Diamond industry mourns passing of the Diamantaire behind Lesedi La Rona
Staff Writer | Monday January 31, 2022 06:00
Kneller was 75 years old.
Together with Brian Gutkin and Laurence Graff, Kneller was a partner in the manufacturing firm Safdico. Graff bought the 1109 carat Lesedi La Rona for 53$ million in 2017.
The stone, which was discovered at Karowe mine in 2015, was then cut into a principal 302.37 carat Graff Lesedi La Rona plus 66 other “satellite” diamonds ranging from less than a carat to more than 26 carats.
“He was an icon in the industry. “People sought his advice on large stones, coloured diamonds, Type 11a’s because he had a unique understanding of these stones.” Gutkin said.
Some of the world-famous stones that Kneller also handled include Lesotho Promise and the Peace Diamond. The former is a 603-carat rough diamond discovered at the Letseng diamond mine, in Lesotho in 2006 while the latter is a 709 carat rough stone discovered by a team of five artisanal diggers in Sierra Leone.
According to diamonds.net Kneller was born in Prague, in 1946 and grew up in Antwerp and eased into the diamond trade through his father, who was a diamantaire and a De Beers sightholder specializing in large stones.
Kneller also worked as a dealer and started traveling to South Africa to buy polished in the early 1980s. During that time, he met Brian Gutkin and the two formed a partnership that became Safdico, Gutkin said.
Starting as a small factory with only a handful of workers, Safdico grew to become one of the most consistent sightholders for large goods employing 237 people at its Johannesburg factory and 120 in Botswana at its peak.
Safdico then expanded to become a significant driver of the Botswana diamond industry transformation with the creation of the Diamond Technology Park in 2010, a platform that provided infrastructure for the creation and growth of the local diamond sector downstream activities.
“Johnny was brilliant person who had an incredible touch for Diamonds” said Safdico International Botswana Managing Director Rutang Moses.