A 507-carat rough diamond which sold to a Hong Kong jewellery company for a world record $35.3 million last night could yield a large, unblemished polished gemstone for a super-wealthy Chinese collector.
Miner Petra Diamonds sold the Cullinan Heritage diamond on tender in South Africa to Chow Tai Fook Jewellery Company Limited in Hong Kong, for the highest sale price ever achieved for a rough diamond.
The stone by far exceeded its pre-sale estimate, underlining the strength of the market for large diamonds. Analysts had expected the stone, one of the biggest high-quality rough diamonds ever found, to command about $25 million.
"It's a very special gem. It will surely go to some form of jewellery," said Adonis Pouroulis, chairman of Petra.
"There was huge interest in the stone. A stone like this doesn't come around very often," he said.
The gemstone, recovered from Petra's Cullinan mine in South Africa, the origin of some of the world's most important diamonds, is the 19th largest gem diamond ever discovered.
Jewellers said Chow Tai Fook Jewellery Company will likely find a buyer in China, one of the world's largest and fastest growing diamond markets.
"The next big market for rare diamonds will be China," said Marwan Chatila, owner of Chatila, a leading fine jeweller in London's exclusive Bond Street jewellery hub, which had been one of the bidders for the Cullinan Heritage.
PA