網球大小的鑽石原石公開拍賣
The world’s largest uncut diamond is about to be sold in a most uncommon way.
世界上最大的鑽石原石即將以一種極不尋常的方式出售。
The tennis ball-size gem — a 1,109-carat white diamond discovered last fall in the Lucara mine in South Africa — will be up for bid Wednesday evening in a public auction at Sotheby’s in London.
這顆網球大小的寶石——去年秋天在盧卡拉鑽石公司(Lucara)的南非鑽石礦發現的一顆1109克拉的白鑽——將於週三晚上在倫敦的一場蘇富比(Sotheby’s)公開拍賣會上拍賣。
Normally such stones are offered to a handful of sophisticated dealers in the diamond industry, who study the diamond for weeks to determine how many cut stones the rough will yield. After figuring how much those stones will be worth, they submit a sealed bid to the mining company.
通常，這樣的寶石會推薦給鑽石產業內少數幾位經驗老道的交易商，他們會花幾周時間進行研究，判斷原石經過切割可以得出多少顆鑽石。在估算出這些寶石的價值後，他們會給礦業公司一個密封報價。
The Sotheby’s auction represents a break with tradition that aims to take advantage of wealthy individuals’ desire for trophy objects, whether homes, art or jewels. Often they buy in ways that allow them to make the purchases anonymously.
蘇富比的拍賣會是對這一傳統的背離，爲的是迎合富有的個人利用物品來彰顯成功的意願，不管這物品是房屋、藝術品還是珠寶。通常這些富人會通過那些可以保持匿名的方式進行購買。
The auction comes at a time when large cut diamonds have fetched record prices on the block: In May, the Oppenheimer Blue, a 14.62-carat stone that was said to have been the favorite of diamond millionaire Philip Oppenheimer — whose family once owned the diamond mining company De Beers — fetched a record $57.5 million at auction. That sale came a day after a 15.38-carat pink cut diamond fetched a record price of $31.6 million.
經過加工的大型鑽石目前正在賣出創紀錄的價格：5月，重14.62克拉的奧本海默之藍(Oppenheimer Blue)在拍賣會上創出5750萬美元的成交價紀錄，此鑽據說是鑽石富翁菲利普·奧本海默(Philip Oppenheimer)的最愛，他所在的家族曾經擁有鑽石開採公司戴比爾斯(De Beers)。而此前一天，一顆15.38克拉的粉鑽剛剛創下3160萬美元的紀錄。
“So why not stick with that strategy?” said William Lamb, chief executive of the Lucara Diamond Corp., explaining the decision to sell a rough stone under an auctioneer’s hammer.
“那麼，爲什麼不堅持那個策略呢？”盧卡拉鑽石集團首席執行官威廉·蘭卜(William Lamb)在解釋將原石公開拍賣的原因時說。
Underscoring the appeal of large stones, Lucara sold a rough diamond weighing 813 carats privately in May for $63 million, or a record of about $77,500 a carat.
盧卡拉在5月曾通過私下交易的方式，以6300萬美元的價格出售了一顆813克拉的原石，創下每克拉約7.75萬美元的紀錄，愈發突顯大型寶石的魅力。
But the diamond boom is a high-end phenomenon. Per-carat prices for smaller stones have been declining — yet another indication of how the differential in wealth between the 1 percent and everyone else is affecting buying patterns in the world’s economy.
然而鑽石熱是一個高端市場現象。體積較小的寶石，每克拉的價格是在下降的——這再一次表明在全球經濟中，1%階層和其他人的財富差距對購買行爲產生了怎樣的影響。
Prices for 1-carat polished stones have declined 4 percent in the last year because of a strengthening dollar and economic challenges faced by some of the pivotal consuming economies, noted Anish Aggarwal, a partner at Gemdax, a strategic consulting firm in the diamond industry.
