'Perfect' 100-Carat White Diamond Sells for $22M

Gem expert says transparency of auctioned jewel is like a 'pool of icy water'
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 22, 2015 6:45 AM CDT
'Perfect' 100-Carat White Diamond Sells for $22M
A "perfect" 100-carat emerald-cut diamond was sold at a Sotheby's auction for a cool $22 million.   (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

An anonymous buyer is sporting some major bling after ponying up a tad over $22 million yesterday for a 100-carat diamond that Sotheby's likens to "the definition of perfection," the AP reports. It's the only white diamond of the classic emerald cut more than 100 carats and boasting the highest color and clarity to come to auction, according to Sotheby's. "It is free of any internal imperfections," a Sotheby's rep said in a pre-sale statement, calling the stone's transparency similar to "a pool of icy water."

The giant gem—final price $22,090,000, including the buyer's premium—originally weighed more than 200 carats until its previous owner spent more than a year cutting and polishing it to perfection, Reuters reports. The walnut-sized diamond was reportedly mined by De Beers in southern Africa. The jewel missed hitting the world record, still held by a 118-carat white diamond sold for $30.6 million in 2013, the AP adds. (Maybe there's a diamond waiting to be found in a state park near you.)

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