A Sotherby's employee holds Lesedi La Rona Diamond on May Tuesday 3, 2016 in New York City. The diamond the size of a tennis ball that is the largest discovered in more than a century could sell at auction for more than $70 million. Sotheby's says it will offer the Lesedi la Rona diamond in London on June 29.
Image Credit: Donald Bowers/Getty Images for Sotheby's, via AP
May 04, 2016 - 6:30 PM
LONDON - A London auctioneer says a diamond the size of a tennis ball that was unearthed by a Vancouver-based mining company could sell for more than $70 million US.
Sotheby's says it will offer the Lesedi la Rona diamond in London on June 29.
The diamond was unearthed in November in Botswana at a mine owned by Lucara Diamond Corp. It measured 1,109 carats, the second-largest gem-quality rough diamond ever discovered.
Its name means "our light" in the Tswana language. It is the largest discovered in more than a century.
The auctioneer said Wednesday that the rough gemstone could yield the largest top-quality diamond ever cut and polished.
Last year, Lucara sold a 341.9-carat diamond of the same type for US$20.55 million.
The largest diamond ever found was the 3,106-carat Cullinan diamond, unearthed in South Africa in 1905. It was cut into nine pieces that form part of the U.K. Crown Jewels.
— With files from The Canadian Press
News from © The Associated Press, 2016