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Hidden DepthsAs a career gemologist Anna Cisecki
has held some of the most impressive
precious stones ever to be dug out of the
earth. Now as the head of brokerage firm
Australian Diamond Portfolio (ADP) she’s
teaching others to recognise their true
value, as Tracey Porter discovers.

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In many ways he was the ideal first client.
When he knocked on the door of Sydney diamond
sourcing agency ADP he was a partner in a
successful Melbourne-based legal practice whose
money was largely tied up in property and shares.
But he’d decided to diversify by dabbling in a bit
of gold. Being an attorney, he was wise to the
volatility in the markets and was looking for a
low-maintenance but stable asset where he could
park his money and watch his investment grow.
Seeking initially just to test the waters, he brought
with him a $200,000 investment budget, sharing his
plans to eventually build to a $2 million portfolio.
Based out of Sydney, the ADP team set to work
and soon after managed to source him a lustrous
purplish pink cushion cut diamond for which he
paid the not-insignificant sum of $195,000.
Just two years later his little investment has
appreciated by 45 percent and he has again called
on ADP to procure for him the second addition to
his sparkling portfolio – this time a deep violet blue
coloured diamond, valued at around $1 million.
But it’s not by chance that investors seeking
to put their money into something tangible are
looking at precious gems.
According to the Fancy Colour Research
Foundation (FCRF), from 2006 to 2014, fancy
coloured diamonds – or in layman’s terms pink,
yellow, and blue diamonds - experienced an
average total appreciation of 154 percent.
While the Diamond Prices Index confirms
colourless, white diamond increased by 62
percent during the same period.
ADP executive director Anna Cisecki says changes
in the world economy are helping to fuel demand
for investment diamonds by Asian investors while
the supply squeeze is further driving price growth,
particularly in the area of fancy coloured diamonds.
While the majority of ADP clients are Australian-
based, she says the company has a growing
number of clients from China, Hong Kong and
the Middle East. Most have personal and/or
professional ties to Australia and are seeking to
move a portion of their wealth to this country and
make investments. All high net worth individuals,
their professions range from top-end medical and
legal to furniture retailers and aviation.
“Australia has an ideal political and economic
environment for safe storage of physical assets:
we have a stable political climate, minimal
national debt, and we’re one of the last few
remaining nations with a AAA credit rating.
“With regulations around foreign property
investment becoming more stringent in Australia,
overseas investors are now more than ever
seeking alternative opportunities here.”
All of which is good news for Cisecki – who
gained her certification from the Canadian
Institute of Gemmology but later held
management roles in the only accredited
diamond-grading lab in the country, the Diamond

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Certification Laboratory of Australia (DCLA) -
and her boutique team of specialised diamond
investment advisors.
Having launched in 2013, ADP runs its Australian
operations out of the Sydney’s MLC Centre but also
has offices at the DCLA where viewings are held
and clients afforded the chance to get a “behind-
the-scenes” look at how diamonds get graded,
tested, certified and valued.
In addition it conducts high-security private
consultations and diamond viewings at Guardian
Vaults by appointment.
Increasing demand for its brokerage services
means the firm is on schedule to open a branch in
Hong Kong midway through next year while plans
to open in Dubai in 2017 are well under way.
Cisecki believes much of the reason for ADP’s
early success has come because of the level of
consultation that goes on prior to any purchase.
She says there is much more than meets the eye
when making an investment of this type with
colour, weight, shape, intensity, measurement,
polish, symmetry and clarity just some of the
factors needed to be taken into consideration.
Cisecki says the decision to start a diamond
portfolio, and the level of investment, is one that
must be made wholly by the client taking into
consideration their entire portfolio of investments
with circumstances varying from person to person.
But, she says, it’s important to note there is a
minimum recommended entry level.
“Not all diamonds can be considered investment
diamonds, meaning those that will maintain and
grow in value over time; the majority of diamonds
on the market are actually quite common, and
realising a resale value even close to the purchase
price requires specialised knowledge.
“Only about one in 10,000 are coloured diamonds,
and while prices for different colour and size
combinations vary significantly, to buy one of a
rarity sufficient to be considered for investment
potential clients are looking at the $50,000 mark,
depending on the hue,” she says.
Cisecki says when determining value of colourless
diamonds, carat, cut, colour and clarity are
important. However there is much more to be
considered with coloured diamonds.
“For colourless diamonds, cut is king. When you’re
buying a diamond for fire, life, and sparkle; it has
the greatest effect on a diamond’s appearance,
even though price is dictated more significantly
by carat weight, clarity and colour. For example,
you can have a top D-colour, IF-clarity diamond
that’s very rare and expensive, but if it’s not cut
well it will actually look dull and lifeless. [With]
fancy coloured diamonds, it’s all about the colour.
The more beautiful and rare the colour, the more
valuable the diamond.”
A number of factors give diamonds their colour,
including atomic-level substitutions, proximity
to natural radiation or the strain in the lattice
structure during their formation – that takes place
over thousands of years.
If a diamond is overexposed to natural radiation
while it is forming, it can develop colours ranging
from green to green blue. A distortion of the lattice

