Sotheby’s to Auction Lucara’s 1,109-Carat 'Lesedi La Rona'

(IDEX Online News) – Sotheby’s announced that Lucara Diamond Corp has selected it to auction the 1,109-carat Lesedi La Rona diamond – the second-largest ever recovered, according to a report on cbc.ca.

The auctioneer said that the sale, which is planned to take place on June 29 in London, could potentially realize as much as $70 million.

"Not only is the rough superlative in size and quality, but no rough even remotely of this scale has ever been offered before at public auction," said chairman of Sotheby’s jewelry division David Bennett, who also described the discovery as “the find of a lifetime.”

The 3,106-carat Cullinan diamond unearthed in South Africa in 1905 is the world’s largest-ever recovered diamond.