Unique Jewels Blog

New York City Transit workers recently came to the aid of a distraught woman who had accidentally dropped an irreplaceable 18-karat gold ring into a subway grate above the "6" line in East Harlem.



Bronx resident Myra Lora and her boyfriend were walking along Lexington Avenue at 103rd Street when Lora went to take off a glove. As the glove slipped off, so did her gold ring — a ring engraved with the names of her three children.

She had worn the sentimental keepsake for 25 years.



The ring fell through the grate, but not down to the subway level. Miraculously, it landed on a support structure just inches below the sidewalk.

The couple could see the ring through the grate, but it was out of reach.

The next morning, the couple sought the help of the MTA (Metropolitan Transit Authority), and in less than an hour a team of NYC Transit Maintenance of Way employees arrived on scene.



The trio cordoned off the area and lifted the grate with curious onlookers taking pictures and videos of the rescue mission. Then, MTA employee Latasha Goodall ceremoniously plucked the ring from its precarious perch and placed it on the finger of a grateful Lora.



The 70-year-old resident cried tears of joy and gave Goodall a big hug.



“This is such an overwhelming moment for me because this ring has been on my finger for 25 years and has extraordinary emotional value to me,” said Lora. “No words can describe my happiness at being reunited with this ring, and I am so grateful to the New York City Transit workers who returned it to me.”

Goodall was equally overjoyed.



"I'm so happy we were able to reunite Myra with her most precious jewel," Goodall said in a press release. “I feel so lucky to experience these moments when these incidents occur, and Myra’s graciousness and appreciation made reuniting her with that ring so special."

NYC Transit President Demetrius Crichlow praised his crew for going above and beyond for their fellow New Yorkers.

“We all see platform controllers, conductors and bus operators, but there are a lot of people behind the scenes who we don't always see who keep the city moving and care about New Yorkers.”

Credits: Images courtesy of Marc A. Hermann / MTA.

On January 26, 1905, Captain Frederick Wells was conducting a standard inspection of the Premier Mine in South Africa about 18 feet below the surface when a glint off the wall caught his eye. At first, he thought it was a shard of glass embedded by a practical joker. But, then he pulled out his pocket knife and pried the object from the wall.



What he extracted was the now-famous 3,106-carat Cullinan Diamond, the largest gem-quality rough diamond ever discovered. The Cullinan weighed 621 grams (1.37 pounds) and was 10.1 cm (3.97 inches) long, 6.3 cm (2.5 inches) wide and 5.9 cm (2.3 inches) deep.

Two years later, the mine owners sold the Cullinan for £150,000 to the South African Transvaal Colony government, which intended to present it to King Edward VII on his 66th birthday as a commemorative tribute to five years of peace between the two countries following the Second Boer War.

The challenge of shipping the world's largest diamond from South Africa to the King of England would provide the first of two examples of how officials used decoys and diversions to ensure its safe passage.

This is how royalasscher.com described the plan: "With the ravenous eyes of the international press watching the diamond’s every move, the colonial government set up a decoy of armed guards and military personnel, intentionally making a grand production of transporting the Cullinan to the British capital."

Actually, the Cullinan diamond was shipped to London in a plain box via registered post. And the diversionary tactic worked perfectly.

(Interestingly, luxury jeweler Harry Winston would use a similar method to deliver the Hope Diamond from his New York office to the Smithsonian in Washington, DC, a half century later.)

The British King was advised that the Cullinan needed to be cleaved into smaller stones before it could be cut and polished. This was enormously complex and involved significant risk for a stone valued in 1908 at £250,000, more than £38.4 million ($49.4 million) today. The King hired M.J. Levy & Nephews to oversee the operation. At the time, insurance was taken out “against loss, theft and damage of every kind, excepting damage caused by cutting.”

M.J Levy & Nephews arranged for the diamond to be cut and polished by the renowned Asscher Company in Amsterdam, which had successfully cut the previously largest known diamond, the 995.2-carat Excelsior, five years earlier.

And here is where the second decoy operation was put into motion.

For Joseph Asscher to cut the stone, the Cullinan would need to make another perilous journey to the heart of the diamond cutting industry — Amsterdam.

Once again, with much fanfare and public attention, a sealed box supposedly containing the Cullinan was placed on a Royal Navy ship destined for The Netherlands. In this case, the box was empty.

