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What to do with that Pesky 35 Million Dollars

The Cullinan Heritage Diamond

I don’t know about you, but I find $35 million to be a  bit of a nuisance. It’s hard to balance my checkbook, for instance – there are so many more numbers to add and subtract.

And when you have that kind of money, people want you to buy dinner, like, all the time! Really annoying.

Luckily there are rough diamonds like The Cullinan Heritage to invest in that take the guesswork out of your personal accounting. You just stick that diamond in a safe deposit box at the post office and voila! You’ve just simplified your life.

More on this chunk of precious rock:

The sale price achieved by Petra Diamonds is a record for a rough stone and comes as the market is recovering from its lows last year, when it was hit badly by the recession.

The sale of the Cullinan Heritage is significant in several ways, not least because it is an extremely rare stone that diamond experts have likened to the discovery of a Van Gogh masterpiece.

The size, colour and flawlessness of the stone has enabled Petra, which is listed in London, to secure a price per carat more than twice that which a smaller stone would fetch.

The sale to Chow Tai Fook Jewellery in Hong Kong highlights the growing importance of China in the global diamond market. The Chinese are thought to have overtaken Japan as the second-largest market for precious stones behind the US.

Greater affluence and a fashion among urban couples for diamond wedding bands has propelled sales in the country.

Diamond prices have recovered about 70 per cent of their value since early last year, although demand in America remains weak.

The discovery of the Cullinan Heritage also confirms Petra’s faith in the South African mine. It paid ₤85.6m ($145.8m) two years ago from De Beers, which wanted to concentrate on newer mines.

The Cullinan mine began production in 1903 and is famous for its large gems, including the largest ever discovered – the 3106 carat Cullinan Diamond, stones from which are featured in the Crown Jewels.

The Chow Tai Fook Group has not revealed its plans for the diamond, which could be cut into smaller stones.

Source: The Wall Street Journal