In the early 90’s Managers at Argyle stopped selling their diamonds to De Beers.
They decided to sell their colorless diamonds and fancy-colored diamonds
themselves. They sent their brown rough to India where skilled, low-cost
workers cut it into tiny round brilliant diamonds. Many of these tiny gems were
as small as 0.01 or 0.02 carats.
The brown color of the rough was less obvious in gems of this size, and dozens
of them could be set in a single piece of jewelry. The jewelry was, at that time,
inexpensive, but hundreds of light-reflecting facets in each piece produced a
wonderful scintillation that many people enjoyed. Argyle turned a rejected
product into a new and profitable niche in the diamond jewelry market.
The brown diamonds from the Argyle mine were given interesting names.
These names were inspired by modifying hues of yellow or red that accented the
appearance of the brown diamond. “Light yellow-brown to golden-brown
stones were called “champagne diamonds”. Darker orange-brown and
reddish brown stones were called “cognac or burnt orange diamonds”.
Fresh, attractive, scintillating, and inexpensive, the Argyle diamond jewelry immediately appealed to many
customers. Brown can be beautiful and people purchased these stones because
they liked them!
Argyle Burnt Orange/Cognac Diamonds
With the Argyle Mine close to ceasing production in 2021, there is a
tremendous opportunity to acquire undervalued Brown Diamonds
especially heavily saturated Fancy Dark Orange Brown, and Fancy Deep
Brown Orange Colored Diamonds. The names given to these stones are
Burnt Orange and / or Cognac for the similarities to colors in nature.
Collectors and connoisseurs have been steadily adding these stones to their
portfolios because they are trading at a fraction of the price of other
colored diamonds and can be acquired in larger sizes. It is conceivable
that beautiful brown orange diamonds could have long term appreciation
potential even greater on a percentage basis than pink diamonds. Both
originate in the same mine and when it closes, supply will not just be
interrupted – it will be gone! For the cost, brown orange could very well become the collector’s choice!
3
Fancy Orange Brown
Fancy Brown Orange
Fancy Deep Brown Orange
Fancy Dark Orange Brown