World News for Students of English

14-10-2020 15:00

A rare white 102.39-carat oval diamond was sold in Hong Kong for $15.7 million. The diamond was cut from a 271-carat rough gemstone, and it was discovered at a mine in northern Ontario, Canada, in 2018.

Last week, the diamond was sold at a Sotheby’s auction to an unnamed private collector in Japan, who named the stone the ’Maiko Star’, after his second daughter. Last year, the same buyer bought another important diamond from Sotheby’s, and he named it the ’Manami Star’, after his first daughter.

The auction house said that the diamond was the highest grade of color and clarity, which put it in the most chemically pure class of diamonds. The diamond was offered without a reserve price, and it attracted a flurry of bids, including one Canadian bid of $14.6 million. It was the highest bid ever placed on a jewel from an online bidder.

Difficult words: rough gemstone (an uncut and unshaped stone that is found in the ground), reserve price (a minimum price that a seller is willing to accept from a buyer), flurry (a short intense period of activity).

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