Biggest diamond in a century sells for $53m weighing in at 1,109-carat

Graff Diamonds buys the world's second-biggest recorded diamond for $47,777 a carat

The Lesedi La Rona is just smaller than a tennis ball (REUTERS)

Lucara Diamond finally sold the biggest diamond found in more than a century.

The 1,109-carat Lesedi La Rona diamond was sold for $53m (£39m), or $47,777 (£35,374) a carat, to Graff Diamonds, Lucara said Monday in a statement.

The Lesedi La Rona, or “our light” in the Tswana language spoken in Botswana, went unsold at a Sotheby’s auction in London last year. It had been expected to sell for about $86m.

The Vancouver-based company, known for producing some of the world’s biggest and best stones, unearthed the diamond at its Karowe mine in Botswana.

In May 2016, Lucara sold the smaller 813-carat The Constellation diamond for a record $63m, or about $77,500 a carat, to Dubai-based rough-diamond trading company Nemesis International.

The statement was released after the close of regular trading in Toronto, where Lucara fell 1.7 per cent to C$2.30. The shares have declined 24 per cent this year.

The Lesedi La Rona, just smaller than a tennis ball, is second in size only to the Cullinan, a 3,106-carat gem found in South Africa in 1905.

The Cullinan was cut to form the Great Star of Africa and the Lesser Star of Africa, which are set in the Crown Jewels of Britain.

Bloomberg