The rights to the world’s most expensive rough diamond, the 813-carat diamond dubbed “The Constellation”, has been purchased by Swiss jeweler De Grisogono.
To mark the opening of the 28th Biennale des Antiquaires, de GRISOGONO is delighted to announce the acquisition of The Constellation, the world’s most expensive rough diamond, at a press conference held in the Grand Palais 10 may 2016.
The purchase represents a ground-breaking moment for the company in its journey to become one of the world’s leading high jewellery and watch brands.
The Constellation naturally boasts the colour, clarity and carat weighting of an internationally and historically significant stone.
“I am thrilled to have the chance to work with such an incredible and important diamond as The Constellation. As a jeweller I am conscious of the extraordinary responsibility I have to the stone and to the team who have worked so hard to secure it. To be able to bring my creative skills to the cutting and setting process of such a stone is both an honour and a privilege and I cannot wait to realise my vision for it.” said FAWAZ GRUOSI, Founder and Executive Board member of De Grisogono.
Update:
The 813-carat “Constellation” rough diamond has been sent to Israel to undergo the first stages of a cutting process that is expected to yield a 350-carat D-flawless polished stone — a gem that would rank as the fourth-largest faceted diamond in the world.
When he first purchased the rights to cut and polish the $63 million rough diamond from Dubai-based Nemesis International in September of 2016, the colorful founder of de Grisogono, Fawaz Gruosi, famously referred to the stone as his “princess.”
“I love her and I hate her,” he said. “Love because something like this is so exceptional — I could never dream to be able to have a stone like this in my own hands — and hate her because I don’t know how I’m going to dress her.”
Now, 15 months later, Gruosi has her attire all worked out. If all goes according to plan, the 813-carat rough — the most expensive of all time — will yield two historically significant D-flawless polished stones weighing 325 carats and 100 carats, as well as eight smaller diamonds, according to experts.