Golden Canary Diamond

Sotheby's is thrilled to present one of the world's largest polished diamonds, The Golden Canary. Weighing an astounding 303.10 carats, valued at $15millio, it is the largest flawless or internally flawless diamond ever graded by the GIA. Previously coming in at just over 407 carats, the “Incomparable Diamond" was cut into its classic pear-shape to reveal a deeper color and brighter hue. After being on display on Dubai, it will travel to Taipei, Hong Kong and Geneva before arriving in New York for its sale on December 7 as part of the Sotheby’s New York Magnificent Jewels sale.

Steeped in history, The Golden Canary is one of the most exquisite diamonds to ever be discovered, not only for its sheer size and intensity in color but for its stunning beauty that is sure to captivate collectors around the world. Sotheby’s is privileged to help write the next chapter for this incomparable, reborn gem.” The history of this famous diamond began in the 1980s when it was initially found amongst a pile of rubble by a young girl playing in the backyard of her uncle’s house. At the time, miners from the nearby MIBA diamond mine had considered it too bulky to be a diamond and had discarded it. Little did the miners know that rubble turned out to be an 890-carat rough diamond, the fourth largest the world has ever seen. The girl gave the stone to her uncle, who, in turn, sold it to local diamond dealers. Over the next five years, the rough diamond was cut into 15 finished stones. The rough diamond could have been finished into the largest cut diamond in the world but instead was reduced to 407.48 carats to prioritize its color and clarity. The finished product was the third largest cut diamond to exist, The Incomparable Diamond, a Fancy Deep Brownish-Yellow wonder. The shield-shaped step cut, with its unusually shaped facets and small table, preserved much of the shape and bulk of the original rough and was the largest internally flawless or flawless cut diamond ever created and graded by the GIA.

The GIA’s verdict about the stone in its recent monograph is unequivocal: “The recut of the Incomparable to the current 303.10-carat pear modified brilliant is to look at the diamond as new; a re-creation bringing to bear the advances in technology, computer modeling and visual evaluation available today.”