Louis Vuitton Just Bought the Second Largest Diamond in the World and You Won’t Believe What It Looks Like!

The second-largest diamond humans have ever found was coughed up from a mine in Botswana in April of 2019. Plenty of time was spent finding a buyer, and potential buyers pontificated if it was worth paying for. Well, we have finally found someone willing to pay the cost and it is none other than fashion icon Louis Vuitton!

If you've got a nice-sized diamond of your own make sure you take care of it and don't leave it lying in the dirt. That's how they found the world's second largest diamond. It's just so sad! OK so I'm being sarcastic, but I would never joke about keeping your jewelry clean. Our 5 star rated diamond cleaner has you covered.

What makes it so special? What will he do with it? What is it worth? How many carats is the world's largest diamond? What is a carat anyways? The questions are endless, but I must take them one at a time. So calm yourself, dear reader. All secrets about the second largest diamond will be revealed in this article. Let's read on and find out!

What Does It Look Like? What Makes It Special?

Louis Vuitton's newest purchase is a massive diamond around the size of a tennis ball, weighing in at a gargantuan 1,758 carats. Apart from the size, it has a striking black color. This is fortunate because the world's second largest diamond has large portions that aren't rated as gem quality. Near-gem quality isn't the worst thing in the world, particularly because flaws are easily concealed by the dark color.

The size of the diamond leads the price to shoot up, and it does have some gem quality sections. Estimated price for this beast of a stone? Definitely over $60 million, but the actual price paid hasn't been disclosed as of yet. It might never be revealed, but we can create a pretty accurate ballpark figure by looking at some of the other largest diamonds ever found.

How Many Carats In The World's Largest Diamond?

The largest diamond ever found was the 3,106-carat Cullinan Diamond, which was discovered in South Africa way back in 1905. Obviously it's a record that will be held for a long time to come. This fist-sized white diamond was broken down and some of the extracted gems are now included in the British family's collection of crown jewels.

Our previous record holder for the second largest diamond was a fraction of that size, a 1,111-carat diamond called Lesedi La Rona which was also unearthed in Karowe. The diamond that Louis Vuitton purchased is a whopping 1,758 carats. Significantly bigger than the previous number two, but still not rivaling the largest diamond in the world.

What Is A Carat Anyways?

To put it in the simplest terms, a carat is 200 milligrams. A five carat diamond would be one gram. When converted the world's largest diamond of 3,106 carats can be converted to a weight of 0.6212 kilograms or 1.369 pounds! That is a hefty gem. Carats are only one factor that comes into play when pricing a diamond. A jeweler must also consider cut, clarity, and color.

Why Would Louis Vuitton Buy It?

This is clearly a financial investment. Louis Vuitton's parent company LVMH has been pushing heavily into the luxury jewelry market. They've acquired Italian jewelry-maker Bulgari, in addition to watchmakers TAG Heuer and Hublot, and in November they made the moves to purchase famed New York jeweler Tiffany and Co.

What Will Louis Vuitton Do With It?

While I wish that one of these world's largest diamonds would be preserved, they are generally cannibalized into smaller gems that can be sold for a greater profit. The cost of the stone hasn't been revealed, but it's estimated to be in the tens of millions. The smaller Lesedi La Rona sold for $56 million.

Obviously that's a hefty bill for the vast majority of the planet, so it only makes sense to break down the diamond in order to find a purchaser. I really can't help but feel it would be nice to hand onto one, but the logical side of my brain tells the feelings side that letting almost $100 million dollars sit on a shelf out of principle or historical preservation is absolutely insane.

Will There Be More Record-Breaking Diamonds?

While the current holder of the world's largest diamond record will be supremely difficult to beat, statistically speaking there is almost inevitably a larger diamond somewhere out there. The Karowe mine in Botswana, owned by mining company Lucara has high hopes that there are more massive gems down there waiting to be uncovered.

The next of the world's second largest diamonds may very well break 2,000 carats. Nobody knows what they will find when starting a dig, but that's one of the most exciting parts of mining for any kind of gem. Anything at all could happen! I'll be keeping my ear to the ground for any more unusually large diamonds.

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