The largest rough diamond discovered since 1905, the 1,758 carat Sewelo, was revealed with great fanfare last April, named in July and then largely disappeared from view. Now it has resurfaced with a new owner Louis Vuitton the luxury brand better known for its logo-bedecked handbags than its mega-gems, which has been present on Place Vendôme, the heart of the high jewelry market, for less than a decade.
Discovered in April 2019 at the Karowe mine in Botswana owned by Lucara Diamond Corp, a Canadian miner, the baseball-size Sewelo is the second largest rough diamond ever mined.
The Sewelo is the largest rough diamond ever found in Botswana a country that has become the poster child for responsible mining and the third very large diamond discovered in Karowe.
The mine has produced the 813 carat Constellation, uncovered in 2015 and sold for $63 million to Nemesis International in Dubai, a diamond trading company in partnership with the Swiss jeweler de Grisogono and the Lesedi La Rona, discovered in 2016 and sold to Graff for $53 million.
When Lucara held a competition to name the Sewelo, 22,000 Botswana citizens submitted entries. “Sewelo” means “rare find” in Setswana.