Kunming Diamonds brings Argyle Tender “pinks” to Australia

Hong Kong-based Kunming Diamonds will visit Perth, Sydney, the Gold Coast and Brisbane with a selection of pink diamonds from Western Australia's Argyle Mine and other natural fancy colour diamonds.

The company has established relationships with Australian jewellers, having begun visiting the country in 2013.

Harsh Maheshwari, director Kunming Diamonds, said, “We started visiting Australia more frequently over the past two years and have a great, growing network, and we’ve always had close ties to Australians who have been visiting us for so many years at major exhibitions worldwide.

“Our comprehensive stock – not only Argyle pinks but other natural colour diamonds, in all sizes – allows us to service jewellers all over Australia.”

"We’ve always had close ties to Australians who’ve been visiting us for so many years at major exhibitions worldwide"

HARSH MAHESHWARI, KUNMING DIAMONDS

While the business is now known for diamonds, Kunming originally specialised in colour gemstones, particularly rubies, emeralds and sapphires.

Kunming founder Ajay Maheshwari (Jakhotia) decided to begin stocking fancy colour diamonds after a chance visit to Mumbai in the late ’90s; by 2002, the business only traded in colour diamonds. It began stocking Argyle pinks in 2011.

The company made headlines in November last year after it won the tender for the entire Pink Everlastings Collection: 64 lots of diamonds across the pink spectrum from the Rio Tinto-owned Argyle Mine, weighing 0.14 carats or less.

The Everlastings Collection was offered for the first time alongside the traditional Argyle Tender of larger pink, red and violet diamonds.

Harsh Maheshwari said winning the Everlastings tender was “a dream come true”, particularly as the Argyle Mine is scheduled to close at the end of 2020.

“We saw a golden opportunity; [the collection] was the first of its kind, alongside the rarity and high demand for pink diamonds, and the mine closing,” he told Jeweller.

“With our fingers crossed, we placed a global bid [for every lot] and hoped to be successful with it. However, in all honesty, we weren’t expecting to be able to win the complete collection.”

While the Everlastings Collection will not be available to view on the Australian 'roadshow', Kunming will offer a selection of other Argyle pink diamonds alongside other fancy colour stones.

The Kunming Diamonds ‘roadshow’ will visit Perth from 29–31 January, Sydney from 3–6 February, and the Gold Coast and Brisbane from 7–12 February.