The Most Valuable Jewellery In The World

Jewellery remains one of the safest gift choices for almost any occasion. It represents a love that lasts forever, it is an opportunity to exhibit your refined taste and most importantly, it indicates a healthy bank balance. The festive season will see the beauty of countless damsels augmented by the glittering splendour of diamonds, as potential suitors attempt to buy their favour with shiny trinkets. However, no matter what transgressions one may need to atone for, and no matter how many credit cards one may have in one’s wallet, some pieces are simply out of reach for the common man. The pieces listed below have rich and complex lineages that can often be traced back hundreds of years. They have been used in attempts to win the hearts of princesses and celebrities and have appeared in famous portraits and photographs. Unfortunately, this article is probably the closest you will ever get to any of them, so read on for the most valuable pieces of jewellery ever sold at auction.

A beautifully made diamond ring can be the essence of classic beauty and very few can ever hope to compete with the splendour of The Perfect Pink. The Perfect Pink was sold at a Christies auction, to an anonymous buyer, for an eye-watering $23.2 million on the 29th of November 2010. The Perfect Pink is a rectangular intense pink diamond weighing an incredible 14.23 carats. It is set in a rose and white gold ring, flanked on either side by rectangular diamonds weighing 1.72 and 1.67 carats. The extremely rare main stone is a paragon of perfection in terms of its colour, clarity and cut, showing absolutely no trace of a secondary colour.

Perhaps The Perfect Pink is just a little too traditional for you? Many prefer to buy their own stone, allowing them the freedom to design their own setting. Perhaps you want something unique, peerless and expensive enough to bankrupt a listed company? Laurence Graff may just have the stone you are looking for in his possession. The Wittelsbach-Graff Diamond is a 31.06 carat which is deep blue and has flawless clarity inside. Laurence Graff purchased the Wittelsbach Diamond in December 2008 for a paltry $24.3 million. Major controversy followed, as Graff announced that he would be re-cutting the diamond to remove damage to the girdle and enhance the colour. Gem experts from around the world condemned the move, comparing it to painting over a Rembrandt. Unfortunately, none of the said experts had the $24.3 million to purchase the diamond, so Graff gave about as much consideration to their complaints as he might give to paying for his bread and milk. On 7 January 2010, he announced that the stone had been re-cut, losing over 4.45 carats in the process. He renamed the resulting stone, the Wittlesbach-Graff

If neither of these unique stones quite satisfies your appetite for lifelong debt, there is one more piece that will just have to do, considering that it is the single most expensive piece of jewellery ever sold at auction. The Graff Pink, an indescribably rare 24.78 carat pink, round-cornered, rectangular, step-cut diamond is noted as one of the greatest discoveries in diamond history. The stone was owned by an American celebrity jeweller by the name of Harry Winston. The stone is set on a silver ring, flanked by shield shaped diamonds on either side. On 16 November 2010, Switzerland opened the bidding for the sale of the ring, amid anticipation of it entering the top ten list of diamonds which are the most expensive in the world. It went on to sell for an unbelievable $46 million, instantly becoming the most valuable jewel sold at the auction.

Jacky Letard is an experienced online content writer who enjoys writing about various topics such as featured home appliances, home renovations, celebrities and modern kitchen appliances.