Montezuma Jewelers Blog

Saturday Night Live: Weekend Update anchor Colin Jost recently recounted how he spent a day dumpster diving in an effort to rescue a $400,000 diamond engagement ring that was accidentally thrown in the trash by his movie star wife, Scarlett Johansson.



Jost revealed his malodorous encounter with the not-so-glamorous side of The Big Apple while hosting an episode of Amazon Prime Video's Pop Culture Jeopardy!. During the segment, a contestant quipped about a lost engagement ring that was later found in a trash can at a bar.

That comment led the host to segue into a story about his own experience.

“My wife actually lost her engagement ring,” Jost revealed, adding that she believed she “accidentally threw it in the trash.”

And this was no ordinary engagement ring. The statement piece he gave her in 2019 featured an 11-carat, light brown, modified pear-shaped diamond designed to "float" on her finger adjacent to a brown ceramic band.

Jost told the Pop Culture Jeopardy! audience that he was determined to find the ring and picked through the trash of at least 12 New York City dumpsters. Still, he came up empty.

A dejected Jost returned home to report the bad news about the ring, but before he could say anything, his movie star wife coyly admitted, "Oops! It was in my pocket."

"It was a great day for me," he joked.

It was July of 2019, when the Internet got its first glimpse of Johansson’s unusual engagement ring. At the time, jewelry experts placed the ring’s value in the range of $200,000 to $450,000. The couple had gotten engaged in May of that year, but the ring didn't surface until Johansson’s appearance at the 2019 Comic-Con in San Diego.

Jewelry-industry pundits recognized the design by James Claude Taffin de Givenchy of New York-based Taffin Jewelry. The brand had shared what seemed to be an identical ring on its Instagram account in June of 2019.

The ring generated a buzz for a number of reasons. Not only was the light-brown hue unusual for an engagement diamond, but so was the egg shape — a mashup of the traditional pear and oval. What’s more, the claw-set diamond seemed to float on the finger, offset from the undulating ceramic and gold band.

Marion Fasel of the online jewelry publication The Adventurine reported that she got the chance to try on the now-famous Taffin ring in May of 2019.

Fasel wrote at the time, “If James de Givenchy is indeed responsible for Scarlett’s stunning engagement ring, a closer look at the jewel… could reveal it to be one of the most stylish and stunning any actress in Hollywood has ever worn.”

The 40-year-old actress and 42-year-old SNL star started dating in 2017 and were married in 2020. They share two children, three-year-old Cosmo and 10-year-old Rose Dorothy from Johansson's previous marriage to Romain Dauriac.

Credits: Couple photo by Canal22, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Ring image via Instagram.com/theadventurine.

Lucara CEO William Lamb hinted in a recent interview with South Africa's Financial Mail that the second-largest diamond ever discovered — the 2,488-carat Motswedi — may remain "in the rough."



Since the massive stone was unearthed at the famous Karowe Mine in Botswana in August of 2024, there has been speculation as to who the potential buyer may be and how the stone may be cut and polished.

Lamb told Rapaport senior analyst Joshua Freedman in September 2024 that the quality of the 2,488-carat diamond was still being assessed and it was still unclear how this “legacy” stone (defined as being valued at $10 million or more) would be sold.



In that interview, the Lucara executive had left open the possibility that the eventual buyer of “the largest stone in living memory” might end up being a museum or collector.

Now it appears as if the museum option may come to pass. Lucara is envisioning a different route for this treasure, to be showcased and admired by the masses while keeping the integrity of the remarkable specimen which has a rugged silvery-white appearance and weighs in at 17.58 ounces (1.1 pounds).

“We’ve had discussions with three different museums across the globe who want to acquire the (Motswedi) stone," Lamb recently told Financial Mail. "They want it in the rough. They don’t want to polish it.”

Lamb explained that selling stones of this size is difficult due to the limited number of buyers who could afford them.

It took nearly two years for Lucara to sell another impressive diamond — the 1,109-carat Lesedi La Rona. It was originally put up for auction at Sotheby’s in June of 2016 with a reserve price of $70 million, but bids stalled at $61 million. It was eventually sold to British luxury jeweler Graff Diamonds for the relative bargain price of $53 million.

