It is believed that this rare pink diamond, weighing 34 grams, is the largest to have been found in the past 300 years..The “Lulo Rose” is the name given to the 170-carat stone after the mine in Angola where it was discovered. Since the 185-carat Daria-i-Noor, which was cut from a larger stone and is now one of the Iranian royal jewels, it is thought that this pink diamond is the biggest pink diamond to have been mined. A category 2a diamond, the Lulo Rose contains little to no imperfections.
Diamantino Azevedo, Angola’s minister of mineral resources, said, “This record and spectacular pink diamond recovered from Lulo continues to showcase Angola as an important player on the world stage,” It is the fifth-largest diamond recovered from the Lulo mine, a joint venture between the Angolan government and Australia’s Lucapa Diamond Company. Similar gems have previously been purchased for tens of millions of dollars, with one, known as Pink Star, selling at an auction in Hong Kong in 2017 for $71.2 million (£59 million).
However, until the Lulo Rose is cut, it is hard to predict how much it will sell for, according to independent fine jewelry expert Joanna Hardy. Pink diamonds are incredibly rare, but they also have highly rough physical characteristics that make them difficult to manipulate into forms. According to Hardy, it is unlikely that the stone will be displayed to the public or even put up for auction because shops have customers lined up to buy such an uncommon find. The Daria-i-Noor, a pink diamond of the biggest known size, was found in India, and experts think it was cut from a much larger stone.
The Cullinan diamond, discovered in South Africa in 1905, is the biggest rough diamond of any color ever measured. It was divided into 105 distinct stones, totaling 3,107 carats, or more than half a kilogram. The biggest of these, the Cullinan I, is a piece of the UK Crown Jewels and is the largest clean-cut diamond in the world.
