“Pinks come in what I call a whole variety of different flavours,” said Jordan Fine of JFINE who is also president of the Natural Color Diamond Association. “It’s important to pick a colour that inspires and motivates you. Don’t just look at one stone. Look at what flavour speaks to you.”

When it comes to budget, the decision is often between depth of colour and size, he said. “Do you want a larger stone with less colour or a smaller stone with more colour?”

As well as the strength of the colour, other aspects such as hue, intensity and brightness all play a part in determining value, he added.

Provenance is also important, with a clear chain of custody commanding a premium, especially given concerns about the so-called “blood” diamond trade, whereby their sale is used to fund civil war and also human rights abuses in countries such as Angola and the Central African Republic. If in doubt about where a stone has been sourced, ask the seller for a human rights due diligence report.

With Argyle Pink diamonds, “we track all the way from the mine through to the end,” said Johnson. “The rough comes to us, we polish it in-house and laser-inscribe it on the girdle with a unique identification number which you need a loupe to see.” The mine issues a certificate for each diamond so that buyers can always check that a stone matches the description in the document, she added.

What it’s worth

At JFINE in New York, you can pick up a 0.03 carat Argyle pink diamond ringed with white diamonds on a snowflake necklace for $3,000, or shell out more than $2m for the ultimate vivid pink diamond.

The nature of how pink diamonds are mined means that large carat stones are the rarest of the rare and are beginning to fetch the same stratospheric prices as fine art masterpieces.