Giant diamonds lure investor cash to Gaborone

“People that buy big stones are invested in their value,” said Parag, a director at Karp Group, an Indian diamond manufacturer and retailer. He says about half the large stones he sells end up in the vaults of wealthy customers who see diamonds as a long-term store of value.

Parag was in Botswana’s sleepy capital to bid on the latest batch of jumbo stones unearthed at an open-pit mine a few hundred miles to the north, at the edge of the Kalahari Desert. He marveled at the stone that sold days later for $6.1 million. “It’s like a work of art,” he said. He bid on it but fell short.