The world's second-largest diamond could soon end up in a museum or the collection of a sheikh - but only after it is accurately valued.
Found last year in Botswana, the 2,492-carat stone is known as the Motswedi.
According to HB Antwerp, the gemstone trading company that is handling it, its price is difficult to determine.
"It's currently very difficult to set a price," Margaux Donckier, head of public relations for HB Antwerp, told AFP.
"First we need to inspect the stone and see what we can extract from it after we have processed it."
This diamond, discovered by the Canadian company Lucara, is the largest found in the last 120 years since the famous discovery of the Cullinan Diamond in South Africa in 1905, which was split into nine separate stones, many of which are now part of the British Crown Jewels.
Although the Motswedi does not yet have an exact price, it has attracted interest from around the world, says Donckier. HB Antwerp is exhibiting it alongside three other stones – including the world's third largest diamond, also found in the same mine.
According to Donckier, the four stones together could be worth at least $100 million.
“Their size is so rare that they could end up in a museum,” she said.
"But they could also end up in the hands of a sheikh who wants to add it to his collection."
Photos show the diamond placed in the palm of the hand, while another image shows it exceeding the size of a golf ball.
The stone was found at the Karowe mine, about 480 kilometers north of the capital Gaborone.
In recent years, two other large diamonds have been discovered in the same mine: the Sewelo (1,758 carats) and the Lesedi La Rona (1,109 carats).
For comparison, in 2017, British diamond magnate Laurence Graff paid $53 million for Lesedi La Rona, while two years later, Louis Vuitton bought Sewelo for an undisclosed sum.
Motswedi is not far from the largest diamond ever found, the Cullinan Diamond (3,016.75 carats), known for its extraordinary size, blue-white color, and rare clarity.
How are artificial diamonds created in the laboratory?
Diamonds achieve their high values because they form over thousands and millions of years under high pressure and temperature inside the earth. But some companies are now growing them in laboratories.
A diamond "seed" serves as the skeleton. It is placed in a vacuum chamber to remove impurities, then hydrogen and methane gas heated to 3,000°C is introduced, creating a charged plasma.
Carbon atoms from methane stick to the seed, following the crystal structure of natural diamond. Each artificial stone grows at a rate of 0.006 mm per hour, mimicking the natural process over millions of years. /GazetaExpress/
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