Lesotho Diamond Weighs More Than a Baseball

Lesotho Diamond Weighs More Than a Baseball
15, 2018
LONDON — High in the mountains of a small southern African kingdom, miners have unearthed one of the largest diamonds
ever found, a glittering giant weighing 910 carats, or 6.4 ounces, and probably worth tens of millions of dollars.
The stone, found in the Letseng mine in Lesotho, is the fifth-largest gem-quality diamond ever found, and the largest in Lesotho’s history.
The previous largest find in Lesotho, the 603-carat Lesotho Promise diamond, sold for $12.4 million in 2006,
and diamond prices have increased significantly since then.
Gem Diamonds, the London-based company that owns a majority stake in the mine and
that announced the find on Monday, described the diamond as being of extremely high quality.
Elizabeth Taylor’s famous collection of hefty jewels included a 33-carat diamond ring
that sold at auction for $8.8 million in 2011, and a 69-carat diamond, both bought for her by Richard Burton in the late 1960s.
How much the rough stone will fetch at auction remains to be seen, and it will depend in part on any imperfections
that limit the size of the cut and polished stones it can be fashioned into.