The Lesotho Promise diamond which was bought by diamond dealer Laurence Graff in 2006 has been cut into 26 smaller diamonds varying in size from .52 carats to 76.41 carats each with a D Flawless grade.

The 603-carat stone yielded 223.35 carats

Graff bought the rough stone for $12.36 million and is expecting quite a haul on his investment, he’s looking for a $50 million payday.

As Graff said, “Finding another stone like the Lesotho Promise is the equivalent of finding a van Gogh that has been lost for a century.”

The mine worker who first set eyes on the Promise “was alone in the sorting room, and she started screaming,” relates Clifford Elphick, chief executive of Gem Diamonds Ltd.“People came running. They thought she’d been electrocuted.”

Source Wmagazine & Luxist