Louis Vuitton, a leading French brand in the luxury jewelry market, shows their ambitions by buying the world’s second-largest diamond. It is a 1,758-carat rough diamond that was discovered by the Lucara Diamond Corp in Botswana. It is dark in color and is about the size of your palm. It is named “Sewelô,” which means a “rare find” by the mining company, giving it a name in the African Tswana Language.
The big collaboration
A Belgian diamond manufacturer, HB company, and Lucara collaborated with Louis Vuitton to polish and manufacture a number of smaller jewels from the Swelô diamond, according to a press release. It stated that the purpose of the collaboration between a miner, a cutting-edge manufacturer, and a luxury brand would be to plan, cut and polish a collection of diamonds from Swelô, also the full potential of the stone will only be revealed after it has been polished.
The numbers revolving the agreement were not revealed, but Lucara will keep an up-front payment and a 50% stake in the diamonds produced from the uncut stone. Further, 5% of the resulting sales from the diamond jewels will be invested back in the initiatives of Lucara’s community in Botswana
Eira Thomas, the CEO of Lucara, then said in a press release that they are delighted to partner with Louis Vuitton to transform the historic 1,758-carat Swelô, Botswana’s most significant diamond into a fine jewelry collection. The benefits from the jewels will further celebrate this exceptional discovery and provide direct benefits to the concerns of the local community in Botswana.
LVMH, the parent company, also owns Italian jewelry brand Bulgari and watchmakers TAG Heuer and Hublot. This diamond purchase is its latest move, and in November, it acquired New York jeweler Tiffany & Co. for more than $16 billion.
Swelô, the second-largest diamond in the history, ousted the previous holder of the second-largest diamond – a 1,111-carat diamond, called Lesedi La Rona, that was unearthed from the same mine in Botswana. The only other larger diamond was the 3,106-carat Cullinan Diamond that was discovered in 1905 in South Africa. The Cullinan was also eventually cut into smaller stones that now form a part of the British royal family’s crown jewels.
The final value of Swelô will be dictated by factors like the size, color, clarity, and how it is cut. There is yet to be a price put on the stone by Lucara and Louis Vuitton, but it can be tens of millions of dollars on the basis of the previous sales. The Lesedi La Rona was sold for $53 million to a luxury jeweler Graff Diamonds in 2017.
In conclusion
Swelô diamond’s price is a mystery, but the market has taken wild guesses on the basis of the previous sales and counts down to tens of millions of dollars. Swelô now owns the place of the second-largest diamond in the world, first place been taken by the Cullinan diamond that was 3,106 carat.
