RAPAPORT... As the year comes to a close, Rapaport News takes a
look back at the largest rough stones miners unearthed in 2018, and the
diamonds that fetched the highest prices at auction.
Colossal finds
The 910-carat Lesotho Legend, which Gem Diamonds recovered
in January, claimsthe top spot this year. The D-color, type IIa stone — which
the miner says is the fifth-largest gem-quality diamond ever found — sold to Samir Gems for $40 million.
Dominion Diamond Mines unearthed a 553-carat yellow diamond
at the Diavik mine, its joint venture with Rio Tinto, in December. The company
claims the chicken-egg-sized stone is the largest known gem-quality diamond
found in North America.
In April, Lucara Diamond Corp. recovered a 472-carat,
light-brown, gem-quality diamond, the third-largest it has ever produced from
its Karowe mine in Botswana.
Later that month, Lucara also mined a 327-carat, white
gem-quality stone from Karowe, its eighth over 100 carats this year.
A 169-carat find by Gem Diamonds rounds out the list. The
white, type IIa diamond was recovered from the Letšeng mine in Lesotho in
March.
Magnificent sales
The top-selling piece at auction this year was the Pink
Legacy, a rectangular-cut, 18.96-carat, fancy-vivid-pink diamond, which sold to
Harry Winston for $50.4 million at Christie’s Geneva Magnificent Jewels sale
in November. The diamond set a world record for average price for a pink
diamond at auction, fetching $2.7 million per carat.
A natural-pearl and diamond pendant that once belonged to
Marie Antoinette sold for more than 18 times its high presale estimate,
going for $36.2 million at Sotheby’s Geneva auction in November.
A pear-shaped, 8.01-carat, fancy-vivid-blue, internally
flawless diamond necklace by Moussaieff comes in third, raking in $20.5 million
at Christie’s Magnificent Jewels auction in Hong Kong in May. The piece
achieved $2.6 million per carat.
The fourth-highest seller this year was also sold by
Christie’s, at its December Magnificent Jewels auction in New York. The cushion-cut, 8.08-carat, fancy-vivid-blue Bulgari diamond ring went for $18.3 million.
Finally, the Ai diamond, named after the Chinese word for
love, captures the fifth spot. The step-cut, 5-carat, fancy-vivid-blue stone
went for $13.8 million — $2.8 million per carat — at Sotheby’s Hong Kong
auction in October.
Information about the biggest diamonds recovered this year was collected from miners that release such data, and does not include De Beers, Alrosa and others.
Image: The Lesotho Legend and the Winston Pink Legacy. (Gem Diamonds, Christie’s)
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