Lesotho Brown

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The Lesotho Brown at 601 carats is one of the largest diamonds found.

It was unearthed at the Letseng diamond mine in Lesotho in 1967 at Letseng-la-Terai by Ernestine Ramaboa. The rough was fashioned in 1968 into 18 polished diamonds totalling 242.50 carats. The largest was a 71.73-carat emerald cut known as the Lesotho I. The Lesotho III (the third largest stone cut from the crystal) is a 40.42-carat marquise-shaped gem that was once owned by Jackie Kennedy, given to her by her husband Aristotle Onassis. The ring had an estimated value of $600,000 US, but at the Jackie Kennedy estate sale auction in April 1996 it reached a price of $2,587,500 US dollars. It was mounted in a platinum ring created by Harry Winston.

In October 2006, an even larger stone, the Lesotho Promise was discovered at the mine.

[edit] See also

• Lesotho Promise
• List of famous diamonds