Diamonds are forever...

Whether given by your man or by the earth, diamonds fascinate.

The "Lesotho Promise" (603 carats) one of the 15 largest uncut diamonds was sold for 12,36M dollars on the 9th of October in Antwerp to a branch of the South African Mining C° (owners of Graaf). The diamond will be cut into one heartshaped rock and smaller stones and should then fetch a price of 20M dollars...

The Lesotho diamond was found at the Letseng Diamond Mine high in the mountains of the tiny nation which is surrounded by South Africa, by a woman who was sorting through the rocks. "She started screaming and all the staff thought she had been electrocuted," said Clifford Elphick, head of Gem Diamond Mining, which owns 70 percent of the mine. Ironically, the Lesotho Promise may not be keeping one for those who live in the place where the diamond was found. The impoverished African nation is one of the poorest countries on earth.