Huge Diamond Sells For Over $35 Million

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed)
Feb 26th 2010 at 11:01PM

Last fall we speculated that a huge 507-carat piece of rough diamond might sell for $30 million. The result was even bigger than anticipated. Petra Diamonds announced that the stone sold for $35.3 million which was the highest sale price ever for a rough stone, an impressive $69,557 per carat. Hong Kong-based Chow Tai Fook Jewellery Company Ltd. bought the rock which has been given the preliminary name "Cullinan Heritage," at a tender in South Africa. The stone is the 19th largest piece of rough unearthed in history and is exceptional both in terms of size and color and clarity.

It is believed that the buyers will seek to sell the stone in China. The rough stone could yield a "D-flawless" clear polished stone of 170-180 carats, a stone which could sell at a huge price. The diamond will be doubtlessly be scrutinized by teams of expert cutters and all possible strategies will be mapped and modeled before the first cut is made, a process which generally takes several months.

Gallery: Big Rocks, Big Bucks

Tags: cullinan heritage, cullinan mine, CullinanDiamond, CullinanHeritage, CullinanMine, diamonds, rough diamond, rough diamonds, RoughDiamond, RoughDiamonds

Filed under: Jewelry

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Reader Comments (Page 2 of 2)

David Mar 2nd 2010 12:58PM

I do believe I find one of these the other day when I was digging up my backyard, I didn't know what it is so I throw it away in the trashcan.

RYAN Mar 2nd 2010 12:32PM

Id like to cut that stone,I am a goldsmith and stone cutting is fun,that one would be a bit easier but harder,you can really see everything cutting something that big,I have to use a head loop to cut small stuff or you cant even see what you are cutting..........nice rock and remember,thats all it is,a rock.

JudeThom Mar 2nd 2010 12:56PM

Not impressed. You can't take it with you. I'd rather have the cash.

Ron Mar 2nd 2010 2:42PM

Did you find a way to take the cash with you too?

Joe Papierz Jr Mar 2nd 2010 1:27PM

A few people seem to think that 35.3 million dollars is just going to sit in a shoe box somewhere until it turns to dust and that somehow it's unfair that one company should get so much money. Not so. It goes to salaries of the people who dig in the mines, it goes towards maintenance and new equipment at the mines, it goes towards interest on loans the mine owners took out to purchase the mines and equipment in the first place, it goes to pay dividends on stock and bonds people own in the mines, Are you getting the picture now? Even if it sold for twice that amount it would not change your life style one bit. It has nothing to do with your micro economy. Instead of sitting on your butt complaining about someone else's good fortune get up and earn some money, risk some of it in a privately owned business or go to a broker and invest it. Or do as most Americans do, work for twenty plus years save as much as you can in an IRA and other savings instruments, collect Social Security and retire.

JO Mar 2nd 2010 1:54PM

First of all diamonds are not rare-they are in fact one of the most abundant natural resources on earth-so much in fact if you go to Sierra Leon Africa the mud huts twinkle in the sunlight as the mud is full of roughs-the reason they cost so much on the retail market is because De Beers hordes them, they mine millions of stones a year, but yet only release a small percentage of them into the retail market, the fact is if they were all released they would be sold in bubble gum machines-for those of you arguing that the mining of diamonds helps the economy of whichever country they came from I suggest you go to these countries or at least read about them and the diamond trade, most of the miners live in deployable conditions, making as little as 12 us dollars a year, the working conditions are at best dangerous-the only ones profiting are the diamonds companies and the corrupt governments that sell out their people as slave labor to them-wear a diamond kill a human---

John C. Salzman Sr. Mar 2nd 2010 2:19PM

Wow a big stone and bullcrap politics.
LOL I find them all the time...

back to the 60's Mar 2nd 2010 4:44PM

I am in the market to buy my wife a diamond. She wants this one, but I told her that her finger is too small even if they cut it in half. If I go in for 1/4 of it, anyone else interested in going in on it?

Mick Hansen Mar 2nd 2010 6:03PM

BFIRE906
YOU PEOPLE WHO TRY TO IMPRESS AND DO NOT GET THE JOB DONE
SHOULD MAYNE NOT EVEN TYPE A WORD

robert Mar 2nd 2010 7:20PM

all you america hating a-h-ls i have not heard one complaint when it comes to taking our countrys wealth away from us when you needed help during a disaster or some other tragic type event while people in middle class america are just getting by from paycheck to paycheck and counting there pennies and there blessings and have no homes to live in any more because some prick bank or morgage company forclosed on there home or living with out a meal in there stomachs while our government is giving dicks like you billions of american dollars from our treasury that could be going to help familes in need in this country so beat this euro-trash

George Mar 6th 2010 11:28AM

Sell the Hope diamond to China too. Everyone who has had it has had bad luck and now we own it in the Smithsonian. It is just another bauble to turn on a woman.

Pinus1 Mar 6th 2010 7:14PM

I was checking the various weights of the four clear diamonds: carets.

By this standard; size is everything............

Pinus1 Mar 6th 2010 7:21PM

ttrexxx
Mar 2nd 2010 7:54AM

From a coal mine? What are you waiting for? Take that rascal of a paper weight to a gemologist and if indeed it is a diamond, have Christies sell it for you.

Remember it is a good thing to give. After I found out that the Red Cross still had 500 million in the bank that we good hearted Americans gave them for the Katrina victims, I searched out groups that really do help Americans.

I found six that need money. One of them is Focus Adolescent Services. I found that they have been saving American children for twenty years. That is but one of the six who will squeeze a dime until it becomes a quarter. They do not bank away the money like the Red Cross. They spend it as intended, no fancy stuff going on.

I wish you luck and hope that it is a diamond. That is rough work in the mines. Your uncle would have been tickled to pieces if in fact it is.

robert Mar 6th 2010 11:31PM

to our america hating communist person on this blog when we are needed around the world we offer the most undeserving countries around the word our help like haiti and chile and iraq and afganistan and somalia and europe but when we need help like the loma preita earthquake in san francisco or hurricane katrina that devastated the entire southern coast of the united states where is great britain and the rest of europe and asia and even canada to be found?nowere im afraid the only country to even help as poor as they are was mexico who sent troops and humanitarian assistance to take care and help feed the starving and homeless populace in new orleans of which americans are very grateful while you all sat back and did nothing you f_king hippocrites so why should we even lift a f_king finger to help your sorry asses next time you need our help

Ron Mar 7th 2010 1:25AM

boris,
I don't know which of the prior sovit bloc countries you come from, but enen now , being here \, it must be a relief not to have Vald peaking up your skirt. The issue with people like you is that as with all helpless and impotent spewers of political
reteric, you have no basis in fact in anything you say and simply parriot that garbage that your simplistic and not very bright father taught you. You would be a good canidate for that all so important job they have open in the middle east, you seem to have all the proper talents. They will give you on the job training and supply all you needs. Just strap on the equipment and blow yourself up. You will get a really cool house and 70 women. As your mind works on such a simplistic level I am sure you will believe the contract on the job benefits and go out a happy guy.

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