08/15/2026
💎 **2,488 carats. Nearly 1.1 pounds. One diamond.**
The **Motswedi Diamond**, recovered from Botswana’s Karowe mine, is the second-largest gem-quality rough diamond ever recorded — and it officially has a new owner.
The buyer? Undisclosed.
The price? Undisclosed.
But as a gemologist, that’s actually not the part I find most interesting.
A rough diamond of this magnitude raises some fascinating questions:
How do you even begin to value it?
Do you preserve one enormous polished diamond — or sacrifice size to create several exceptional stones?
And what does a discovery like this tell us about the changing value of truly rare natural diamonds?
At this level, **carat weight is only the beginning of the story.**
I took a deeper look at Motswedi from a gemologist’s perspective — including rough-diamond valuation, cutting strategy, rarity, recovery technology, and what this sale may tell us about the future of the natural diamond market.
👉 **Read my full expert breakdown on the Arezzo Jewelers blog.**
And I’m curious:
**If this diamond belonged to you, would you cut it… or preserve all 2,488 carats exactly as nature created it?**
— Vincent Spilotro, GIA Graduate Gemologist
Arezzo Jewelers
