The Cutting of the Lesotho Promise

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed)
Feb 27th 2008 at 3:02PM

Somehow I missed the announcement in December and so it took March's W Magazine to draw my attention to the fact that the Lesotho Promise diamond which was bought by diamond dealer Laurence Graff in 2006 has been cut into 26 smaller diamonds varying in size from .52 carats to 76.41 carats each with a D Flawless grade. The 603-carat stone yielded 223.35 carats. That sounds bad but it is actually a really excellent haul, when cutting rough stones there is always a significant loss.

The stone has had quite a journey from the Letseng mine in the African country of Lesotho which is surrounded entirely by South Africa. The stone was sold and cut in Antwerp. Each of the stones is laser inscribed on the girdle with the Graff logo and its GIA (Gemological Institute of America) identification number and its own Lesotho Promise number. Graff bought the rough stone for $12.36 million and is expecting quite a haul on his investment, he's looking for a $50 million payday. He's also hoping not to break up the set and sell all the stones to a single buyer.

Tags: diamonds, laurence graff, lesotho promise, LesothoPromise