lesotho promise

The Lesotho Promise Neckace

Filed under: Jewelry

Back in February I mentioned that Graff Diamonds had cut the the 603-carat Lesotho Promise diamond into 26 smaller diamonds varying in size from .52 carats to 76.41 carats each with a D Flawless grade (a total of 223.25 carats). Graff is in the process of turning the story of the 18 months of cutting and polishing the stones into a book and documentary. Now they have turned these those stones into one spectacular necklace, The Lesotho Promise Necklace.

The Lesotho Promise, mined at the Letseng mine in Lesotho, is the 15th largest rough diamond ever recovered and was sold to Graff and its partner polishing company Safdico for $12.36 million in October last year. The necklace is part of the company's display of magnificent jewels in Monte-Carlo and is available for viewing until August 10 at the Salle Empire, Hotel De Paris in Monte-Carlo along with rare gems from Graff's collection including The Flame, a 100-carat pear-shaped D-flawless diamond.

The stones are valued at $50 million but a value hasn't been given for the finished piece. Laurence Graff has vowed not to split up the set of diamonds and so this necklace has a small set of potential buyers, people in the world with the wherewithal to afford it. Monte Carlo seems the perfect place to display it to the wealthy.

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Tags: diamond necklace, DiamondNecklace, diamonds, graff diamonds, GraffDiamonds, laurence graff, lesotho diamond, lesotho promise

The Cutting of the Lesotho Promise

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Jewelry

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.

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Tags: diamonds, laurence graff, lesotho promise, LesothoPromise

Lesotho Promise Sells For $12.36M

by Nicole Weston (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Jewelry

A 603-carat diamond, named the Lesotho Promise after the country in which it was found, was sold last week in Antwerp for $12.36 million. The giant raw diamond will most likely be cut into several smaller diamonds, which will have a collective value of approximately $20 million. The white diamond - the most popular color for a diamond to be - was the 15th largest ever found in the world, and the largest to be discovered this century.