Today in luxury marketing:
The ungraspable value of the world's largest diamond
On a recent Saturday afternoon, visitors wandered through Sotheby’s, on the Upper East Side, to inspect articles featured in this season’s auctions. On the ground floor, they could inquire about a bottle of Château Mouton Rothschild 1945 from the wine cellar of the businessman William Koch. In the exhibition halls upstairs, a Mayan classical-period stucco head was on display, as were a collection of Signacs and two diminutive Francis Bacon self-portraits. And, on the sixth floor, in a small room outside the jewelry section, surrounded by images of the cosmos and encased in glass, a truly unusual object was rotating atop a velvet-covered pedestal: the Lesedi La Rona, the biggest diamond in the world. At eleven hundred and nine carats, the stone was about the size of a fist. Its skin was opaque in places, but certain angles offered brief, clear glimpses into the depths of the crystal: a tightly woven, perfectly symmetrical carbon lattice, says The New Yorker.
{"ct":"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","iv":"88ad9f22239090c78103845452795e34","s":"9dabdb8230e48273"}