South African white diamond could fetch more than R400m on auction
The largest white diamond ever to come to auction will hit the block at Christie’s in Geneva on May 11. The 228-carat, pear-shaped diamond carries a presale estimate of $20 million to $30 million (~R434 million). The stone, which is about the size of a chicken’s egg, was mined about 20 years ago in South Africa but is only now coming up for public sale. “Right now there is a great appetite in the market for diamonds,” says Rahul Kadakia, the international head of jewellery at Christie’s. The firm also brokered the gem’s initial private sale to a collector, who held on to it for most of the past two decades. “With the market the way it is — in 2021 there was a huge resurgence both in the art market and the jewellery market—the second owner approached us and said, ‘How would you feel about marketing this for us at public auction?'”