Giant diamond sells for $33.7 million

The largest-ever D-flawless diamond to be put up for auction, the “Creation 1,” sold for $33.7 million Tuesday night during an auction at Christie’s in Geneva.

“Early spectrographic testing at the Gemological Institute of America in New York declared the stone to be a D-colour, Type IIA diamond — a variety highly valued for its transparency and colour,” Christie’s stated in a press release.

Mounted in a diamond and emerald necklace, the white, matchbox-size rock from Swiss jeweler de Grisogono was acquired by an unidentified buyer.

The diamond, which was originally mined in 2016 by Australia’s Lucapa Diamond (ASX:LOM) in Angola, weighs 163 carats. The rough stone, the largest ever discovered in the African country, originally weighed 404 carats and measured over 7 centimetres in length.

Angola is Lucapa’s (literally) diamond mine, as today the company announced that it found a 129.58-carat diamond at its Lulo mine. It is the eighth diamond of over 100 carats recovered this year.

The original, 404.20 carat rough diamond that was mined in eastern Angola — the 27th largest rough white diamond ever discovered. Photo by Christie’s.