Diamond the size of a chickens egg sells for record $35.3 million

Published: 3:36PM GMT twenty-six February 2010

Diamond the distance of a "chicken"s egg" sells for jot down $35.3 million

Hong Kongs Chow Tai Fook Jewellery Company paid for the Cullinan Heritage mill for $35.3m, Petra Diamonds voiced on Friday.

Petra recovered the gem, the 19th largest ever found described as the distance of a chicken"s egg, from the Cullinan cave nearby Pretoria in South Africa in Sep last year .

Rare blue De Beers solid approaching to fetch �4million Gemfields discovers hulk "elephant" emerald Questor share tips: Petra Diamonds still a buy after sale of 522 carat gem Gem unearths 20th-largest solid Gem mill detected could be worlds largest solid Rare solid approaching to sell for �6m

Petra pronounced that jot down cost reflected the "incredible rarity" of mill formed on the "remarkable size" and "exceptional colour and clarity".

"It is wise that the Cullinan Heritage should grasp a sale cost of $35.3 million, the top sale cost on jot down ever completed for a severe diamond, as it has the intensity to furnish one of the worlds majority critical discriminating gems. The sale deduction serve accelerate Petras book and will be invested in the expansion of the core assets." pronounced Johan Dippenaar, Petra"s arch executive.

Chow Tai Fook has nonetheless to outline the plans for the stone.

The worlds greatest diamond, the 3,106-carat Cullinan, was detected in the same cave in 1905. That was cut to form the Great Star of Africa and Lesser Star of Africa, set in Britains climax jewels.

Petra got $9.48 million at a sale in May for a discriminating 7.03-carat blue gem, additionally from the Cullinan mine, environment a per-carat record. A carat is a fifth of a gram.

Diamond prices have soared as producers cut outlay after the credit crunch. Rough diamonds rose 48pc in the initial eleven months of 2009, according to WWW International Diamond Consultants. Demand in China, that overtook Japan as the second-largest gem market, combined to the burst in prices.

Petra reported first-half increase of $37.9m (�24.5m) after racking up waste of $88m a year earlier. The shares rose 2p to 60.75p.