Petra Diamonds Ltd. owners of the Cullinan Diamond Mine in South Africa, sold an exceptional 39.34-carat blue rough diamond, recovered at their historic diamond mine in April this year, for a record-breaking price of over US$ 40 million, one of the highest prices ever realized for a rough diamond sold by any company.
39.34-carat-type2b-rough-blue-diamond-recovered-by-petra-diamonds-in-april-2021
The sale of the rough diamond was indeed good news for Petra, which resorted to restructuring its debt last year, following the Covid-19 pandemic that brought the industry to a standstill at a time when the company was already facing a mountain of debt and falling diamond prices. The final negotiated price for the diamond was US$ 40.2 million or US$1.021,860 per carat, which the Company insisted should be payed in cash prior to the delivery of the stone.
Petra sold the exceptional Type IIb blue diamond to a partnership between famed mining company De Beers and a manufacturing and trading company Diacore, owned by billionaire Steinmetz family.
Another view of the 39.34 carat type IIb blue rough diamond
The price per rough carat paid for the diamond works out to US$ 1,021,860 per carat, which is slightly less than US$1,156,000 per rough carat paid for another blue diamond also from Petra, which subsequently came to be known as “The Blue Moon of Josephine.” This diamond was purchased by New York-based Cora International for US$ 25.6 million and subsequently cut and polished into a stunning 12.03-carat, fancy-vivid blue, internally flawless, cushion-cut stone, which was sold by Sotheby’s for a staggering US$ 48.5 million to Hong Kong billionaire Joseph Lau, who christened it “The Blue Moon of Josephine.” Incidentally, this diamond also registered the highest ever price per polished carat of US$ 4 million.
Another view of the 39.34 carat type IIb blue rough diamond
The present transaction follows another sensational joint acquisition by the same partnership De Beers and Diacore of five rough blue diamonds ranging from 9.61 carats to 25.75 carats, known as the Letlapa Tala Collection, less than one year ago, also from Petra, in November 2020 for a combined US$ 40.4 million. In March, 2020, Petra also sold an exceptional Type IIa, D-Color, white gem-quality rough diamond, weighing 299 carats to Stargems DMCC, Dubai-based arm of the Antwerp diamond supplier, for US$ 12.2 million
Commenting on the sale of the 39.34-carat diamond, Richard Dully, Petra’s CEO said, “This sets a new milestone for Petra in achieving its highest price for a single stone and follows the sale of the 299-carat Type IIa white diamond in March 2021 to Stargems DMCC and the five blue diamonds comprising the Letlapa Tala Collection in November 2020, purchased by the same De Beers Diacore partnership.”