Joseph Asscher’s brother, Abraham, meanwhile boarded a passenger ship heading to the same destination. Stowed away in the deep pocket of his heavy coat lay the uncut diamond that had become the talk of the world.

The mission was a success as Abraham and the Cullinan arrived safely at Tolstraat 127, Amsterdam, the headquarters and cutting factory of Asscher Diamond Company.

After an extensive period of studying the stone, Joseph Asscher started the cutting process by creating an incision in the diamond of approximately 6.5mm deep. It has been reported that Asscher broke his tool when he initially struck the stone. A week later, after developing stronger tools, Asscher successfully cleaved the Cullinan into two principal parts, weighing 1,977 carats and 1,040 carats.

It’s been reported that the failed first attempt was done in front of a gallery of the press and local dignitaries, while the second attempt was accomplished with nobody in the room, except for a Notary Public. Legend has it that Asscher struck the diamond so hard that he fainted after it split.

Over the following months, these diamonds were further polished and cut to create nine principal stones, 96 smaller diamonds and a quantity of polished “ends.”

The largest of the Cullinan gems, the Great Star of Africa (Cullinan I), weighed 530.4 carats and was set atop the Sovereign’s Sceptre. The 317-carat Second Great Star of Africa (Cullinan II) was set in the Imperial State Crown.

And how was Asscher compensated for his work? The master diamond cutter was paid in “chippings,” the small fragments that result from the cutting process. And some of those diamond fragments still live more than 100 years later in the bridal sets of Asscher’s descendants.

Credit: Cullinan replica photo by James St. John, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

A team of Egyptian and French archaeologists recently unearthed a 2,600-year-old "pot of gold" at Karnak Temple near Luxor, Egypt. The most remarkable item extracted from the broken pottery vessel was a gold statuette honoring the ancient deities Amun, Khonsu and Mut.



Referred to as the Theban Triad, the three figures included Amun, the chief deity of Thebes; Mut, the wife of Amun and the goddess of creation; and their son Khonsu, the god of the moon, time and healing.

The researchers believe the statuette was worn around the neck as an amulet. It was likely a symbol of devotion and divine protection.



Other jewelry in the vessel included golden rings, small golden amulets, a metal brooch, amulets representing the gods in animal forms, and a large number of beads, some of which were plated with gold. The eye-shaped "wadjet" amulets were believed to have healing power and symbolized rebirth.



"All pieces are in good condition, with the jewelry being remarkably well-preserved," noted Dr. Mohamed Ismail Khaled, secretary-general of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities.

Credited with the discovery is the Egyptian-French archaeological mission, which is affiliated with the French-Egyptian Center for the Study of Karnak Temples (CFEETK). Also cooperating in the ongoing project is the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities and the French National Center for Scientific Research.



The items linked to Egypt's 26th Dynasty (664-525 BC) were found during the excavation work conducted in the northwestern sector of the Karnak Temples, a series of structures built about 4,000 years ago and modified over millennia.

The scientists could not provide a conclusive answer as to why the golden items were buried in a pottery vessel. Some believe the pot of gold represented a sacred offering, while others believe it might have been a donation to the temple treasury. Still, another theory is that the cache might have been buried to prevent the valuable items from being discovered and confiscated during times of political unrest.

The Egyptian-French archaeological mission is currently working on restoring and documenting these discoveries, which are set to be displayed in the Luxor Museum.

Credits: Jewelry photos courtesy of the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities. Temple photo by Marc Ryckaert (MJJR), CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Welcome to Music Friday when we bring you nostalgic songs with jewelry, gemstones or precious metals in the title or lyrics. Today’s tune, “I Can’t Give You Anything But Love,” has its roots in New York City during the Roaring Twenties. In the song, a young suitor tells his girlfriend that he really wants to buy her a fine-quality diamond bracelet but — for now — all he can offer is love.



Jimmy McHugh and Dorothy Fields had written the score for a revue at New York City's Les Ambassadeurs Club in 1928, but were lacking a “smash hit” that their producer demanded. Their inspiration for “I Can’t Give You Anything But Love” came from a chance encounter with a young couple in front of Tiffany’s on Fifth Avenue.

It seemed to the writers that the man didn’t have the resources to buy the diamond jewelry in the display window, and then they heard him say, “Gee, honey I’d like to get you a sparkler like that, but right now, I can’t give you nothin’ but love!”

McHugh and Fields ducked into the nearby Steinway Tunnel of the #7 subway line and composed the breakout show tune in less than an hour.

