World's Most Exquisite Gems Exclusive to Melbourne Museum
Argyle Violet
PRESS RELEASE
WORLD’S MOST EXQUISITE GEMS EXCLUSIVE TO
MELBOURNE MUSEUM
PINK DIAMONDS 5 Nov 2022- 29 January 2023
The largest collection of Australian pink diamonds to be shown in the world will transform the Dynamic Earth gallery at Melbourne Museum into a shimmering wonderland from 5 November.
Museums Victoria is partnering with New York based LJ West Diamonds, one of the largest collectors of natural colour diamonds in the world, to provide an exclusive opportunity for Australians and international visitors to marvel at pink diamonds.
The Pink Diamonds exhibition will showcase more than 100 truly unique gemstones found in the Australian Kimberley region. Naturally coloured diamonds have long been valued for their uniqueness; coveted by many but owned by few. The physical conditions needed to create them occur very rarely, making them extraordinarily precious and exceedingly valuable. In the world of luxury products, natural colour diamonds are likened to works of art, hidden treasures and rare books.
“Museums Victoria is pleased to present this world-first display of some of the earth’s extraordinary beauties,” Museums Victoria Director & CEO Lynley Crosswell said. “The exhibition will bring to light their dazzling hues, the fascinating science and the precise skill required to cut these exquisite gemstones”.
For the first time, a collection of some of the world’s most exquisite Australian pink diamonds – which make up 90% of all pink diamonds in the global market – will be on public display, including the 2.83 carat Argyle Violet, one of the most spectacular gems on Earth. It is ‘one of the rarest jewels in the world – the Picasso of the collection’, said Larry West. Placed in the Natural History Museum in Los Angeles in 2016, it is the only stone in history to carry this colour grading which is produced by the presence of hydrogen. The violet diamond is hundreds of times rarer than a pink diamond.
Larry West has been building his collection of Argyle Pink diamonds for over 30 years, many of which have never been on public display. “I am thrilled for the best of the collection to be back in Australia and presented as the largest pink diamond exhibition ever” says Larry West
“Our planet created these flawless diamonds over 1.6 billion years ago,” said Museums Victoria Research Institute’s Head of Sciences Dermot Henry.
“Finding a pink diamond is like retrieving the ‘needle from the haystack’; only one carat in every million will display this intense pink colour. They remind us how truly wonderful nature is.”
Larry West says: “My attraction to natural colour diamonds is much like my attraction to life – every day is unique. Every colour diamond that I’ve ever seen or owned has had its own unique characteristics, its own flaws, and its own beauty.”
This once in a lifetime opportunity will allow audiences to discover what gives pink diamonds their distinctive colour, and the art behind cutting, polishing and setting diamonds as jewellery.
Pink Diamonds is showing at Melbourne Museum 5 Nov 2022 - 29 January 2023 and is free with Museum entry. Book tickets here.
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Pink Diamond facts:
All the Australian pink diamonds that have ever been sold can fit into two champagne flutes
Of every 1 million carats mined, 1 carat is a tender stone
Diamonds were formed 1.6 billion years ago
It can take up to a year to cut a perfect pink diamond.
Spokespeople available for interview
Museums Victoria Director & CEO Lynley Crosswell
Museums Victoria Research Institute Head of Sciences, Dermot Henry
Museums Victoria acknowledges the Miriuwung, Gidja, Malgnin and Wularr people, the traditional custodians of Wilinggin, and pays respects to their Ancestors, and to elders past and present.
DOWNLOAD MEDIA KIT HERE
For media enquiries, please contact:
Annika Priest, Senior Publicist, Museums Victoria Email: apriest@museum.vic.gov.au
Mobile: +61 413 058 509
Gino Di Geso – Director of Marketing and Client Relations Email: gino@ljwestdiamonds.com
Mobiler: 1-646-464-4368
About L.J. West Diamonds –
L.J. West Diamonds, Inc. is a three-generation natural color diamond wholesaler based in New York, the company was founded in the late 1970s by Lawrence J. West. Today L.J. West Diamonds has established itself as one of the world's prominent houses for some of the rarest and most important exotic natural fancy colour diamonds to have ever been unearthed. This collection includes a vast color spectrum of incredibly rare pink, blue, yellow, green, orange, and red diamonds.
For over 30 years, Larry West has been studying and collecting some of the rarest natural color diamonds. His expertise in analyzing a natural color diamond to bring out its true color potential is a masterful skill.
L.J. West Diamonds, Inc. is one of the earliest authorized partners of Argyle Pink Diamonds, dating back to the late 1980s as Larry West began to build his collection of argyle pink diamonds and exhibit them at trade shows around the world. Today L.J. West Diamonds has one of the largest collections of Argyle pink diamonds in the world and the largest collection in the USA and is one of the leading experts in value and rare Argyle pink diamonds having owned some of the most recognizable diamonds to have been part of the mines annual Argyle tender.