It sounds like a trivial question, right? Well, the answer is no. But first of all, let me introduce you to a few celebrities and the record prices they drew at recent auctions.
CELEBRITIES:
The 24.78 ct Graff Pink diamond sold for $46 million at a Sotherby's auction in 2010. It is the most expensive gem ever sold at an auction. This diamond is a type IIa diamond (no detectable nitrogen impurity by infrared spectroscopy) graded "Fancy Intense Pink" (Sotherby's picture).
The 12.04 ct "Martian Pink" diamond sold for $17.4 million at a Christie's auction in May 2012. Another rare type IIa diamond, graded "Fancy Intense Pink" as well (Christie's picture).
The 8.20 ct "Fancy Intense Purplish-Pink diamond" sold for $2,042,500 at a Christie's auction in 2011 (Christie's picture).
Well, to be honest, the pink color in diamond is one of the least understood by scientists. I have been conducting research on the subject over the past 5 years, and my colleagues and I came to a better understanding of these diamonds. It looks like the geologic setting has a lot to do with the origin of the color. Pink diamonds don't grow up with a pink color: it is an post-growth process in a rough/turbulent Earth's mantle that diamonds can acquire a pink color.
Here is a quick summary of the research I have been conducted with my colleagues at the Smithsonian Institution and at the Naval Research Lab.
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