Their lyrics: “Gee I’d like to see you looking swell, baby. / Diamond bracelets Woolworth doesn’t sell, baby. / Till that lucky day you know darned well, baby. / I can’t give you anything but love.”

The song was originally performed by Adelaide Hall, but over the years, “I Can’t Give You Anything But Love” has been covered by the some of most famous names from yesteryear, including Tony Bennett, Bing Crosby, Dean Martin, Judy Garland, Doris Day and Ella Fitzgerald. On the list of the 100 most-recorded songs from 1890 to 1954, the McHugh/Fields show tune rated #24.

The version of the song featured here was sung by Bennett in 1957 and appeared on his LP titled Tony. Interestingly, 57 years later, Bennett would reprise the song in a duet with Lady Gaga. That version appeared on their 2014 album, Cheek to Cheek.

Anthony Dominick Benedetto, better known as Tony Bennett, was born in Queens, NY, in 1926. At the age of 13, he started singing for money at several Italian restaurants in his neighborhood. Upon his discharge from the Army after World War II, Bennett was taught the bel canto singing discipline at the American Theatre Wing.

In 1949, he got his big break when Pearl Bailey asked him to open for her in Greenwich Village. Bob Hope, who had been invited to her show, was impressed by Bennett’s talent and offered to take him on the road. The next year, Bennett signed with Colombia Records.

Bennett performed well into his 90s and passed away in July of 2023 at the age of 96. During his seven-decade career, Bennett sold more than 50 million records and won 20 Grammy Awards, including a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2001.

He won his first Grammy for "I Left My Heart in San Francisco" in 1963, and scored his last Grammy in the category Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album in 2022 for his Love for Sale collaboration with Lady Gaga.

Please check out the audio track of Bennett’s rendition of “I Can’t Give You Anything But Love.” The lyrics are below if you’d like to sing along…

“I Can’t Give You Anything But Love”
Written by Dorothy Fields and Jimmy McHugh. Performed by Tony Bennett.

I can’t give you anything but love, baby.
That’s the only thing I’ve plenty of, baby.

Dream awhile, scheme awhile
We’re sure to find
Happiness and I guess
All those things you’ve always pined for.

Gee I’d like to see you looking swell, baby.
Diamond bracelets Woolworth doesn’t sell, baby.
Till that lucky day you know darned well, baby.
Can’t give you anything but love.

Can’t give you anything but love, my baby.
That’s the only thing I’ve plenty of, my baby.

Dream awhile and scheme awhile
And we’re sure to find
Happiness and I guess
All those things you’ve always pined for.

Gee I’d like to see you looking swell, my baby.
With your diamond bracelets Woolworth doesn’t sell, my baby.
Till that lucky day you know darned well, baby.
Can’t give you anything but love.

Gee I’d like to see you looking swell, my baby.
With your diamond bracelets Woolworth doesn’t sell, my baby.
Till that lucky day you know darned well, my baby.
Let's do one for the old time…
Can’t give you anything but love.



Credits: Tony Bennett photo by Tom Beetz, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

New analysis of 26 jewelry artifacts unearthed 60 years ago at early Iron Age graveyards in Poland — and stored unceremoniously at the Częstochowa Museum — revealed that five of them were crafted from meteoric metal.



Armed with cutting-edge technology, Polish and French scientists recently revisited the 2,700-year-old objects extracted from burial sites at Częstochowa-Raków and Częstochowa-Mirów, and were surprised to learn that the jewelry was fabricated from an exceedingly rare meteoric iron.

Three bracelets, an ankle ring and a pin all contained iron with a uniquely high concentration of nickel. It's a type of iron characteristic common to ataxites, a rare type of iron meteorite.



The scientists conducted their analysis using X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (p-XRF), as well as scanning electron microscopy with energy-dispersive spectroscopy (SEM/EDS).

Their findings were recently published in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports.

According to archaeologymag.com, the jewelry items date back to about 750–600 BC and are linked to the Lusatian culture, which flourished in the areas that are now Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, eastern Germany and western Ukraine.

Unlike other cultures, such as the Egyptians, who revered meteoric metal, the Lusatians simply saw the heaven-sent material as a handy resource. Lusatian metalworkers didn't hesitate to combine meteoritic iron with terrestrial iron to achieve special patterns, and the distribution of the meteoric jewelry throughout the grave site didn't seem to be determined by gender, age or social status.

