Great news, the second largest rough diamond ever discovered has finally been sold. Until now, the enormous precious stone was held by the Canadian mining company Lucara Diamond. The latter announced the transaction this Monday, September 25, on Twitter, revealing the buyer’s identity as Graff Diamonds, the famous British jeweller.
Larger than a tennis ball
This exceptional stone was discovered two years ago, more precisely in November 2015, in the Karowe mine in Botswana. Recall that this site is known for regularly producing magnificent diamonds, often rare and large. Named « Lesedi La Rona », which means « Our Light » in Botswanan, the 1,109-carat stone is as big as a tennis ball. It is believed to be 2.5 to 3 billion years old.
It is the second largest rough diamond in the world after the Cullinan. Discovered in 1905 in South Africa, the latter weighed 3,106.75 carats. It was cut into about a hundred small stones, some of which were used to adorn the British crown jewels. As for the third largest diamond in the world, it was also discovered in the Karowe mines and measures 830 carats.
Sold for 53 million dollars
On its Twitter account, Lucara Diamond also revealed that Lesedi La Rona was sold for the modest sum of 53 million US dollars, or 44 million euros. As a reminder, the diamond had already been offered at auction at Sotheby’s in London in 2016, but no one bought it because its price had reached 70 million dollars (58 million euros).
Since then, the mining company said it took its time to find a buyer. Their patience was finally rewarded, as the diamond has finally been sold to Graff Diamonds, which will have the heavy task of polishing such a beautiful stone. « Our team of highly skilled artisans will draw on many years of experience, working day and night to [do] justice to this remarkable gift from Mother Nature », said jeweller Laurence Graff.