Gafencu takes a closer look at the world’s rarest white and largest round diamond…

No matter how hard it had tried, Sotheby’s Diamonds couldn’t have found a better way of marking the first anniversary of the launch of its London salon than proudly unveiling the world’s largest-known and rarest white diamond. Valued at more than US$30 million and weighing a staggering 102.34 carats, it’s the only-known round diamond in the 100 carat plus category that’s literally flawless.

Originally unearthed in a Botswana diamond mine as part of a 425-carat rough stone, its natural beauty has been crafted into its current exquisite round form by highly-skilled artisans from Diacore, a South African gem specialist.

According to the Gemological Institute of America, the diamond is both internally and externally pristine and should be categorised as a Type IIa, D-colour diamond. As gem connoisseurs will be only too aware, a Type IIa diamond is the rarest of the rare, with only 2% of all gemstones falling into that particular category. On top of that, this white beauty is made even more unique by the fact that it’s the only D-colour round brilliant-cut diamond weighing more than 100 carats that has ever appeared at auction.

Justifiably excited, Patti Wong, Founder and Chairman of Sotheby’s Diamonds, said: “Over the course of my long career, which has brought me close to some of the greatest stones the earth has ever ceded, I have never encountered anything quite like this. With its outstanding weight, its perfect colour, its clarity and its cut, it is a masterpiece of nature brought to life by human hand.”