About the size of a tennis ball, the second-largest diamond rough ever found - ‘Lesedi La Rona’ - failed to sell at Sotheby’s London on 29 June 2016 due to the higher reserve price.
Despite the high bid for the 1,109-carat rough at US$61 million, it was lower than the US$70 million estimate, which would have made it the most expensive diamond ever sold at auction.
“Sadly, Lesedi La Rona was not sold but it is a magnificent stone and it will go down in history as one of the greatest stones ever discovered,” Sotheby’s said in a statement.
The type IIa ‘Lesedi La Rona’ was unearthed in November 2015 from Lucara Diamond’s Karowe mine in Botswana. It is the largest diamond discovered in more than 100 years, and the second-largest ever.
The name ‘Lesedi La Rona’, which means “our light” inthe Tswana language, was chosen from a nationwide competition in Botswana, according to JCK.
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