By November 2018, Graff had transformed the Lesedi La Rona into 67 diamonds ranging from just under 1 carat to more than 100 carats.

Most notably, the largest diamond ever discovered — the 3,106-carat Cullinan (1905) — was cut by the Asscher Company into nine principal diamonds and 96 smaller diamonds. The Cullinan I and II – known as the Great Star of Africa and the Lesser Star of Africa — are set in the Crown Jewels of Britain. They weigh 530 carats and 317 carats, respectively. The remaining seven principal diamonds, ranging in size from 94 carats to 4.39 carats, are in the collection of the British Royal Family.

In Setswana, the local language in Botswana, “Motswedi” means a flow of underground water that emerges to the surface offering life and vitality. The name was the winning entry from a Legacy National Diamond Naming Competition, which received more than 39,000 submissions from the citizens of Botswana.

Lucara’s Karowe Mine is credited as the source of seven of the top 10 largest rough diamonds ever discovered, thanks in part to the company’s state-of-the-art Mega Diamond Recovery (“MDR”) X-ray Transmission (“XRT”) technology, installed in 2017 to identify and preserve large, high-value diamonds.

Here’s how the diamonds of the Karowe Mine rank on the all-time list...

2 – 2,488 carats, Motswedi, 2024
3 – 1,758 carats, Sewelô, 2019
4 – 1,174 carats, unnamed, 2021
5 – 1,109 carats, Lesedi La Rona, 2015
7 – 1,094 carats, Seriti, 2024
8 – 1,080 carats, Eva Star, 2023
9 - 998 carats, unnamed, 2020

Lucara’s $683 million underground expansion at Karowe aims to extend the life of the mine beyond 2040.

Credits: Photos courtesy of CNW Group/Lucara Diamond Corp.

Welcome to Music Friday when we bring you great throwback songs with jewelry, gemstones or precious metals in the title or lyrics. Today, Paul McCartney and The Beatles tell the story of Desmond Jones and his memorable trip to a jewelry store in the 1968 singalong, "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da."



In this song written by McCartney and John Lennon, we're introduced to Jones, a hardworking bloke who sells his wares from a barrow in the marketplace, and his girlfriend, Molly, who is a singer in the band. On this particular day, Jones hops a trolley downtown to secure a special bauble for his girlfriend.

McCartney sings, "Desmond takes a trolley to the jeweler’s store / Buys a 20-carat golden ring / Takes it back to Molly waiting at the door / And as he gives it to her she begins to sing: / Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da, life goes on, bra / La-la how their life goes on / Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da, life goes on, bra / La-la how their life goes on."

Because the main character seems to be of modest means, we wonder if McCartney might have intended to write karat with a “k” instead of carat with a “c.” With a “c,” McCartney was referring to a 20-carat gem in a gold setting. With a “k,” he would be describing a simpler ring — perhaps without a precious stone — made of 20-karat gold.

Over the years, a lot has been written about how "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" came about, and the production woes that followed.

According to McCartney, the title was inspired by his friend, Jimmy Scott-Emuakpor, a Nigerian conga player who performed at a London nightclub the Beatle regularly frequented.

McCartney would say, "What’s happening, Jimmy?" and Scott would answer, "Ob-la-di, ob-la-da, life goes on, bra.”

As the Beatles experimented with their first reggae-inspired song, “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da” became a production nightmare. The band couldn’t agree on the tempo or style that would work best. They spent a great deal of time recording and overdubbing, but after 60 takes, the band members were exhausted and the song still wasn’t right.

McCartney continued to make adjustments on his own, while the rest of the Beatles — George Harrison, Ringo Starr and John Lennon — took a break in a side room, but continued to listen to McCartney’s tweaks that seemed to be going nowhere.

Finally, a frustrated Lennon stormed back into the studio, pushed McCartney aside at the piano and banged out the opening chords of a louder, faster version. That rendition became the fourth track of Side 1 of The Beatles (also known as The White Album), a classic work that would spend 155 weeks on the Billboard 200 chart and sell 24 million copies worldwide.

