Russia to auction rare collection of polished diamond domestically

Russian miner Alrosa said on Tuesday it plans to sell at anonlineauction in November a rare collection ofpolisheddiamonds produced domestically, including agiant 51.38 carat gem.

This huge, traditional round-cutdiamond, whose 2.5 cm (1 inch) diameter is equal in size to the visible part of a human eye, bears the same name as the entire Dynasty collection.

According to Alrosa, which is state-controlled, it is potentially the most expensivediamond manufactured in the history ofRussian jewellery because of its quality.

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It took a year and a half for Alrosa's specialists to create fivepolisheddiamonds for the collection from a 179-carat Romanovs roughdiamond, extracted at one of the company's mines inRussia's far eastern Yakutia region in 2015.

The collection is dedicated to the Tsar Peter the Great, who built the city of St Petersburg, and the Romanov dynasty, which ruledRussiafor 300 years, Alrosa, the world's largest producer of rough diamonds in carat terms, said in a statement.

The collection's name fits well with a surge in patriotism inRussiatriggered by Moscow's annexation of the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine in 2014 and Western sanctions against Moscow.

"There was a good reason to choose the name for the collection, which is connected with Alrosa's intention to revive the traditions and memory of renownedRussian jewellers famous for their craftsmanship and filigree sinceRussia's first cutting and polishing factory founded by Peter I (the Great) early in the 18th century," the company said.

Alrosa's decision to produce thesepolisheddiamonds and sell themonlinefits with a broader industry quest to find new ways to the market and add value on the part of gem producers.

Alrosa and Anglo American's De Beers unit, which for the first timeauctionedpolishedstones this year, produce about half of the world's roughdiamonds.

The main 51.38-caratdiamondhas a 57-facet traditional round brilliant cut with triple excellent cut, D colour, and VVS1 clarity.

"As to overall characteristics, it is unprecedented in the history ofRussia," Alrosa said. The other stones in the collection are a 16.67-carat round-cutdiamond, a 5.05-carat ovaldiamond, a 1.73-carat pear-cutdiamond, and a 1.39-caratdiamond.

During a media presentation of the collection in a luxury hotel in Moscow, Alrosa's chief executive Sergey Ivanov said that the company planned to sell the whole collection in one set. From his point of view, the starting price at theauctionshould be not less than $10 million. Alrosa also said that the collection would be shown in Israel, Hong Kong and then in the United States this autumn.