The price tag for the biggest diamond found in more than 100 years fails to sell at Sotheby’s auction in London.
Lesedi la Rona, a 1, 109 carat gem-quality rough diamond, was expected to sell for about $86 million. The highest bid of $61 million leaving it unsold. “The company will be retaining the exceptional 1, 109 carat Type IIa Lesedi La Rona diamond as bidding did not meet the reserve price, ” Lucara Chief Executive Officer William Lamb said Wednesday in a statement.
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The diamond was discovered by Lucara Diamond Corp. in November 2015 at its mine in Botswana. The name Lesedi la Rona means “our light” in the Tswana language
According to Bloomberg the Vancouver-based company is gaining a reputation for producing the world’s biggest and best stones and sold an 813-carat diamond The Constellation, for $63 million in May, a record, to Dubai-based rough-diamond trading company.
“Lucara’s sale of in May was worth about $77, 500 a carat, based on the final price”, Bloomberg reports, “Applying the same dollar per carat implied a floor price of $86 million for the Lesedi la Rona.”
The stone is currently the largest rough diamond in existence and is the largest diamond to be discovered since the 3, 106.75 carat. Cullinan Diamond was discovered in South Africa in 1905.
