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The Stone
1.58 billion years
1.58 billion years
in the making.
Born deep in the Kimberley, found in only one place on earth.
- 1985
- Argyle
opens - 2020
- The final
stones - 865m
- Carats lifted
in 37 years - 80%
- Of Argyle's diamonds
were chocolate - 1
- Place on
earth
I
One extraordinary place.
Every diamond we set comes from the same place: the Argyle mine, in the remote East Kimberley of Western Australia.
Argyle was remarkable from the start. Almost every diamond mine in the world works a kimberlite pipe. Argyle was lamproite, the first commercial hard rock diamond mine of its kind, and a discovery that surprised geologists everywhere.
The stones themselves date to roughly 1.58 billion years, among the oldest diamonds ever found. They were already ancient before life appeared on land.
A colour found nowhere else, from a place like nowhere else.
II
Where the colour comes from.
Yellow diamonds owe their colour to nitrogen. Blue diamonds owe theirs to boron. A chocolate diamond is pure: its colour comes from the diamond itself.
On its journey to the surface, under immense pressure, the crystal gently bent along its planes. Light passing through returns warm and glowing. The colour is a record of that long journey, written into the diamond itself.
Argyle was the world's largest producer of diamonds by volume, and around 80% of its diamonds were this warm, natural colour. Over time, jewellers came to see them for what they are: a colour all of their own.
Names like champagne and cognac capture what makes them special: a distinct colour, with its own scale and its own beauty.
Put one in the sun and it comes alive. The stone glows amber and copper, with white fire flashing from the facets. A white diamond sparkles in white light. A chocolate diamond sparkles in its own warm colour.
III
The scale.
Chocolate diamonds have their own colour scale, from C1 to C7, light champagne through to deep cognac. The number describes the depth of the colour, so you can choose the shade you love.
You will see these numbers on our pieces. A stone described as C5 to C7 runs from dark champagne into cognac. Swatches here are a guide; the stone itself is always the true colour.
There will not be any more.
3 November 2020
IV
Truly rare.
Argyle completed production on 3 November 2020, after 37 remarkable years.
Every Argyle chocolate diamond in the world today came out of the ground before that day. That is why each stone we set is so special, and why no two of our pieces are ever quite the same.
Rare by nature. Treasured for a lifetime.
V
The land and its people.
The Argyle mine lies on the traditional country of the Miriwoong and Gija peoples of the East Kimberley.
From 2005 the mine operated under the Argyle Participation Agreement, made with the Traditional Owner groups, with benefits managed through the Gelganyem Trust.
We acknowledge the Miriwoong and Gija peoples as the Traditional Owners of the land these stones come from, and pay our respects to their Elders past and present.