On last Wednesday in New York, Christie’s auction house sold The Panholo Diamonds for more than $6 million dollars during highly anticipated “Jewels: The New York Sale”. The two diamonds were cut from a 15-carat piece of rough mined stones in South Africa. The Steinmetz Diamond Group cut the Ponahalo when it was unearthed in 2005 into four polished stones, and it took them almost 18 months to create the gems featured in the sale.
The buyer, Amer Radwan of Radwan Diamond and Jewelry Trading in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, paid $4.11 million for the 102.11-carat Ponahalo diamond, while the smaller stone, weighing in at 70.87 carats, sold for $2.15 million.
Rahul Kadakia, head of jewelry at Christie's hopes that someone will wear the jewels. "It's something that should be seen" – he said.
A portion of the Ponahalo proceeds will be donated to Russell Simmons' Diamond Empowerment Fund - the non-profit organization- which funds projects in Africa to educate and empower Africans.
During the sale, Christie’s also offered Gisele Bundchen's jewelry collection and a dolphin brooch given to Liz Taylor by former husband, Richard Burton.
If you feel like you’ve missed your chance to buy unique stones, Sotheby's is preparing for its "Magnificent Jewels" sale, scheduled for Nov. 19 at the Beau-Rivage Hotel in Geneva. Included in the sale will be the famous Lesotho I diamond, an emerald-cut 71.73-carat diamond cut from the 601-carat piece of rough mined in the 1960s in the African kingdom of Lesotho.