鑽石產業策略諮詢公司Gemdax合夥人安尼施·阿加瓦爾(Anish Aggarwal)說，由於美元的堅挺，加之一些重要消費經濟體面臨經濟困難，經過打磨的一克拉鑽石的價格在去年下降了4%。
This is not the first time Sotheby’s has put a rough stone up for sale. In 2000, it put a purple-pink rough 12.49-carat diamond up for auction, but it failed to sell, according to Sotheby’s.
這並非蘇富比首次拍賣鑽石原石。該拍賣行稱其在2000年曾上拍一顆12.49克拉的紫粉鑽原石，但沒能成交。
Whoever buys the Lucara stone will pay Sotheby’s a 12 percent fee, known as the buyer’s premium, on the hammer price for anything over the first $3 million, and a higher percentage of the first $3 million. Although there is a reserve price below which Lucara would not sell, that figure is not public. And of course, the hammer price does not include whatever the buyer would have to pay to have the stone cut, should he or she decide to do so.
無論最終是誰買下這顆寶石，都需要向蘇富比支付一筆叫做“買家傭金”的費用，落槌價超過300萬美元后費率爲12%，最初的300萬美元費率還要更高。盧卡拉設定了保留價，低於此價格將不會出售，但這是個不公開的數字。當然，如果買家決定把鑽石切開，拍賣的落槌價中是不包括加工費用的。
Top auction houses are eager to have high-quality objects for sale because doing so burnishes their images and appeals to a wealthy global audience. That may mean Lucara has negotiated privately to receive some of the buyer’s premium.
頂級拍賣行都渴望出售高品質的物品，因爲這有益於提升它們的形象，吸引全球富人的矚目。這意味着盧卡拉可能私下和蘇富比有約定，可以得到買家傭金的提成。
The Lucara diamond — named the Lesedi La Rona, or “our light” in Setswana, in a contest in which 11,000 people submitted entries — is not the biggest diamond ever found. That distinction goes to the 3,106-carat Cullinan diamond, discovered at a mine in Pretoria, South Africa, in 1905. It was named for Thomas Cullinan, the chairman of the mining company.
這顆盧卡拉鑽石名爲“Lesedi La Rona”，在茨瓦納語是“我們的光芒”的意思。這個名字來自有1.1萬人參與的徵名活動。但它並非迄今找到的最大的鑽石。1905年在南非比勒陀利亞的一座礦中找到的卡利南鑽石重達3106克拉，至今佔據第一的位置。鑽石的名字來自礦業公司董事長托馬斯·卡利南(Thomas Cullinan)。
It was ultimately cut into nine discrete stones, of which the largest was the 530-carat Cullinan I, or Great Star of Africa. Four years after the discovery, the Cullinan I and Cullinan II were presented to King Edward VII in a ceremony at Windsor Castle. Later, the Cullinan I was placed in the monarch’s scepter. The remaining stones are scattered throughout the royal collection.
最終它被切成了九顆鑽石，其中最大的是530克拉的卡利南一號，即“大非洲之星”。發現原石四年後，卡利南一號和二號在溫莎堡的一場儀式上被進獻給愛德華七世。卡利南一號後來鑲嵌在了英王權杖上。其他的卡利南鑽石則散佈在英國王室的珠寶收藏之中。
Martin Rapaport, whose Rapaport Group is an important source of information on diamond pricing, said the decision to auction an uncut stone would prove to be a savvy one.
馬丁·雷帕波特(Martin Rapaport)說，公開拍賣原石應該是一個明智的決定。他的雷柏帕特集團(Rapaport Group)在鑽石定價領域是一個重要信息源。
“If Lucara believed that the optimum way to maximize value was through consumer distribution, then the diamond would have been cut,” he said. “People with tremendous amounts of money are looking for a home for it. That is fueling the prices we are seeing for diamonds.”
“如果盧卡拉認爲通過消費分銷的形式可以將原石的價值最大化，那它就會被切開，”他說。“一些非常富有的人正在爲其財富物色貯存之地。這一點推高了過往一些鑽石的價格。”
