The Pink Panther is a fictional diamond with a distinctive flaw which resembles a leaping panther. The diamond was a major plot device in a series of films which are collectively known as the Pink Panther movies. In addition, the Pink Panther is an animated character who appeared in the title sequences for these films and eventually appeared in his own cartoon series.
Pink diamonds
The Argyle diamond mine is located in North of Western Australia. It produces over 90 percent of the world's pink diamonds; 0.1% of diamonds in the mine are classified as pink. The pink diamond comes in shades ranging from a pastel rose, such as the Pink Orchid, to intense purple-reds such as the Moussaieff Red Diamond. The price is determined by the intensity of the color. Pink diamonds have sold for up to $1,000,000 a carat. Unlike the Type I diamonds, which derive their color from impurities, pink diamonds are Type II and get their color from a process known as plastic deformation.
Type II diamonds have almost no nitrogen impurities in them. Their coloration is due to structural anomalies caused by Plastic Deformation during crystal growth. The intense pressure changes the lattice structure of diamonds and leads to the formation of pink, red, and brown diamonds. Only one of the 66 largest diamonds in the world is pink. When Ben Affleck gave Jennifer Lopez a pink diamond solitaire engagement ring, traffic to Web sites that sold pink diamonds increased by around 300 to 400 percent.
Probably the most famous pink diamond in the world was the fictitious Pink Panther diamond, made famous by the 1963 film The Pink Panther, starring Peter Sellers as Inspector Clouseau, who's hot on the trail of a jewel thief known as The Phantom.
The Darya-ye Noor diamond is believed to be the largest pink diamond in the world. The stone is estimated to weigh 175 and 195 carats and is a light pink color. Its exact weight is unknown because it has been mounted in its brooch setting for over 130 years. The stone is part of the Iranian Crown Jewels and is displayed at the Central Bank of Iran in Tehran.
The Pink Star (formerly known as the Steinmetz Pink Diamond) is classified as a vivid pink and weighs 59.60 carats. It was discovered in Africa and is the largest Fancy Vivid Pink diamond in the world. This diamond was first shown in 2003 in Monaco. Eight jewelers took 20 months to create this internally flawless diamond, making over 50 models before cutting the real diamond.
The Graff Pink is a 24.78-carat (4.96 g) Fancy Intense Pink diamond--and the most expensive jewel ever sold at auction--previously owned by Harry Winston and an unnamed private collector and bought by Laurence Graff (November 2010).
With new techniques in creating laboratory diamonds, it is increasingly likely that pink diamonds will become available to the public at an affordable price.