Beatles Trivia: In the last verse, McCartney flips the roles of the main characters as “Molly lets the children lend a hand" at the marketplace, while "Desmond stays at home and does his pretty face.” The Beatles considered the flub a "happy accident" and left it in.

The Beatles went on to become what many agree is the greatest and most influential act of the rock era. The Beatles have sold more than 600 million albums worldwide.

We invite you to enjoy the audio track of the Beatles performing “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da.” The lyrics are below if you’d like to sing along…

“Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da”
Written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney. Performed by The Beatles.

Desmond has a barrow in the marketplace,
Molly is the singer in a band.
Desmond says to Molly, “Girl, I like your face,”
And Molly says this as she takes him by the hand:

Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da, life goes on, bra,
La-la how their life goes on.
Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da, life goes on, bra,
La-la how their life goes on.

Desmond takes a trolley to the jeweler’s store,
Buys a 20-carat golden ring.
Takes it back to Molly waiting at the door,
And as he gives it to her she begins to sing:

Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da, life goes on, bra,
La-la how their life goes on.
Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da, life goes on, bra,
La-la how their life goes on.

In a couple of years,
They have built a home sweet home.
With a couple of kids running in the yard
Of Desmond and Molly Jones.

Happy ever after in the marketplace,
Desmond lets the children lend a hand.
Molly stays at home and does her pretty face,
and in the evening she still sings it with the band.

Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da, life goes on, bra,
La-la how their life goes on.
Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da, life goes on, bra,
La-la how their life goes on.

In a couple of years,
They have built a home sweet home.
With a couple of kids running in the yard
of Desmond and Molly Jones.

Happy ever after in the marketplace,
Molly lets the children lend a hand.
Desmond stays at home and does his pretty face,
And in the evening she’s a singer with the band.

Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da, life goes on, bra,
La-la how their life goes on.
Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da, life goes on, bra,
La-la how their life goes on.

And if you want some fun, take ob-la-di-bla-da.



Credit: Image by United Press International, photographer unknown, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

On Tuesday, April 1, the Winston Red Diamond and 40 other fancy-color diamonds will make their debuts at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC. Tipping the scale at 2.33 carats, the Winston Red Diamond ranks among the largest diamonds ever bestowed with the coveted “Fancy Red” color grade by the Gemological Institute of America (GIA).



Gifted by Ronald Winston, the son of distinguished jeweler and gem collector Harry Winston, the Winston Red Diamond and the Winston Fancy Color Diamond Collection will be featured in the museum’s Winston Gallery, offering visitors the rare opportunity to witness one of the finest collections of fancy color diamonds ever amassed.

The Winston family enjoys strong ties with the Smithsonian. In 1958, Harry Winston donated the iconic Hope Diamond to the museum, laying the foundation for the National Gem Collection.

According to the Smithsonian, Winston envisioned the institution assembling a gem collection to rival the royal treasuries of Europe — “Crown Jewels” that would belong to the American public.

“Other countries have their Crown Jewels,” Winston reportedly said. “We don’t have a Queen and King, but we should have our Crown Jewels, and what better place than here in the nation’s capital at the Smithsonian Institution.”

Natural red diamonds are among the rarest gemstones on Earth, and the Winston Red Diamond stands out as exceptional. Researchers estimate that less than one in 25 million diamonds is a Fancy Red, and the Winston Red Diamond is one of the most exquisite in existence.

“The red diamond is the highlight of my career, and I have never seen anything else like it,” Ronald Winston said. “This donation to the museum represents my life’s achievements in this domain, and I am so happy to share this collection with the Institution and the museum’s visitors.”

It is believed that red diamonds get their striking crimson hue from a molecular structure distortion that occurs as the jewel forms under immense pressure in the Earth’s crust. By contrast, other colored diamonds get their color from trace elements, such as boron (yielding a blue diamond) or nitrogen (yielding yellow), in their chemical composition.

The Winston Red Diamond features an old mine brilliant cut, a style that predates the round brilliant cut used in engagement rings today. With fewer, larger facets, this distinctive cut suggests the stone was fashioned before the mid-1900s.

A study on the science and history of the Winston Red Diamond is forthcoming in the spring 2025 issue of Gems & Gemology, the quarterly professional journal of the GIA.



