I dreamed a dream

[WinkHPD]

You can read the article about the sale here.

http://www.jckonline.com/editorial-article/the-worlds-largest-rough-has-been-sold-finally/

The Lesedi La Rona. 1,109 carats. What would you do with such a piece of history? Anyone can answer, not just diamond cutters.

I would be seriously tempted to leave her just as she is. It is a bit big though for a pendant. Darn. As is it weights 7.8237 ounces, just short of half a pound. If I owned this beauty I would have a special room for her and I would take her out and photograph her from a hundred different angles and then spend months looking at both her exterior skin and the interior structure though a microscope. I suspect I could gaze at this diamond for years before I got tired of it.

What are your thoughts?

Wink

 

[cflutist]

I would have Paul cut it into the largest Crafted by Infinity ever. Imagine it's virtual facets and spectral fans, it would be out of this world

 

[AprilBaby]

Upgraded ring!

 

[Matata]

Some people here would halo it LOL. I couldn't cut it. If cut it's just another large faceted diamond . Uncut, raw nature in this case imho is perfection.

 

[HDer]

What's wrong with haloing it?

Seriously though I agree with you. Leave it as is. Cutting it and getting rid of half of its weight seems like such a waste. Why not save it for now and wait until we get the technology to cut 1000 facet diamonds or something.

 

[Karl_K]

Have it scanned and design a one of high performance design and have Yoram personally cut it for me.

 

[Karl_K]

What's wrong with haloing it?

Seriously though I agree with you. Leave it as is. Cutting it and getting rid of half of its weight seems like such a waste. Why not save it for now and wait until we get the technology to cut 1000 facet diamonds or something.

Don't need new tech for a 1000 facets. Just 6 months to a year of a master cutters time.

 

[Karl_K]

How about something crazy like a diamond with 3-5 tables and no matter which one was up it is rated as ags0 light performance.
I think it might be doable but would take a year to design.
Dunno if it would fit that rough however.

 

[bmfang]

I’d leave it as is. It’s a beautiful piece of rough.

 

[valeria101]

I would be seriously tempted to leave her just as she is.

It seems that the object has already been tampered with - the last sentence says that a 370 cts shard was detached and sold earlier to Graff through LTD; a pictures of this sample - WWW

First thing that comes to mind: WTH are the diamonds with least structural defects so dam' crookedly shaped: structural perfection & growth step instability (C2 ?) ... If I knew how to look for this sort of charade in the two diamonds, I would want them very badly !

There is an oblique mention of synthetic euhedrals on Pricescope - WWW , but I wouldn't know if my little problem relates @EEFranklin

 

[valeria101]

something crazy

I do not see how to construct anything acting as a pavilion - the facets of the opposite side are too far & at the wrong angle ... [back of the envelope].

_

... then again, the large outshine a field of small bright b__rds from some distance WWW only - fair enough ! The reverse seems possible - one could reconstruct the play of light of large facets seen too close - from a field of ideal table cuts, perhaps ... which would be fun (so is the rough - WWW !). Pricescope seems to already have some wisdom on the matter, from the talk of single cut pave ,-) ... doens't it !

Obvioulsy, I do not know what to make of large diamonds ... any more than @Wink, who wouldn't cut the one !


____
Now that I remembered Hirst's devotion - he did make a sale twice the Lesedi La Rona's worth WWW - if one & only one (his words at the end of the Reuters article).

 

[WinkHPD]

Upgraded ring!

LOL. I still have my priceless Pricescope rock too. I have thought about recutting it for less windowing, but have decided to keep her as she is...

Wink

 

[WinkHPD]

What's wrong with haloing it?

Seriously though I agree with you. Leave it as is. Cutting it and getting rid of half of its weight seems like such a waste. Why not save it for now and wait until we get the technology to cut 1000 facet diamonds or something.

