Stone found by Vancouver's Rockwell Diamonds fetches $10 million
Mary Frances Hill, Vancouver SunPublished: Thursday, October 09, 2008
If you have to ask how much it costs, you probably can't afford it.
That's true for diamonds, and one in particular.
By the time the most recent rock recovered by Vancouver-based Rockwell Diamonds hits the market, it could come with a price tag of $15 million USThe 189.68-carat stone was found two weeks ago in Rockwell's Klipdam mining operation in South Africa's Northern Cape province.
Rockwell, which owns 74 per cent of the mine, sold the stone this week to one of the world's top diamantaires -- a craftsperson who selects, cuts and polishes diamonds -- for $10,291,050 US, or $54,255 a carat.
Rockwell's president and CEO John Bristow wouldn't reveal the buyer's identity, though he admitted Wednesday that "it's gone to one of the big international diamantaire groups."
The mystery buyer purchased the gemstone in its rough form. By the time it's finished, which could be a year from now, it could be marked up by 50 per cent of its original rough sales value, Bristow said.
Measuring 32 millimetres long and more than 20 millimetres wide, the white stone is classified as D-colour, the whitest on a scale that measures from D to the yellower spectrum starting at G.
"It's got a blue-white shimmer to it -- it's a remarkable piece of diamond, and it has an intense life to it," Bristow said in a phone interview from Kimberley, the capital of Northern Cape.
The buyer will make resin models of the stone and use it as a surrogate of sorts, to map out the potential impurities and examine angles to create a plan of how to cut and polish it precisely.
After months of planning, the stone will be placed on a wheel that impregnates it with a diamond powder.
It's such slow work that polishing only a small angle of a diamond can take days, according to Jeffrey Berner, manager of sales and marketing for Rockwell. Once complete, it's sent to the New York-based Gemological Institute of America to be graded. It could go back and forth between gemologists before it's finally certified.
The sale may appear unusual in a week that has seen markets fall drastically, investors fearful and predictions of a global financial crisis in the wake of a Wall Street bailout.
"Diamonds of this level are investor pieces," said Berner.
"In this market today, you want to leave your money in the bank or put it in a diamond or piece of gold. People are choosing what they can touch or see."
Characterizing their clientele as "high net-worth individuals," Bristow said a gem of this calibre and cost would most likely end up in the portfolio of Middle-Eastern oil barons or Russian oligarchs.
Klipdam mine has run since 1993 as a family business.
By the time Rockwell Diamonds, a shell company under West Pender Street's Hunter Dickinson stable, bought its percentage in late 2006, the mine was an established business, rich with alluvial deposits that turn up large stones regularly, Bristow said.
The mine employs more than 600 employees, all of whom are unionized and receive health benefits, according to Berner.
This week, Pala Investments submitted a hostile takeover bid for Rockwell at 36 cents a share, or a premium at the time of 85 per cent. The offer values the company at $85.7 million.In October 2007, a flawless blue diamond, touted as the world's most expensive diamond, was sold for $7.98 million US, or about $1.32 million US per carat.
A buyer who purchases a rough diamond for $10 million probably expects to keep about 50 per cent of it by the time it's cut and polished, according to Donna Hawrelko, director of education for the Canadian Gemmological Association.
Hawrelko, who is also the president of the U.S.-based Accredited Gemologists Association, and program coordinator of gemology and jewelry at Vancouver Community College, said there may be a dozen or so diamantaires concentrated in Antwerp, Switzerland, or New York who are capable of handling such a rock. would probably think they would send it to [Antwerp-based] Gabi Tolkowski, the world's premiere diamond cutter," she said.
"When you have this quality of diamond, you don't want anybody messing with it."
mfhill@vancouversun.com
Mary Frances Hill, Vancouver SunPublished: Thursday, October 09, 2008
If you have to ask how much it costs, you probably can't afford it.
That's true for diamonds, and one in particular.
By the time the most recent rock recovered by Vancouver-based Rockwell Diamonds hits the market, it could come with a price tag of $15 million USThe 189.68-carat stone was found two weeks ago in Rockwell's Klipdam mining operation in South Africa's Northern Cape province.
Rockwell, which owns 74 per cent of the mine, sold the stone this week to one of the world's top diamantaires -- a craftsperson who selects, cuts and polishes diamonds -- for $10,291,050 US, or $54,255 a carat.
Rockwell's president and CEO John Bristow wouldn't reveal the buyer's identity, though he admitted Wednesday that "it's gone to one of the big international diamantaire groups."
The mystery buyer purchased the gemstone in its rough form. By the time it's finished, which could be a year from now, it could be marked up by 50 per cent of its original rough sales value, Bristow said.
Measuring 32 millimetres long and more than 20 millimetres wide, the white stone is classified as D-colour, the whitest on a scale that measures from D to the yellower spectrum starting at G.
"It's got a blue-white shimmer to it -- it's a remarkable piece of diamond, and it has an intense life to it," Bristow said in a phone interview from Kimberley, the capital of Northern Cape.
The buyer will make resin models of the stone and use it as a surrogate of sorts, to map out the potential impurities and examine angles to create a plan of how to cut and polish it precisely.
After months of planning, the stone will be placed on a wheel that impregnates it with a diamond powder.
It's such slow work that polishing only a small angle of a diamond can take days, according to Jeffrey Berner, manager of sales and marketing for Rockwell. Once complete, it's sent to the New York-based Gemological Institute of America to be graded. It could go back and forth between gemologists before it's finally certified.
The sale may appear unusual in a week that has seen markets fall drastically, investors fearful and predictions of a global financial crisis in the wake of a Wall Street bailout.
"Diamonds of this level are investor pieces," said Berner.
"In this market today, you want to leave your money in the bank or put it in a diamond or piece of gold. People are choosing what they can touch or see."
Characterizing their clientele as "high net-worth individuals," Bristow said a gem of this calibre and cost would most likely end up in the portfolio of Middle-Eastern oil barons or Russian oligarchs.
Klipdam mine has run since 1993 as a family business.
By the time Rockwell Diamonds, a shell company under West Pender Street's Hunter Dickinson stable, bought its percentage in late 2006, the mine was an established business, rich with alluvial deposits that turn up large stones regularly, Bristow said.
The mine employs more than 600 employees, all of whom are unionized and receive health benefits, according to Berner.
This week, Pala Investments submitted a hostile takeover bid for Rockwell at 36 cents a share, or a premium at the time of 85 per cent. The offer values the company at $85.7 million.In October 2007, a flawless blue diamond, touted as the world's most expensive diamond, was sold for $7.98 million US, or about $1.32 million US per carat.
A buyer who purchases a rough diamond for $10 million probably expects to keep about 50 per cent of it by the time it's cut and polished, according to Donna Hawrelko, director of education for the Canadian Gemmological Association.
Hawrelko, who is also the president of the U.S.-based Accredited Gemologists Association, and program coordinator of gemology and jewelry at Vancouver Community College, said there may be a dozen or so diamantaires concentrated in Antwerp, Switzerland, or New York who are capable of handling such a rock. would probably think they would send it to [Antwerp-based] Gabi Tolkowski, the world's premiere diamond cutter," she said.
"When you have this quality of diamond, you don't want anybody messing with it."
mfhill@vancouversun.com
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