The narrative of pink diamonds begins in the early 17th century, with their initial discovery in India's Kollur mine, nestled within the historic Golconda kingdom. It was the French merchant Jean-Baptiste Tavernier who first documented these extraordinary gems. In 1642, Tavernier recounted encountering "The Grand Table," a colossal pink rough diamond exceeding 200 carats, presented to him by the Moghuls. This remarkable stone, valued at 600,000 rupees at the time, remains the largest pink diamond ever recorded, marking the genesis of their storied history.

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Since these initial findings, pink diamonds have been unearthed across various global locales, including Brazil, South Africa, Tanzania, Canada, Australia, and Russia. Today, a substantial majority—approximately 80%—of the world's pink diamonds originate from the Argyle mine in Kimberley, Western Australia. Despite the mine's annual output of 20 million carats, pink diamonds constitute a mere 0.1% of this total, underscoring their profound rarity. A 2018 study by the GIA revealed that 83% of pink diamonds graded between 2008 and 2016 weighed less than one carat, further emphasizing their exceptional scarcity.

Unlike their white counterparts, pink diamonds derive their distinctive coloration not from trace elements but from a unique structural anomaly. While elements like nitrogen create yellow hues and boron yields blue, pink diamonds exhibit no such chemical impurities. Instead, their captivating color is attributed to a distortion within the crystal lattice, a result of immense heat and pressure during their formation deep within the Earth. This geological stress displaces carbon atoms, altering the way light interacts with the stone and manifesting as the coveted pink spectrum.

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The Gemological Institute of America (GIA) grades pink diamonds based on color intensity, ranging from Faint to Fancy Vivid. The "Fancy Vivid" designation represents the pinnacle of saturation and is the most sought-after. A 2022 GIA study highlighted this exclusivity, finding that only 2% of pink Type IIa diamonds achieved the Fancy Vivid Pink classification. Illustrating this rarity, The Desert Rose Diamond, a 31.68-carat Fancy Vivid Orangy Pink pear-shaped stone, was a centerpiece at Sotheby's "Beyond the World’s Rarest Diamonds" exhibition.

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Throughout history, several pink diamonds have achieved legendary status, commanding extraordinary prices at auction. The CTF Pink Star, a 59.60-carat oval mixed-cut Fancy Vivid Pink, Internally Flawless diamond, holds the record, selling for 553 million HKD at Sotheby's Hong Kong in 2017. Mined by De Beers in 1999, its meticulous two-year cutting process by Diacore transformed a 132.5-carat rough into this unparalleled gem. The Williamson Pink Star, an 11.15-carat cushion-shaped Fancy Vivid Pink diamond, achieved 453 million HKD in 2022. Discovered in Tanzania in 1947, this Internally Flawless Type IIa diamond was famously gifted to Queen Elizabeth II. Other notable sales include the Graff Pink Diamond (23.88 carats, Fancy Vivid Pink, 45.44 million CHF in 2010), The Eternal Pink (10.57 carats, Fancy Vivid Purplish-Pink, 34.8 million USD in 2023), and the Spirit of the Rose (14.83 carats, Fancy Vivid Purple-Pink, 24.4 million CHF in 2020), each a testament to the enduring allure and investment potential of these exceptional stones.