Yellow Diamond Necklace Is World’s Most Expensive
April 15th, 2013 by Noam Flint
After months of making only low arcs across the horizon, the sun now streaks across the sky, illuminating our days with bright yellow light. Is that why several large yellow diamonds made the news during the first two weeks of April?
In the provincial capital of Edmonton, Canada, Birks & Mayors unveiled a 16-carat VVS1-clarity evenly saturated Fancy intense yellow diamond, set with diamond pave in a platinum ring, on offer for $1.8 million. And on the other side of the planet, at an art show in the United Arab Emirates, a pair of Cartier earrings with yellow diamonds and Colombian emeralds came with a price tag of $25 million. But the yellow diamond to make the most waves this week was the “ Incomparable Diamond“.
Birks is premiering a unique 16.01-carat Fancy Intense Yellow diamond in Edmonton this week, one of the world’s most rare yellow diamonds. (CNW Group/BIRKS & MAYORS INC.)
A young girl found the 890-carat giant gem, said to be the largest internally flawless diamond in the world, while pouring over an abandoned pile of tailings in the Congo in 1980. It has since been cut down to 407 carats and polished into a modified shield step-cut. The massive stone did a tour of public appearances, including a stint at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C., but it no longer exists in isolation. The gem is now mounted on a stunning 18-karat rose gold necklace which mimics a thin twig curved back on itself, with 90 white diamonds totaling 229 carats branch off of it like leaves. That gives the Incomparable Diamond Necklace a total of 637 carats (you can view it here).
The piece made its debut in Qatar in February, and has since been displayed in Dubai. But if you’re thinking of acquiring it for your own personal collection, you had better be stacked; valuators have pegged its price at a whopping $55 million! As far as the Guinness organization is concerned, that makes it the most valuable necklace in the world – an honor it bestowed two weeks ago on the necklace’s manufacturer, Mouawad. The Mouawad Family can put the award up on the mantlepiece, next to their other plaques from the Guinness group, recognizing their chart-topping $3.8 million diamond purse and $11 million diamond bra.