The scientists believe that the jewelry artifacts represent the oldest know version of patterned iron, predating both the wootz and Damascus steel patterning techniques by hundreds of years.

Credit: Jewelry image via Częstochowa Museum/Archeologia Żywa/Facebook. Cemetery photo by Andrzej Otrębski, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Leila Roker, the daughter of The Today Show's affable weatherman Al Roker, is sporting a pear-shaped diamond engagement ring after accepting a romantic marriage proposal from boyfriend Sylvain Gricourt in Venice last Friday.



On Sunday, the 26-year-old freelance journalist and content creator turned to Instagram to announce the big news.

Roker shared a carousel of photos from the momentous event along with a heartfelt caption that read, “8 years ago, I moved to Paris, 7 years ago I met my person and best friend, and 2 days ago, that person took me on the most amazing surprise trip to Venice to ask me to spend the rest of our lives together.”



On his own Instagram page, Gricourt, 33, posted a similar grouping of pics captured in and around Venice's Hotel Danieli, a venue famous for its history, culture and opulent accommodations.

The SEO content manager wrote, "Just two days ago I put a ring on her finger, and that's the best thing I did in the last 33 years."

And then, in French, he added, "@leilaroker qu’est-ce que tu dis de passer les 33 prochaines ensemble, et toutes celles d’après?" which means in English, "What do you say we spend the next 33 together, and all the ones after that?"



In one of the shared photos, Gricourt can be seen on bended knee as he presents to Roker a ring box containing a sizable pear-shaped diamond mounted with a sleek three-prong setting on a simple gold band.

NBC's Al Roker and his wife, ABC journalist Deborah Roberts, couldn't have been more excited about their daughter's announcement.

Roker wrote, "Well, it is now official. @gricourt.thegreat has proposed to my little girl, @leilaroker in the romantic city of Venice. We could not be happier, and look forward to planning for these two wonderful young folks coming together."

"We could not be happier and more joyful!!!!," added Roberts. "Welcome to the family Sylvain! Now let’s plan a wedding!"

Where will the wedding take place? We're guessing that the top three choices may be Paris (The City of Love, where the couple resides), New York (The Big Apple, where Leila's parents work) or Venice (the romantic Floating City, where Leila and Sylvain officially declared their love for each other).

Credits: Photos via Instagram / leilaroker.

In the world of gemstones, hard and tough are two very different things. While diamond may be the hardest material known to man, when rating a gemstone's resistance to breaking or chipping, a special variety of jade rises to the top of the "toughest minerals" list.



For millennia, nephrite jade has been revered not only for its beauty, but also for its incredible toughness. Ancient civilizations prized this resilient stone, shaping it into weapons, tools, sacred artifacts — and jewelry.

The Chinese, as early as the Neolithic period (3500–2000 BC), crafted nephrite into ritual blades and ceremonial vessels, believing it symbolized strength and immortality. The Māori of New Zealand used it for chopping tools and war clubs, passing them down through generations. Even today, in China, a pierced jade disk is a symbol of heaven.



Unlike other stones that shatter under pressure, nephrite’s densely interwoven fibrous structure makes it nearly unbreakable — perfect for practical, spiritual and decorative uses.

Interestingly, super-resilient nephrite jade scores a modest 6 to 6.5 on the Mohs hardness scale. Diamond, by comparison, rates a perfect 10.

And the gap in hardness is even more amplified by the fact that the Mohs scale is not linear. For example, diamond at "10" is four times as hard as corundum at "9", and corundum is twice as hard as topaz at "8".

The relative softness of nephrite makes it easy to fabricate into rings, necklaces, pendants, anklets and beaded bracelets.

According to the Gemological Institute of America, for both nephrite and its pretty cousin, jadeite, green is the most valued color. Semi-transparent clarity and fine texture also increase jade’s value dramatically. The most common colors of nephrite jade are shades of green (from pale to "spinach"), but they also occur in white, gray and black.

While jadeite has a slightly higher hardness rating than nephrite, the fibrous crystal structure of the latter makes it significantly tougher.

Nephrite jade is mined in Canada, China, Australia, Russia, Taiwan and the US, specifically in the states of Wyoming, Wisconsin and Washington.

