Nothing can keep people away from obscure chunks of gemstones that have been found deep within the earth and have been considered of great value since the earliest civilizations. These gemstones such as diamonds, rubies, emeralds and jade are immortal symbols of wealth and luxury.
Throughout history, gemstones have passed into the hands of royalty and celebrities, sometimes even gift after gift. Due to the demand for these gemstones among the rich, kings and celebrities, their monetary value reaches prohibitive heights. The following seven pieces of jewelry are among his most expensive ever.
1. THE HOPE DIAMOND — $250 MILLION
The world’s most expensive and perhaps most famous gemstone is the 45.52 carat blue stone known as the Hope Diamond. Experts believe its unusual blue hue is due to trace amounts of boron atom impurities.
Apart from its magical appearance, legends about the diamond’s misfortunes and curses have had the opposite effect, making it a highly sought-after gemstone throughout history.These legends were inspired by the diamond’s strange brilliance. It may have been Its traces of boron give the stone an amazing red glow when removed from all light sources. Before becoming the Hope Diamond, this stone was even larger than it is today. It is believed to have come from the Golconda mines in South India. In 1666, it was purchased by French jeweler Jean-Baptiste Tavernier and named Tavernier Blue. Cut and French he was renamed Bleu and soon after was sold by Tavernier to Louis XIV in 1668.
In 1792, the royal French blue was stolen and shredded again. Most of the remaining diamonds were named Hope when they were found in a London banker’s gem collection in 1839. Her last name was Hope. Since then, she has gone through several owners, but eventually she was sold in 1911 to Evelyn Walsh McLean, a young Washington billionaire. When she died (after experiencing many tragedies attributed to the diamond curse), it was sold to another jeweler named Harry Winston in 1949. still on display.
2.PEACOCK BROOCH — $100 MILLION
The peacock brooch made by Graff Diamonds may not have as much history as the Hope diamond, but it’s still worth about $100 million. First exhibited at the TEFAF art fair in Holland in 2013. A peacock brooch with fan-shaped feathers contains more than 1,300 of his diamond stones totaling 120.81 carats, white, yellow, blue and orange. At the center is a very rare dark blue pear-shaped diamond that alone weighs 20.02 carats.
Graff Diamonds was founded in 1960 by Lawrence Graff. Today, the company is a multinational jeweler based in London. All Graff jewelery follows the Kimberley Process. The Kimberley Process is an ethical model that does not allow the purchase or use of diamonds to perpetuate human suffering and conflict. Graff has many other expensive gems on the market, including the $80 million Wittelsback-Graff Diamond and his $46.2 million Graff Pink.
The whereabouts or whereabouts of the peacock brooch are not currently public.
3.PINK STAR — $71.2 MILLION
Despite being cut from a raw diamond that weighed 132.5 carats, the Pink Star diamond weighs 59.6 carats now. It was mined in 1999 from South Africa by De Beers, a well-known, global organisation of diamond miners. The Pink Star’s current shape developed after 20 months of cutting. This stone is the largest internal flawless, fancy vivid pink diamond that is currently known, according to the Gemology Institute of America.
This unique diamond was previously known as the Steinmetz Pink and was on display at the Smithsonian Institution as part of the “The Splendor of Diamonds” exhibit before changing its name to the Pink Star. It was sold at auction in 2017 to Chow Tai Fook Enterprises in Hong Kong for $71.2 million.
4. OPPENHEIMER BLUE – $57.5 MILLION
The Oppenheimer Blue, named after Phillip Oppenheimer, measures 14.62 carats. It has an emerald cut and is a brilliant blue diamond. The Gemological Institute of America has dubbed this diamond the largest fancy vivid blue diamond, which means it holds almost the same record as the Pink Star. It was sold at auction for $57.5 million in 2016 to a private party.
Apart from the knowledge that the Oppenheimer diamond was mined in South Africa, most likely in the early 20th century, little is known about its past. Since De Beers has closed its archives and it is believed to have originated from one of its mines, more information is unclear.
5. L’INCOMPARABLE DIAMOND NECKLACE – $55 MILLION
The L’Incomparable Diamond necklace is made up of 407.48 carats of diamonds that are set on an 18k gold base. The largest known internally flawless yellow diamond, roughly the size of an egg, is at its centre. As of 2013, Mouawad, a Swiss and Emirati luxury goods company, was selling it for $55 million, making it the most valuable necklace in the world.
The huge diamond in the necklace’s centre has a somewhat peculiar past. About 30 years ago, a young girl in the Democratic Republic of the Congo found it by chance in a heap of mining debris.
6. BLUE MOON OF JOSEPHINE – $48.4 MILLION
The Hong Kong millionaire Joseph Lau Luen-hung, a fugitive felon with a criminal record, purchased this diamond in 2014. He bought it for his daughter Josephine, who is seven years old, and named the stone in her honour. The criminal paid $48.4 million for the 12.03 carat diamond, the highest price ever paid per carat for a diamond of any colour.
Another diamond from South African mines, The Blue Moon of Josephine was found in 2014. It was 29.6 carats and difficult to overlook when Petra Diamonds discovered it in the rough because of its unusual crystal blue colour. That same year, its current owner Lau committed a crime by paying off a previous Macau minister. He is not in jail and is still at large because of Macau and Hong Kong do not have an extradition agreement.
7. THE HUTTON-MDIVANI JADEITE NECKLACE – $27.4 MILLION
Now part of the Cartier collection, this famous jade jewelery, consisting of 27 graduated jadeite pearls with 18K yellow gold, ruby and diamond clasps, has a rich royal history. Its previous owner, American socialite and heiress Barbara Hutton, received the necklace from her father as a wedding present for her marriage to Georgian Prince Alexis Mudivani in 1933. Barbara Hutton is the heiress to retail mogul Frank Winfield Woolworth, and at the age of 21, she became one of the richest women in the world.
Due to the rarity of jadeite megaliths, beads larger than 10 mm in diameter are usually not obtained from such high-quality jess, so the necklace itself is an exceptional piece of jewelry. Since each pearl in the necklace is over 15mm in diameter and all pearls are carved from the same rock, Hatton Mdivani jadeite necklaces are extremely rare, which makes them expensive.