The Winston Red Diamond will be displayed alongside 40 other gems from the Winston Fancy Color Diamond Collection. The diamonds will be arranged in a radiant rainbow of color, featuring every shade imaginable from deep teal to soft peach.

“In this collection, we have diamonds in colors I could never have dreamed of,” said mineralogist Gabriela Farfan, the Coralyn W. Whitney Curator of Gems and Minerals. “These gems give us the opportunity to share with our visitors the full range of colors in which diamonds occur.”

The Winston Red Diamond and Fancy Color Diamond Collection are the result of 60 years of dedicated acquisitions by Ronald Winston. Alongside the Hope Diamond, the new display will honor the legacy of the Winston family and showcase the brilliance and rarity of these exceptional gems.

Credits: Photo of the Winston Red Diamond by Robert Weldon, courtesy of Ronald Winston. Diamond group photo by Robert Weldon, arranged by Gabriela Farfan, courtesy of Ronald Winston.

A Brooklyn-based art collective famous for its irreverent product drops instantly sold out of its limited-edition candy rings featuring a 75-point lab-grown diamond hidden inside.



Reminiscent of the much-beloved Ring Pop, the $350 Rock Candy ring from MSCHF (pronounced "mischief") came in three nostalgic flavors: strawberry, green apple and blue raspberry cotton candy. And deep at the center of every Rock Candy ring was a round, lab-grown, VS-clarity, prong-set diamond mounted to a disc-shaped sterling silver base.



With only 300 units available, fans of MSCHF's quirky products were ready to pounce on the opportunity to buy a Rock Candy ring when it became available at 2 pm EST on February 6 at the special promotional website called LickTheRock.com. The company promised to deliver the rings in time for Valentine's Day, February 14.



Within moments of the official release, shoppers were reporting on social media that the rings were sold out.

“Every kiss begins with M," MSCHF wrote on its Instagram page in the lead-up to February 6. "Rock Candy is a sterling silver band set with a 0.75-carat lab-grown diamond encased in seven grams of sugar. Lick The Rock; Candy melts in your mouth — diamonds are forever.”

Founded in 2016, MSCHF is a company that likes to shake things up by poking fun at societal norms and consumer capitalism. Its viral releases have spanned many product categories, including food, cologne, handbags and trading cards.



In 2023, for instance, MSCHF 3D printed a replica of a Louis Vuitton OnTheGo tote that was so small it could pass through the eye of a needle. Measuring 657 x 222 x 700 microns (less than 0.03 inches wide), the fluorescent yellowish-green bag was eventually sold at auction for $63,000.



Back in 2021, the company created a buzz with its release of "Birkinstocks" — a line of sandals intentionally misspelled to spoof the fact that they were fabricated from deconstructed Hermès Birkin bags.

Credits: Images courtesy of MSCHF.

US jewelry consumers are choosing larger, higher-priced diamond center stones for their engagement and fashion rings, according to a newly released report produced by the Natural Diamond Council (NDC) and Tenoris, a company specializing in trend analysis.



According to "Natural Diamond Trends, A 2024 Overview," this past year saw a significant increase in demand for engagement diamonds in the 2.00-to-2.24-carat range. Sales for that category grew 18% and accounted for 10% of the market. The 1.50-to-1.59-carat range experienced a healthy sales increase of 9% and accounted for 11% market share.

Engagement diamonds from 1.00 to 1.04 carats remain the most popular, accounting for 15% of sales, but that range saw a drop-off of 8% compared to the previous year.

The average price of a wedding set in 2024 was $6,750, an increase of 31% compared to 2023. The NDC attributed much of the increase to the demand for larger center stones.

The most popular shapes for an engagement diamonds are round (62%) and oval (16%). The most common color grade is H and the most common clarity is SI1.

Bridal jewelry accounted for 33% of all the diamond jewelry sold in the US. The remainder is classified by the NDC as "other fine jewelry."

In the discussion of "other fine jewelry," NDC reported that round diamonds accounted for 82% of center stones, followed by ovals (7.7%), princess (2.2%), marquise (1.6%), emerald (1.2%), cushion (1.0%) and other (2.7%). The "other" category includes Asscher, radiant, heart, baguette, trilliant and other cuts.

