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This 1109-Carat Diamond Was Just Sold at a Huge Discount

By:
Rachel Lewis
2 min read
A view of the 1,109-carat "Lesedi la Rona": the largest gem-quality rough diamond to be discovered in over a century, and the largest rough diamond in existence today, at Sothebys, New York, NY, on May 3, 2016. - Donald Bowers - Getty Images
A view of the 1,109-carat "Lesedi la Rona": the largest gem-quality rough diamond to be discovered in over a century, and the largest rough diamond in existence today, at Sothebys, New York, NY, on May 3, 2016. Donald Bowers - Getty Images

If you've ever wanted to own a diamond the size of a tennis ball, you now know how much it costs.

The historic 1109-carat Lesedi La Rona diamond, thought to be the second largest ever recorded, was sold to British jeweler Graff Diamonds, for $53 million, the company announced on Monday.

The Lesedi La Rona—which means "Our Light" in the Tswana language—was found in the Karowe mine in Botswana in November 2015 by the Canadian mining company Lucara Diamond. The Canadian firm struggled to make a sale and the $53 million price counts as a relative bargain. Lucara originally auctioned the diamond with a reserve price of $70 million last year, but bids at the Sotheby's sale only reached $61 million, Fortune reports.

"The stone will tell us its story, it will dictate how it wants to be cut, and we will take the utmost care to respect its exceptional properties," Laurence Graff, the founder of the jeweler, said in a statement.

Graff earlier bought a 373-carat diamond that formed part of the original stone but broke off during excavation.

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