The gemstone was originally unearthed from the Orapa mine, and is said to rival the rarity and beauty of the famed Hope Diamond. While the Hope is bigger at 45.52ct, it also has a clarity grade of VS1.
The Okavango Blue on the other hand, obtained a grade of VVS2, and its imperfections are reportedly only visible under 10x magnification (which is the standard setting for diamond clarity grading).
Cut out from a very large 41.11ct piece, the Okavango Blue is just one of many large diamonds that have recently been dug up. It seems that large fancy-colored diamonds are becoming one of the fastest-growing trends in the international auction world as well.
Marcus ter Haar, managing director of Okavango Diamond Company, said in a statement: "It is incredibly unusual for a stone of this color and nature to have come from Botswana -- a once-in-lifetime find, which is about as rare as a star in the Milky Way."
In other news, A 72 carat yellow diamond was recently also recovered from the Liqhobong mine in the Maluti mountains in Lesotho. That same mine also produced three more large diamonds, following the 910 ct 'Lesotho Legend' which was worth about 40 million U.S. dollars.