While the popularity of the round shape was down ever so slightly (-0.4%), oval was up 3.5%, emerald was up 6.4% and marquise was up 8.6%.

"Ovals are trending right now, but, as one of the oldest diamond shapes, they’re anything but a fad," the NDC explained. "This cut first appeared in the 1700s when the brilliant faceting style was introduced. Ovals’ popularity surged again in 1957 with the creation of the modern ideal oval cut by Lazare Kaplan. There was also a resurgence in the late 1990s as consumers sought alternatives to round brilliant solitaires."

“It’s easy to see why oval diamonds have finally come into their own," added Marion Fasel, author of The History of Diamond Engagement Rings: A True Romance. "Ovals stretch elegantly across a finger, giving the illusion of elongating the hand. They are the proverbial classic with a twist that is so hot in fashion. Versatile in design, ovals look good in any style of engagement ring, from elaborate to a prong setting."

When it comes to diamond clarity, the trending is toward high-quality stones. While SI-clarity has been the staple of the US market for decades, and still accounts for more than half of all purchases, a greater portion of consumers are now opting for VS-clarity stones, noted the NDC.

Demand for VS1-clarity center stones grew 15%, and VS2 rose 8% compared the prior year. In contrast, sales of SI1 clarity stones increased 1%, SI2 fell 11% and I1 declined by 14%.

The average price of jewelry across all product categories rose 2.7% to $2,360, reported the NDC.

On the GIA (Gemological Institute of America) color scale, diamonds with a grading of G to I have consistently been popular with American consumers, with very minor fluctuations in preferences over the years. Combined, these colors accounted for 52% of the market in 2024.

"Natural Diamond Trends, A 2024 Overview," was developed by the NDC in partnership with Tenoris and examines US consumer preferences for natural diamonds based on sales data collected from more than 2,000 independently owned jewelry stores across the United States.

Credit: Image by BigStockPhoto.com.

In honor of February's official birthstone, we introduce you to the massive "Grape Jelly" amethyst geode, one of the most popular attractions at the Perot Museum of Nature and Science in Dallas.



By turning a silver handwheel, visitors young and old get to “crack open” the geode to reveal the vivid purple crystalline structure inside. Spinning the wheel in the opposite direction magically closes the geode, returning the specimen to its original boulder-like appearance.

The five-foot-tall, 1.5-ton geode was the very first exhibit installed at the museum, which opened in December of 2012. In fact, the gallery was quite literally built around it.



Museum officials were extremely protective of their prized geode, which was discovered in Articus, Uruguay. They wanted it safely enclosed in its case at the center of the museum’s Lyda Hill Gems and Minerals Hall on Level 3 before other specimens and exhibits started moving in.

Each half of the Grape Jelly geode is mounted to a hydraulic system that opens and closes like a clamshell. The device is brilliantly designed so children as young as three years old find it easy to spin the wheel to manipulate the exhibit.

In addition to the Grape Jelly attraction, visitors can interact with high-definition videos, digital puzzles and touch-me specimens. They learn about the colors, shapes and hardnesses of Earth’s original rock stars.

The museum makes learning fun. In one station, youngsters explore the physical and optical properties of various colored stones. They get to see minerals under different light sources and are frequently astonished by how some specimens take on vibrant hues under ultraviolet bulbs.

The Perot Museum of Nature and Science is named for Ross and Margot Perot and was made possible through the generosity of the Perot family and many other Dallas-area benefactors.

Located in the heart of Dallas, the Perot Museum of Nature and Science is a nonprofit educational and research organization dedicated to inspiring minds through nature and science.

Visitors will find everything from dinosaurs to diamonds, packed into five levels of hands-on discovery and adventure. The museum welcomes more than one million visitors per year, 150,000 of which are schoolchildren.

Please check out the video of a young museum visitor engaging with the interactive Grape Jelly geode exhibit.



Credits: Grape Jelly geode photos courtesy of the Perot Museum of Nature and Science.

Welcome to Music Friday when we bring you wonderful songs with jewelry, gemstones or precious metals in the title or lyrics. Today, Elton John tries to mend the pieces of his broken heart in 2001’s “Dark Diamond.”



