was created when three women were trying to trap a barramundi fish,
however the barramundi was too clever and jumped through the net and landed at the
site where the mine was established. It’s believed that the colours of the diamonds
come from different parts of the barramundi as the fish wiggled through the net, with
the pink diamonds coming from the heart of the barramundi."(argyle diamonds press release, 6 June '08.)

There is said to be a 5th C. That is the Certificate. Having a diamond certificate that verifies its quality is said to be the 5th C!

• Argyle diamond mine apparently has only 10 years left of production. So these gems are of great value.
  

Diamond and Argyle photo gallery photographs under copyright and used with permission of Argyle Diamond Mines.

Attribution for Boab trees on the Kimberley by Zest. Flickr creative commons.

Attribution for Cathedral Gorge by David Busch, Bungle Bungles. Kimberley region WA. Aust.

Attribution for Kimberley aerial by David Busch. ( Both sourced - Flickr Creative Commons).

Attribution for North West Aerial by Harclade. Flickr creative commons.

Thankyou to all.

Copyright 2010 jmkwriting.

Thankyou.

Copyright jmkwriting 2010.