https://www.miningweekly.com

Romanov dynasty gets nod in trove with record Russia diamond

2nd August 2017

By: Bloomberg

  

Font size: - +

MOSCOW – The most-expensive diamond ever polished in Russia will be shown in Moscow as part of a collection of gems named after the dynasties of the Romanov-era Imperial Court.

In 2015, Alrosa discovered a giant, 179-ct rough diamond in a mine in the northeast region of Sakha, naming it Romanov after the family that ruled for more than 300 years before the Russian Revolution.

The diamond was cut and polished into five smaller gems, with the largest one called Dynasty and weighing 51.4 ct. Alrosa named the other gems after noble families of the imperial era: Sheremetyev, Orlov, Vorontsov and Usupov. The company plans to start sales of polished gems online, starting with this collection, Alrosa director of diamonds Pavel Vinikhin told reporters on Tuesday.

“The diamonds of the collection are named after the dynasties that played an important role in the development of Russian jewelry business,” Alrosa said in a statement. The Dynasty is the most valuable diamond with the best clarity characteristics ever cut in Russia, the company said.

Alrosa showed the diamonds at a press event on Tuesday. The collection will be shown to potential buyers starting from September in Israel, the US, Hong Kong and Russia, CEO Sergey Ivanov said. Alrosa plans to auction the diamonds as a set in November and will seek at least $10-million, he said.

The show is a rarity for Alrosa, which specialises in digging up rough diamonds, but not polishing them. Ivanov, who took the job this year, has batted away worries that the company would move into the polishing business. He said in July that he’s not planning any dramatic shift in strategy.

Alrosa will seek to increase revenue from its polishing unit and will try to polish the best stones it mines itself rather than selling them in rough form, Ivanov said.

Edited by Bloomberg

Comments

The content you are trying to access is only available to subscribers.

If you are already a subscriber, you can Login Here.

If you are not a subscriber, you can subscribe now, by selecting one of the below options.

For more information or assistance, please contact us at subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za.

Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):

Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format

Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):

All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.

Already a subscriber?

Forgotten your password?

MAGAZINE & ONLINE

SUBSCRIBE

RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA

SUBSCRIBE

CORPORATE PACKAGES

CLICK FOR A QUOTATION