DIAMOND FETCHES $18.8M

“THE Rock”, the biggest white diamond to be sold at auction, went under the hammer in Geneva yesterday, fetching $18.8 million (about R302m). The 228.31-carat stone, larger than a golf ball, is “a truly exceptional pear-shaped diamond”, said Max Fawcett, head of jewels at Christie’s auction house in Geneva. “It’s perfectly symmetrical and is estimated at $20 to $30m.” The large diamond was extracted from a mine in South Africa in the early 2000s and has been shown in Dubai and New York. |