Behold! The world's second-largest rough diamond
January 21, 2020
Sewelo, the second-largest rough diamond ever discovered, was unveiled at a Louis Vuitton store in Paris on Tuesday.
The French fashion brand invited a select audience to one of its retail locations in the French capital to view the stone, whose name means "rare find" in Setswana.
Louis Vuitton, who acquired the New York-based jewelry retailer Tiffany last year, announced last week that it had purchased the diamond. It did not reveal how much it paid for the jewel.
The showcase took place against the backdrop of Haute Couture Week in Paris, where top clothing and jewelry designers are displaying their best wares of the season.
A diamond in the rough
The 1,758-carat rough diamond was discovered last year in a Canadian-run mine in Botswana. It is about as large as a tennis ball and weighs approximately 530 grams (1.2 pounds).
The rough diamond is second in size only to "Cullinan," a 3,100-carat diamond found in South Africa in 1905.
Sewelo will be cut into gems for a collection of fine jewelry produced by Louis Vuitton in collaboration with Canada-based mining company Lucara and an Antwerp-based gem manufacturer.
kp/rt (AFP, Reuters)
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