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structure in response to physical stresses can result in diamonds
appearing pink or brown. Colour can also occur as a result of
the replacement of carbon atoms in the lattice - when nitrogen
replaces carbon, the diamond is yellow; when the replacement
elements is boron, the diamond can appear blue.
Fancy coloured diamonds generally boast one of 12 distinct hues
(or ‘primary’ colours): Yellow, Pink, Blue, Green, Orange, Brown,
Violet, Gray, Purple, Red, Black and White. But there are also more
than 230 colour combinations in which the primary hue is modified
by a secondary overtone ie ‘Purplish Pink’.
In addition, the saturation and tone of each colour must be
specified according to scale of intensity – Faint to Very Light, Light,
Fancy Light, Fancy, Fancy Deep, Fancy Intense, and Fancy Vivid.
While there are many nuances to colour, they are not difficult to
understand, she says.
“The more rare and beautiful the colour, the more valuable, though
there is some leeway for personal taste when it comes to desirability.”
When it comes to financial investments, one of the basic concepts
is to detach the emotional or sentimental from the intellectual
aspects of the decision making process, she says.
In principle, this is a great ideal; in reality, there is usually an
element of sentimentality in any investment decision, and fancy
coloured diamonds are no exception.
“Just like most investors need to have a property appeal that
‘speaks’ to them in some special way, so too a diamond has a
voice - many are often surprised by just how much. Saying that,
when it comes to diamond investment I don’t believe there’s
anything wrong with falling in love with a particular colour or
stone, particularly if the investment is also for wear in jewellery;
the key is to balance that with grounded professional advice.”
Cisecki and her team have been credited with going the extra mile for
their clients with potential purchasers taken through a comprehensive
education experience prior to any money changing hands.
The process begins with a consultation to educate the client
and determine their level of investment before ADP gets to work
sourcing an appropriate diamond. Next the buyer is presented
with what ADP calls its Diamond Investment Portfolio Proposal,
which includes an independent Diamond Grading Report, a
separate valuation report and relevant certificate of authenticity.
Once accepted, the client pays a 10 percent deposit to secure
the diamond. Once full payment is made and ADP has physically
acquired the diamond, the DCLA undertakes what is called a
‘diamond verification process’ to match the diamond against the
Diamond Grading Report, and confirm that the diamond has been
unaltered and undamaged in any way. Only once this is complete is
the diamond then handed over to the purchaser.
To this end ADP works hard to develop strong relationships with its
extensive network of suppliers – which include diamond cutters,
brokers, dealers, auction houses and site holders.
As with most legitimate diamond traders, ADP requires that each
stone is ethically sourced and as such the business demands
that all suppliers provide a written warranty as per the Kimberley
Process Certification Scheme - created by a global organisation
of governments, industry, and human rights groups to prevent the
sale of conflict diamonds – stating their diamonds come from
Kimberley-certified sources and are not involved in funding conflict.
Cisecki is herself a member of the World Federation of Diamond
Bourses, meaning she is subject to the stringent set of trading
practices that govern acceptance and continued membership.
These rules include sourcing diamonds from trusted and reputable
industry members, those who subscribe to industry-wide standards
of disclosure regarding products and who subscribe to a System of
Warranties that all diamonds are conflict-free, amongst a host of
other undertakings.
While being close to the coalface does has its advantages, Cisecki
says the stones ADP deals with are in such scarce supply there are no
real discounts with tight margins leaving little room for “mate’s rates”.
That is, of course, unless you’re dealing with a high-end retail
jeweller that has some room to come off their brand mark-up.
Cisecki says ADP follows auction results closely in order to keep on
top of the prices, but the majority of its business is direct with the
mines and the manufacturers.
While auctions are the best way for investors to divest of their
diamond assets, when purchasing a diamond margins are more
competitive the closer you get to the source – basically, the less
hands a stone passes through, the better for the end client, she says.
“The general rule is that the closer you get to the mine, the better
the price – as brokers, we seek stones from a global network of
mines and manufacturers to ensure our clients receive the best
possible price to meet their investment needs.”
And it seems that while investment pieces for her clients are
always her top priority, Cisecki admits to having a few stones in her
sights for personal use.
“Well, I’m a lady – I have my own, but I could always use more.”
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