Credit: Jewelry photo by Lê Phạm Gia Hy, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Close-up photo by James St. John, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Beaming with star power, the obelisk-shaped, fantasy-cut “Dom Pedro” aquamarine is one of the top attractions at the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC. Standing nearly 14 inches tall and weighing 10,363 carats, Dom Pedro is the largest faceted aquamarine in the world and, arguably, the most beautiful example of March’s official birthstone.



The Dom Pedro is the masterwork of the late Bernd Munsteiner, an Idar-Oberstein-based gem cutter, who has been called “The Picasso of Gems” and “The Father of the Fantasy Cut.” When Munsteiner viewed the rough, 57-pound, two-foot-tall crystal for the first time, “it was love a first sight,” according to Smithsonian.com. And transforming the rough crystal into the Dom Pedro would become the “project of his life.”



Munsteiner spent four months studying the towering aquamarine before embarking on a grueling six-month labor of love to meticulously cut, facet and polish the stone in a project he would call "Ondas Maritimas" in Portuguese, or “Waves of the Sea.”

The Dom Pedro was originally part of a much larger crystal that was discovered by three Brazilian prospectors — garimperos — in the state of Minas Gerais in the late 1980s. While being transported, the one-meter-long, 100-pound crystal fractured in two places. Two pieces were eventually cut into smaller gemstones, but the largest piece had much greater potential. Its exquisite sea-blue color and pristine clarity opened a window of opportunity for a cutter with the skill of Munsteiner.

Munsteiner reportedly made hundreds of sketches before deciding on the lozenge-shaped “negative facets” that are “stepped” along the two backsides of the obelisk. In certain lighting conditions, the gem gives the illusion of being illuminated from within.

The former curator of the Smithsonian National Gem Collection, Jeffrey Post, described it as an "ethereal glow."

While cutting the gem completely by hand, Munsteiner was never concerned with the eventual carat weight. His attention was purely on the beauty and the brilliance. The finished piece measured four inches across the base and weighed 4.57 pounds.

“When you focus on the carat weight, it’s only about the money,” he said. “I cannot create when I’m worried about the money.”

Unveiled at the annual gem fair in Basel, Switzerland, in 1993, the Dom Pedro became a traveling ambassador for the German government, an example of German craftsmanship and ingenuity.

But, by the late 1990s, the gem’s future was in jeopardy. The Brazilian consortium partner wanted the gem to be sold so he could recoup his investment. Gem collector Jane Mitchell and her husband Jeffery Bland stepped in to purchase the Dom Pedro in 1999, ensuring that it wouldn’t be cut up and made into many smaller aquamarines.

The stone was generously gifted to the Smithsonian by the couple in 2011 and made part of the permanent exhibition at the very end of 2012. Munsteiner passed away on June 6, 2024, in Stipshausen, Germany. He was 81 years old.

Aquamarine is the pretty soft blue variety of the mineral beryl. Other gems in the same family include green emerald, pink morganite and golden yellow heliodore.

Credits: Dom Pedro photos by Bruce Carter for The Jeweler Blog.

Saturday Night Live: Weekend Update anchor Colin Jost recently recounted how he spent a day dumpster diving in an effort to rescue a $400,000 diamond engagement ring that was accidentally thrown in the trash by his movie star wife, Scarlett Johansson.



Jost revealed his malodorous encounter with the not-so-glamorous side of The Big Apple while hosting an episode of Amazon Prime Video's Pop Culture Jeopardy!. During the segment, a contestant quipped about a lost engagement ring that was later found in a trash can at a bar.

That comment led the host to segue into a story about his own experience.

“My wife actually lost her engagement ring,” Jost revealed, adding that she believed she “accidentally threw it in the trash.”

And this was no ordinary engagement ring. The statement piece he gave her in 2019 featured an 11-carat, light brown, modified pear-shaped diamond designed to "float" on her finger adjacent to a brown ceramic band.

Jost told the Pop Culture Jeopardy! audience that he was determined to find the ring and picked through the trash of at least 12 New York City dumpsters. Still, he came up empty.

A dejected Jost returned home to report the bad news about the ring, but before he could say anything, his movie star wife coyly admitted, "Oops! It was in my pocket."

"It was a great day for me," he joked.

It was July of 2019, when the Internet got its first glimpse of Johansson’s unusual engagement ring. At the time, jewelry experts placed the ring’s value in the range of $200,000 to $450,000. The couple had gotten engaged in May of that year, but the ring didn't surface until Johansson’s appearance at the 2019 Comic-Con in San Diego.

