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Lesedi La Rona Diamond Assigned $70M+ Auction Price Tag
Sotheby’s to Auction World’s Second-Largest Rough Diamond in London in June
May 4, 2016 11:25 AM
By Rapaport News
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RAPAPORT... The world’s second-largest gem-quality rough diamond in
history is expected to fetch “in excess of” $70 million at a Sotheby’s auction
later this year.
The 1,109-carat Lesedi La Rona, mined by Lucara
Diamond Corp. last November, will go under the hammer at a standalone auction
in London on June 29. About the size of a tennis ball, it has the potential to
yield the largest “top-quality” polished diamond in existence, Sotheby’s said,
citing independent reports.
The Gemological Institute of
America said the rough diamond has “top color and transparency” and a “limpid”
appearance commonly associated with type-IIa gems, a subgroup that makes up 2
percent of all gem diamonds.
“Every aspect of this
auction is unprecedented,” said David Bennett, worldwide chairman of
Sotheby’s jewelry division. “Not only is the rough superlative in size and
quality, but no rough even remotely of this scale has ever been offered before
at public auction.”
The auction will be preceded by a
viewing at Sotheby’s New York on May 7 and at Sotheby’s London from 18 until 28
June. United Arab Emirates newspaper The National reported the diamond
was on display in Dubai last week. The sale process is already is generating “a
great deal of interest and excitement for this magnificent, historic stone,”
William Lamb, Lucara’s president and chief executive officer, said.
Lucara has revised the diamond’s weight from an original
figure of 1,111 carats when it found the stone at its Karowe mine in Botswana.
The gem is the largest diamond recovered since the 3,106-carat Cullinan diamond
found in South Africa in 1905.
Lamb told Bloomberg at
the time of the discovery that he anticipated the diamond would fetch “north of
$60 million.” A sale would significantly boost Lucara’s revenue for 2016, which
it forecasts at $200 million to $220 million excluding the anticipated sales of
the Lesedi La Rona and an 813-carat diamond it also found in November.
Lucara also reported first-quarter revenue soared 71
percent year on year to $50.6 million, with the average price of diamonds
rising from $278 per carat to $649 per carat. Following the end of the quarter,
sales were boosted by a $51.3
million exceptional stone tender last month.
Image: Donald Bowers/Getty Images for Sotheby's
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Tags:
Auctions, Exceptional Stones, Karowe mine, Lesedi La Rona, lucara, Lucara Diamond Corp, Rapaport News, Rough Diamonds, Sotheby's
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