By Stephanie Gallman
CNN
(CNN) — Still searching for the perfect gift for your sweetie for Valentine’s Day?
A 100-carat perfect diamond isn’t expected to go up for auction until April, but your intended isn’t likely to care about receiving a belated gift of this size and cut.
The 100.20-carat, D color (meaning it is colorless), internally flawless stone is one of just five comparable quality diamonds over 100 carats, a release from Sotheby’s auction said, and is “the largest perfect diamond with a classic Emerald-cut ever to be offered at auction.”
The original rough diamond was more than 200 carats and was mined in South Africa. The current owner, who wishes to remain anonymous, spent more than a year studying the diamond and cutting and polishing it to its brilliance.
“The color is whiter than white, it is free of any internal imperfections, and so transparent that I can only compare it to a pool of icy water,” Gary Schuler, head of Sotheby’s jewelry department in New York said in a release.
Sotheby’s sold its first 100-carat perfect diamond in 1990 in Geneva, Switzerland. The pear shape stone was considered by some to be a bargain at $12.7 million — or $125,295 per carat.
The price per carat for these stones has increased to $260,000, Sotheby’s said in its release, but they expect this diamond will sell for as much as $25 million.
If you’d like to see the stone before buying, the diamond will begin a worldwide tour on March 16 in Dubai, making stops in Los Angeles, Hong Kong, London, and Doha, before ending in New York.
The auction is scheduled for April 21.
The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2015 Cable News Network, Inc., a Time Warner Company. All rights reserved.
