Louis Vuitton to Polish the 1,758-Carat Sewelo Diamond
January 16, 20
(IDEX Online) - Lucara Diamond Corp. is collaborating with Louis Vuitton and the Antwerp manufacturing HB Company to transform the 1,758-carat Sewelo diamond into a fine jewelry collection. The record-breaking diamond was recovered from the Karowe Diamond Mine in Botswana in April 2019. Lucara will receive an up front non-material payment for the Sewelo and keep a 50-percent interest in the individual polished diamonds that result. The company also announced that it will invest 5-percent of the retail sales proceeds generated from the collection back into Botswana through its community based initiatives. "We are delighted to be partnering with Louis Vuitton, the famous luxury House, to transform the historic, 1,758 carat Sewelo, Botswana's largest diamond, into a collection of fine jewelry that will commemorate this extraordinary discovery and contribute direct benefits to our local communities of interest in Botswana," said Lucara CEO Eira Thomas. Sewelo, which means "rare find" in Setswana, is the second diamond weighing over 1,000 carats recovered from Karowe in four years and the largest ever recovered in Botswana. The diamond is near-gem of variable quality, with recent analysis confirming that it also includes domains of higher-quality white gem.