A massive 242-carat diamond is expected to sell for at least $2 million at a Dubai auction in March.
Alrosa, a Russian state-controlled diamond producer, mined the ping pong ball-sized diamond 10 years ago and is offering it at an auction March 22 with a $2 million starting bid, Reuters reported.
“Rough diamonds, which potentially allow for cutting a polished diamond larger than 100 carats, are extremely rare in nature,” Evgeny Agureev, head of sales at Alrosa, said in a statement. “Even less often are such gems tendered.”
Russian law mandates that diamond producers first offer rough diamonds larger than 50 carats to the state repository before bringing them to auction.
The diamond will mark Alrosa’s 100th international auction.
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