Seriously, a 1000 faceted diamond of a normal size would have a crushed ice appearance that some would love, but more would not like at all. In a diamond this size, a truly gifted designer could come up with a design that would be ablaze with sparkle and dispersion. Just think of the internal virtual mirrors that could be created with a proper design. I will now take my dream to a new level, contemplating the what ifs that this thought engenders.

Wink

 

[WinkHPD]

Obvioulsy, I do not know what to make of large diamonds ... any more than @Wink, who wouldn't cut the one !

I have had the pleasure of owning a couple of rough diamonds, legitimately sourced, over the years. One was destroyed by an incompetent jeweler who was making a custom designed pendant for me to give my wife by casting the diamond in place, which totally destroyed the outer rind of the diamond that made it so uniquely beautiful. (Even took it back to Lazare Kaplan, one of my suppliers back in the late 70's, but they said nothing could be done to restore it to its former beauty.)

Another almost perfectly formed octahedron has a smaller octahedron protruding from one of the crystal faces. To cut it without the included octahedron would yield a diamond of less than a quarter carat, which in my opinion would be a crime against nature.

I love diamond crystals for their own special beauty. Even smaller ones, the ones I can actually own rather than only dream about...

Wink

 

[valeria101]

Another almost perfectly formed octahedron has a smaller octahedron protruding from one of the crystal faces. To cut it without the included octahedron would yield a diamond of less than a quarter carat, which in my opinion would be a crime against nature.

The Forum's tradition demands pictures - sooner or later

[subscribing to thread]

 

[HDer]

Alas, my prediction is that for all of our hopes and dreams this will end up being cut into a regular emerald cut, to maximize its commercial value.

But there is still time. Someone call Laurence Graff!

 

[cflutist]

Upgraded ring!

Nah, that looks like a 70% table to me.
Mine has a 54% table and a high crown
Bought this for $2 (it was on sale) from Hobby Lobby in Boise ID while visiting my brother.

 

[valeria101]

think of the internal virtual mirrors

The latest large cut colourless diamonds in the news have been perfectly conventional. Not expecting anything else.

Much that I can tell, such steps could scale WWW & conform to various outlines ...

 

[OoohShiny]

Bit of a threadbump and the rough has now been cut...

https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/a-mere-302-37-carats.248185/
https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/anyone-in-the-market-for-a-doorknob-asscher.248178/



... but I noticed that the GIA presentations at JCK 2019 include one putting forward the concept that the Lesedi was actually part of a larger stone, the other part of which is/was the 812ct Constellation!

https://www.gia.edu/gem-event-jck-las-vegas-2019

Lesedi and Constellation Diamonds
Karen Smit, Ph.D., Research Scientist
Saturday, June 1, 4:00 p.m.
Sunday, June 2, 11:00 a.m.

The Karowe Mine in Botswana recovered several large colorless diamonds in November 2015, including the 1109 ct Lesedi la Rona and 812 ct Constellation. Come see why GIA claims that these were all part of the same 2744 ct diamond.

As @psadmin is at JCK this year, I wonder if Andrey will be able to attend!

 

[AV_]

.

The crystal was beautiful... the shape reminds some engraved diamonds - with signatures not likely to be cut off as many must have been... - a Hell of a bet with time!

The cut does not measure up to what it has destroyed - it is just very correct

 

[OoohShiny]

Some great back-story to this diamond in the New Yorker as part of a wider story - thanks for @foxinsox for posting it!

New Yorker article about the Sewelo diamond and Lucara mine

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/02/03/the-woman-shaking-up-the-diamond-industry/ Really interesting article about the woman running the mine and their different practices

www.pricescope.com

 

[sledge]

Nah, that looks like a 70% table to me.
Mine has a 54% table and a high crown
Bought this for $2 (it was on sale) from Hobby Lobby in Boise ID while visiting my brother.

Bwahahahhahaha!!!!

Don't think I was here when all this originally posted but I love how as I'm scrolling I had the same thoughts.