The Melbourne Museum collaborated with famed New York-based diamantaire L.J. West to present visitors with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to marvel at some of nature's rarest, most precious, and most beautiful wonders. The Pink Diamonds exhibition will include over 100 very unusual jewels discovered in Australia's Kimberley area. There are around 75 loose natural coloured diamonds in the show, as well as fifteen finished high-jewelry items set with natural coloured diamonds. The diamonds and jewels on display in this show are worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Natural coloured diamonds have always been treasured and will continue to rise in value. Natural colour diamonds are extremely valuable since the ideal alignment of circumstances inside the Earth for their formation occurs very seldom.
"Museums Victoria is delighted to present this world-first exhibition exhibiting some of the Earth's remarkable beauty," stated Museums Victoria Director & CEO Lynley Crosswell. "The show will highlight their bright colours, as well as the interesting science and exact expertise necessary to cut these precious diamonds." The exhibition's location in Australia is highly appropriate, considering Australia is one of the world's major diamond-producing countries. Australia has produced 90% of all pink diamonds discovered. Consider this: all of the Australian pink diamonds that have ever been sold can fit into two champagne glasses. Pink diamonds are among the rarest of all stones, yet the other naturally coloured diamonds in this display make pink appear numerous.
The 2.83-carat Argyle Violet diamond, one of the most stunning diamonds on Earth, is part of the outstanding collection. According to Larry West, it is "one of the rarest diamonds in the world - the Picasso of the collection." It is the first stone in history to have this colour grading, and it was placed in the Natural History Museum in Los Angeles in 2016. Violet diamonds are hundreds of times more uncommon than pink diamonds.
Larry West has been collecting Argyle Pink diamonds for over 30 years, many of which have never been seen in public. "I am overjoyed that the greatest of the collection is returning to Australia and being showcased as the largest pink diamond exhibition ever," Larry West adds. L.J. West Diamonds, Inc., formed in the late 1970s, is a three-generation natural coloured diamond dealer. Larry West has been studying and collecting unusual gems for over 30 years. His mastery of analysing rough natural coloured diamonds and bringing out their true colour potential has helped them establish themselves as one of the world's most prominent houses for some of the rarest and most important natural fancy coloured diamonds.
