Luxury jeweller, Graff diamonds has acquired the 1,109-carat Lesedi La Rona, from Canadian mining company Lucara Diamond Corp. in a deal valued at $53 million. It is the world’s largest gem-quality rough diamond to be discovered in more than a century and the largest rough diamond in existence today.

According to media sources, the rough diamond is almost the size of a tennis ball.

Lucara CEO William Lamb said the price paid by Graff topped the highest bid received in the Sotheby’s auction last year. But it falls short of the $63 million Lucara received last year for The Constellation, a smaller 813-carat uncut diamond.

U.K.-based Graff Diamonds has a long history of acquiring the precious stones in multimillion-dollar deals. In 2006, it bought the 603-carat uncut Lesotho Promise at an auction in Belgium for $12.4 million.

“The stone will tell us its story, it will dictate how it wants to be cut,” said Laurence Graff, who founded the company in 1960.

Lucara announced the sale of the Lesedi La Rona after the market closed Monday, a day when its Toronto-listed shares slumped 1.7%.

The only larger diamond previously unearthed was the 3,106-carat Cullinan Diamond, which was discovered in South Africa in 1905. The Cullinan was eventually cut into smaller stones, some of which are now part of British royal family’s crown jewels.