Jeweller - December 2020

Louis Vuitton purchases a second large
diamond mined in Botswana
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The 549-carat Sethunya diamond has been acquired by Louis Vuitton and will be cut by HB Antwerp.
Image credit: Louis Vuitton
French fashion house Louis Vuitton has acquired
a 549-carat stone unearthed at the Karowe Mine
in Botswana – 10 months after purchasing the
1,758-carat Sewelô diamond, which was mined
at the same site.
The new diamond has been named Sethunya,
which means ‘flower’ in the Setswana language.
It was discovered in February 2020, a month
after Louis Vuitton acquired the Sewelô, which is
the largest diamond found in Botswana to date.
Both stones were mined by Canada’s Lucara
Diamond Corporation (Lucara).
As part of the deal, the Sethunya diamond will
be cut by HB Antwerp in collaboration with
Louis Vuitton in order to create a personalised
jewellery set for a customer.
A statement from Lucara explained, “Louis
Vuitton envisages crafting beautiful, bespoke
high-value polished stones of variable size
and shape fashioned from this rare specimen
to the client’s wishes: the ultimate personalised
high jewellery experience and the opportunity to
create a truly unique gem, a storied
family heirloom.
“In this way, the client will be involved in the
creative process of plotting, cutting, polishing,
and becoming part of the story that the stone will
carry with it into history.”
Eira Thomas, CEO Lucara, said the company
was “extremely pleased to be building on the
ground-breaking partnership established for the
manufacturing of the Sewelô earlier this year”.
Following the Sethunya sale announcement,
Lucara confirmed it had found another
remarkable diamond – a 998-carat rough – at
Karowe. That stone will be sold directly to HB
Antwerp as part of an overall deal to acquire all
Lucara diamonds above 10.8 carats.
“Lucara is extremely pleased with the continued
recovery of large, high-quality diamonds from
the south lobe of the Karowe mine.
“To recover two [500-carat-plus] diamonds
in 10 months, along with the many other
high-quality diamonds across all the size
ranges, is a testament to the unique aspect
of the resource at Karowe”
EIRA THOMAS
Lucara Diamond Corporation
“To recover two [500-carat-plus] diamonds in
10 months, along with the many other highquality
diamonds across all the size ranges, is a
testament to the unique aspect of the resource
at Karowe,” Thomas said.
The 998-carat rough, the Sethunya, and the
Sewelô are the latest in a string of large
diamonds found at Karowe. In 2015, Lucara
mined the 1,111-carat Lesedi La Rona – the
second-largest Botswanan diamond – from the
site; it was sold to jeweller Graff Diamonds for
$US53 million ($AU77 million) two years later.
In 2016, Lucara sold the 813-carat Constellation
diamond to Dubai-based Nemesis International
for $US63.1 million ($AU86.8 million), setting a
per-carat price record in the process.
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