The largest uncut diamond currently in the world, the "Lesedi La Rona", arrived to the Antwerp museum MAS. The stone being 1,109 carats (weighing 221 grams) is nearly as large as a tennis ball and is worth approximately 70 million dollars. The diamond was shown to a select audience during its world tour.
The stone, the largest ever to be found since the discovery of “Cullinan” 110 years ago, was discovered last year in Botswana. It was found in a mine belonging to the Canadian company Lucara Diamond. Before its sale at Sotheby's in London on June 29th, the stone will have travelled all around the world.
It has, of particular note, already been shown in Singapore, Hong Kong and New York. The Antwerp alderman, Bart De Wever, welcomed the arrival of the diamond, as did the Antwerp World Diamond Centre. “I hope that the "Lesedi La Rona" might return here for a longer stay - or even permanently, so as to be totally transformed into either one or indeed several small stones.”
The CEO of Lucara Diamond, William Lamb, believes that there is definitely significant logic in including this Belgian city on its route.“Antwerp is and will always be a diamond centre. We find very specific technical expertise here. If I were to buy the stone, I would come back here to Antwerp, as it is a ‘centre of excellence’ having expertise in the polishing of large stones.”
(Source: Belga)