Jewelry-industry pundits recognized the design by James Claude Taffin de Givenchy of New York-based Taffin Jewelry. The brand had shared what seemed to be an identical ring on its Instagram account in June of 2019.

The ring generated a buzz for a number of reasons. Not only was the light-brown hue unusual for an engagement diamond, but so was the egg shape — a mashup of the traditional pear and oval. What’s more, the claw-set diamond seemed to float on the finger, offset from the undulating ceramic and gold band.

Marion Fasel of the online jewelry publication The Adventurine reported that she got the chance to try on the now-famous Taffin ring in May of 2019.

Fasel wrote at the time, “If James de Givenchy is indeed responsible for Scarlett’s stunning engagement ring, a closer look at the jewel… could reveal it to be one of the most stylish and stunning any actress in Hollywood has ever worn.”

The 40-year-old actress and 42-year-old SNL star started dating in 2017 and were married in 2020. They share two children, three-year-old Cosmo and 10-year-old Rose Dorothy from Johansson's previous marriage to Romain Dauriac.

Credits: Couple photo by Canal22, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Ring image via Instagram.com/theadventurine.

Lucara CEO William Lamb hinted in a recent interview with South Africa's Financial Mail that the second-largest diamond ever discovered — the 2,488-carat Motswedi — may remain "in the rough."



Since the massive stone was unearthed at the famous Karowe Mine in Botswana in August of 2024, there has been speculation as to who the potential buyer may be and how the stone may be cut and polished.

Lamb told Rapaport senior analyst Joshua Freedman in September 2024 that the quality of the 2,488-carat diamond was still being assessed and it was still unclear how this “legacy” stone (defined as being valued at $10 million or more) would be sold.



In that interview, the Lucara executive had left open the possibility that the eventual buyer of “the largest stone in living memory” might end up being a museum or collector.

Now it appears as if the museum option may come to pass. Lucara is envisioning a different route for this treasure, to be showcased and admired by the masses while keeping the integrity of the remarkable specimen which has a rugged silvery-white appearance and weighs in at 17.58 ounces (1.1 pounds).

“We’ve had discussions with three different museums across the globe who want to acquire the (Motswedi) stone," Lamb recently told Financial Mail. "They want it in the rough. They don’t want to polish it.”

Lamb explained that selling stones of this size is difficult due to the limited number of buyers who could afford them.

It took nearly two years for Lucara to sell another impressive diamond — the 1,109-carat Lesedi La Rona. It was originally put up for auction at Sotheby’s in June of 2016 with a reserve price of $70 million, but bids stalled at $61 million. It was eventually sold to British luxury jeweler Graff Diamonds for the relative bargain price of $53 million.

By November 2018, Graff had transformed the Lesedi La Rona into 67 diamonds ranging from just under 1 carat to more than 100 carats.

Most notably, the largest diamond ever discovered — the 3,106-carat Cullinan (1905) — was cut by the Asscher Company into nine principal diamonds and 96 smaller diamonds. The Cullinan I and II – known as the Great Star of Africa and the Lesser Star of Africa — are set in the Crown Jewels of Britain. They weigh 530 carats and 317 carats, respectively. The remaining seven principal diamonds, ranging in size from 94 carats to 4.39 carats, are in the collection of the British Royal Family.

In Setswana, the local language in Botswana, “Motswedi” means a flow of underground water that emerges to the surface offering life and vitality. The name was the winning entry from a Legacy National Diamond Naming Competition, which received more than 39,000 submissions from the citizens of Botswana.

Lucara’s Karowe Mine is credited as the source of seven of the top 10 largest rough diamonds ever discovered, thanks in part to the company’s state-of-the-art Mega Diamond Recovery (“MDR”) X-ray Transmission (“XRT”) technology, installed in 2017 to identify and preserve large, high-value diamonds.

Here’s how the diamonds of the Karowe Mine rank on the all-time list...

2 – 2,488 carats, Motswedi, 2024
3 – 1,758 carats, Sewelô, 2019
4 – 1,174 carats, unnamed, 2021
5 – 1,109 carats, Lesedi La Rona, 2015
7 – 1,094 carats, Seriti, 2024
8 – 1,080 carats, Eva Star, 2023
9 - 998 carats, unnamed, 2020

Lucara’s $683 million underground expansion at Karowe aims to extend the life of the mine beyond 2040.

Credits: Photos courtesy of CNW Group/Lucara Diamond Corp.