In the song composed by John with lyrics by long-time collaborator Bernie Taupin, the term “dark diamond” is used to describe a person who once flourished as a “jewel” with a fire in his soul, but is now “hard and cold.”

He mourns the loss of the one star he could count on, the only one who could show him the true meaning of love. And he has only himself to blame.

John sings, “Oh, I’m a dark diamond / I’ve turned hard and cold / Once was a jewel with fire in my soul / There’s two sides of a mirror / One I couldn’t break through / Stayed trapped on the inside, wound up losing you.”

“Dark Diamond,” which incorporates elements of blues, pop and R&B, appeared as the second track of Songs from the West Coast, John’s 26th studio album. The song's arrangement gets a boost from music legend Stevie Wonder, who makes a guest appearance on the harmonica and clavinet (electric keyboard).

Born Reginald Kenneth Dwight, the 77-year-old John is one of the best-selling music artists of all time. In 1967, John met Taupin by chance when both men responded to an advertisement seeking songwriters. At first, they wrote songs for other artists, but then decided the team up and go out on their own.

In a career that has spanned nearly six decades, John has sold more than 300 million records. He is credited with one diamond album, 32 platinum and multi-platinum albums and 21 gold albums. (A diamond designation represents more than 10 million sold, while platinum represents one million and gold represents 500,000.) John and Taupin have collaborated on more than 70 Top 40 hits.

John has won six Grammys from 35 nominations and was inducted with Taupin into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1992. John entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994, and Taupin followed in 2023.

Trivia: John won a piano scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music at the age of 11.

John's "Farewell Yellow Brick Road" tour concluded in July 2023. The artist, who was knighted by Queen Elizabeth in 1998, has been battling ongoing health issues, including the loss of eyesight, but said he will continue to "do the odd show."

Please check out the audio track of John performing “Dark Diamond.” The lyrics are below if you’d like to sing along…

“Dark Diamond”
Written by Bernie Taupin and Elton John. Performed by Elton John.

Oh, I’m a dark diamond
I’ve turned hard and cold
Once was a jewel with fire in my soul

There’s two sides of a mirror
One I couldn’t break through
Stayed trapped on the inside, wound up losing you

Tell me how does it work
How do you make things fit
Spent all my life trying to get it right
I’ve put it together and it falls apart

I thought to myself I might understand
But when the wall’s built
And the heart hardens
You get a dark diamond
Dark diamond

Oh, I’m a dark diamond
But you’re something else
You read me more than I read myself
The one star I could count on
Only comet I could trust
You burnt through my life to the true meaning of love

Tell me how does it work
How do you make things fit
Spent all my life trying to get it right
I’ve put it together and it falls apart

I thought to myself I might understand
But when the wall’s built
And the heart hardens
You get a dark diamond
Dark diamond

Tell me how does it work
How do you make things fit
Spent all my life trying to get it right
I’ve put it together and it falls apart

I thought to myself I might understand
But when the wall’s built
And the heart hardens
You get a dark diamond
Dark diamond
You get a dark diamond
Dark diamond
You get a dark diamond
Dark diamond



Credits: Photo by Raph_PH, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Lucara Diamond Corp. has completed the sale of two massive diamonds from its famous Karowe Mine in Botswana for the eye-popping sum of $54 million.



The price achieved for the 1,080-carat Eva Star and the 549-carat Sethunya is equivalent to $33,149 per carat. The newly named Eva Star was originally discovered in 2023 and ranks #8 on the list of the largest rough diamonds of all time. The Sethunya, which means “flower” in Setswana, the primary language of Botswana, was mined in early 2020 and ranks #36.



In November of 2020, Lucara announced that luxury brand Louis Vuitton had secured the rights to represent Sethunya with the intention of offering its discriminating clients the unique opportunity to design the gem of their dreams, down to the exact shape and carat weight.

“In this way, the client will be involved in the creative process of plotting, cutting, polishing and becoming part of the story that the stone will carry with it into history,” noted a Lucara press release.

Lucara's announcement of the $54 million sale reflects an initial payment of $20 million and a portion of the proceeds from the sale of the polished diamonds that were culled from the original rough stones.

