Dubai: A huge rough diamond weighing 813 carats has been purchased for a record-breaking $63.1 million (Dh231.78 million) by a Dubai-based firm, it was announced on Monday.
Nemesis International DMCC acquired the stone from Vancouver-based Lucara Diamond Corp which mined the stone from its Karowe Mine in Botswana.
Both firms have agreed to call the stone The Constellation.
In an exclusive interview, Nemesis International Director Nickolas Polak told Gulf News on Monday from his company’s offices in Dubai, Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC), that he is thrilled at the potential of the rough diamond and will be mapping out the stone in weeks ahead to determine its future finished forms.
“We have to find the magic of the stone. We will find the most spectacular stones from it,” Polak said. “The size of the stone, the clarity and the splendour is exceptionally unusual,” Polak said in an interview from Nemesis International offices. “In terms of clarity and colour, it’s magnificent.”
Polak said that the privilege of acquiring one of the rarest stones ever unearthed isn’t lost on experts within his firm.
“We feel like amateur artists who have found a Mona Lisa in the attic,” said Polak, a British national.
The price paid for The Constellation is valued at $77,649 per carat.
In a statement on Monday, Canadian firm Lucara Diamond Corp said it partnered with Nemesis International DMCC, and will retain a 10 per cent interest in net profits from future sales of polished diamonds cut from the stone.
“The sale of the 813-carat diamond is the highest price ever achieved for a rough diamond, breaking all records,” said Lucara president and CEO William Lamb ahead of auctioning next month an even larger Lucara-mined rough gem of more than 1,100 carats named the Lesedi La Rona stone.
“This achievement solidifies our reputation in the jewellery industry as one of the most important sources of diamonds of the very highest quality,” Lamb said. “We look forward to the next stage of Lucara’s development with the sale of the spectacular 1,109-carat Lesedi La Rona diamond which will take place at Sotheby’s London on June 29.”
A third rough diamond of 404 carats, meanwhile, emerged at a press conference on Sunday in Dubai when it was announced that Nemesis International had awarded the marketing rights to the unnamed gemstone to Swiss jeweller de Grisogono SA.
Swiss jeweller De Grisogono SA bought the rights to what is believed to be the 27th largest rough diamond ever found and it may take up to six months to cut and polish said officials at the press conference.
“This diamond marks one of the most important milestones in my career both as a jeweller and a designer. Words cannot express how grateful my team and I are to DMCC and Nemesis International for such a unique collaboration”, said Fawaz Gruosi, founder and executive board member of de Grisogono.
Largest diamond ever found
The largest rough diamond on record is known as the Cullinan Diamond weighing 3,106 carats and named after Sir Thomas Cullinan, owner of the Gauteng, South Africa, diamond mine where it was discovered on January 26, 1905.
According to the website www.cullinan-diamond.com, the stone was found nine metres below the earth’s surface by mine superintendent Frederick Wells who dug the blue-white diamond out of the ground with his pocket knife.
The stone was shipped to England and later on “the two main stones, Cullinan I (The Great Star of Africa) and Cullinan II (The Lesser Star of Africa) were given to King Edward VII. Both currently reside in the Tower of London as part of the Crown Jewels”.
