Size isn't everything in the diamond market, especially for the largest diamond found in more than a century that took more than a year to sell.
The rough diamond is about the size of a tennis ball, called "Lesedi La Rona diamond", which means "our light" in the Tswana language of Botswana.
Lucara Diamond Group finally sold the 1,109-carat Lesedi La Rona diamond for $53 million, or $47,777 per carat, on Monday to Graff Diamonds.
This diamond is significantly larger than the 813-carat Constellation Constantia diamond found at the same time, which was sold for a record price of $63 million, equivalent to $77,500 per carat.
The fate of the Lesedi La Rona diamond is a classic example of how size is not the most important factor in the diamond industry. Especially diamonds are difficult to cut and have poor color when polished.
The Lesedi La Rona diamond is second only to the 3,106 carat Cullinan Diamond found in South Africa in 1905. The Cullinan Diamond is cut into the “Great Star of Africa” and “Lesser Star of Africa”, placed on Crown of the Queen of England.
“If you make assessments of the diamond's potential value based on consideration of the risk that the buyer will take, you can understand why it is not easy to sell.”
In last year's Sotherby's auction, there was only one offer lower than what Graff Diamond paid. At that time, the auction house itself bid 61 million USD closer to the reserve price, the auction failed.
Lucara Diamond Group, known for mining some of the world's largest and best diamonds, found this diamond in the Karowe mine in Botswana.
Source: Joe Deaux and Thomas Biesheuvel – Bloomberg