In a press release, the mining company stated that Sethunya and Eva Star showcase the remarkable quality and size of diamonds consistently produced from the South Lobe of the Karowe kimberlite. These exceptional stones underscore Karowe's position as one of the world's most prolific sources of large, high-value diamonds.

In fact, of the top nine diamonds ever discovered, seven were sourced at Botswana's Karowe Mine. Besides the 1,080-carat Eva Star at #8, Karowe treasures include the 2,492-carat Motswedi (#2, 2024) 1,758-carat Sewelô (#3, 2019), 1,174-carat unnamed (#4, 2021), 1,109-carat Lesedi La Rona (#5, 2015), 1,094-carat Seriti (#7, 2024), 998-carat unnamed (#9, 2020).

At the top of the list is the 3,106-carat Cullinan Diamond, which was discovered at South Africa’s Premier Mine 2 in 1905.

"The sale of these two extraordinary diamonds further validates our investment in the Karowe underground project," said William Lamb, President and CEO of Lucara. "The unique characteristics of Karowe's kimberlite, particularly in the South Lobe, continue to amaze us with its ability to produce diamonds of exceptional size and quality."

The expansion project is expected to extend the mine's life to at least 2040.

Lucara attributes much of its success to its MDR (Mega Diamond Recovery) XRT circuit, a system that uses advanced technology to identify 100-carat-plus diamonds. By monitoring the rocky material for X-ray luminescence, atomic density and transparency, the new technology can identify and isolate large diamonds before they go through the destructive crushing process.

Lucara owns 100% of the Karowe mine, which has been in production since 2012.

Credits: Photo of Eva Star courtesy of Lucara Diamond Corp. Photo of Sethunya by Philippe Lacombe, courtesy of Louis Vuitton (CNW Group/Lucara Diamond Corp.).

More than 270,000 expertly crafted beads recovered from a tomb in southern Spain provide valuable insights into the social status of women on the Iberian Peninsula 5,000 years ago.



Researchers believe the white shell beads were strung onto linen and made into ceremonial dresses and skirts, which were further ornamented with rare ivory and amber pendants shaped like acorns and birds.

The artifacts reflect a sophisticated social structure, where jewelry adornments likely reinforced an individual's power and status. The find is reportedly the most extensive single-burial bead assemblage ever recorded.

"Under the sun, the effect of these women with the attires glittering with reflected sunlight must have been quite powerful," researchers wrote in a paper published in the journal Science Advances.



A multidisciplinary research team from various Spanish institutions discovered the human remains, along with the jewelry, at the Tholos de Montelirio burial site, near Seville.

The cache of Cheerio-like beads weighed a total of 33 pounds (15 kilograms) and had to be cleared of all dirt and debris — a process that took seven specialists 651 hours to complete. An analysis of the material wedged in the hole of the beads revealed the presence of flax, a plant used to make linen textiles.

The newly discovered tomb, which was actively used as a burial site between 2875 BC and 2635 BC, contained 20 skeletons, at least 15 of which were identified as women — all between 18 and 34 years old when they died. The gender of the other skeletons could not be determined.

Researchers estimated the vast amount of labor required to produce more than a quarter of a million meticulously crafted beads.

“Ten persons working eight hours a day would have taken 206 days (nearly seven months) to produce the whole assemblage, using in the process a little less than a metric ton of marine shell,” they wrote. “Evidently, the labor value of the beaded attires was high.”

The scientists based their estimate on their own efforts to craft a bead from a scallop shell. Using rudimentary tools, it took one researcher 55 minutes to fabricate a single bead. They reasoned that an experienced Copper Age artisan could have completed the same task in 11 minutes.

“I think that the efforts to produce these beaded robes far exceed those required to produce a couture red carpet garment today,” researcher Marta Díaz-Guardamino told CNN. “You would need many more hours and people invested in the production of the beads. Indeed, it would have been, altogether, an enterprise on a whole different scale with no parallels in the world yet.”

Credits: Top photo by Antonio Acedo García, courtesy of Research Group ATLAS, University of Seville. Beads close-up photo by David W. Wheatley, courtesy of Research Group ATLAS, University of Seville.