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121-Carat Rough Diamond From Cullinan Goes for $6 Million
Petra Diamonds Limited announced that the white diamond, recovered in South Africa last month, garnered $49,480 per carat during its June sales process.
The Cullinan mine in South Africa is responsible for some of the world’s largest diamond finds, including the greatest on record, the 3,106.75-carat Cullinan Dream, discovered in 1905.
Johannesburg--The most recent large diamond find from South Africa’s Cullinan mine, a 121-carat rough recovered in June, has sold.
Petra Diamonds Limited announced that the white diamond went for $6 million, or $49,480 per carat, during the company’s June sales process.
The rock was purchased by diamond manufacturers Nemesis International and Golden Yellow Diamonds in a joint venture. Both companies specialize in large diamonds.
The sale comes in the wake of last week’s failed Sotheby’s auction of a 1,109-carat rough diamond found at Lucara Diamond Corp.’s Karowe mine in Botswana.
Called “Lesedi la Rona,” it was the second-largest rough diamond ever found.
Lucara chose to sell the Lesedi la Rona at a public auction, instead of a normal tender within the diamond market, to ascertain whether buyers would be interested in a rough diamond as a collectable, similar to high-value art.
Bidding for the stone failed to meet its reserve.
Lucara had better luck with its 812.77-carat rough diamond, also mined from Karowe, named “The Constellation,” which sold in a traditional diamond-industry-only tender for $63.1 million, or $77,649 per carat, in May.
The Constellation also sold to Nemesis International, one of the buyers of the 121-carat Cullinan rough diamond.
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