The world's largest uncut diamond - 1,109 carats - is about to be sold in an auction in London on Wednesday, June 29.
Discovered in Botswana in November, the Lesedi La Rona diamond is not just the largest uncut diamond in the world, it is also the second largest ever found.
Lesedi La Rona translates to "our light" in Botswana's Tswana language.
It is surpassed in sized only by the 3,106-carat "Cullinan Diamond" found in 1905 in South Africa. A cut from that diamond, known as the "First Star of Africa," is now part of British royal family's crown jewels.
The owner of the tennis ball-sized gem is a Canadian mining firm Lucara, which last month sold another massive diamond, an 813-carat named "The Constellation," found in the same mine. It was sold for $63 million, or more than $77,000 per carat, a new record for a rough gem.
Lesedi La Rona is expected to go for at least $70 million. Shares of Lucara have more than doubled since Lesedi La Rona discovery.
The diamond auction will be held at Sotheby's in London at 6:30 p.m. local time. The huge piece of gem is so large that it does not fit into conventional scanners used to evaluate a stone's potential worth.
Photo: Mirror UK
Source: CNN Money
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