A breathtaking 120-carat Burmese ruby-and-diamond necklace sold for $13 million at Christie’s Hong Kong Magnificent Jewels sale last week, setting an auction record for the highest price ever paid for a ruby necklace.
The regal neckpiece by Etcetera was the top lot in a high-powered sale that produced two other jewelry record breakers: a high-domed jadeite cabochon necklace that fetched $5.7 million and a 10.33-carat Kashmir sapphire ring that sold for $2.5 million.
The jadeite now holds the record for the highest price ever paid for a jadeite cabochon. The sapphire ring’s per-carat price was the highest ever paid for a sapphire.
Overall, the Christie’s sale generated nearly $117.9 million, making it the most valuable jewelry auction the Asian market has ever seen.
Christie’s described the top lot of the night as an articulated brilliant-cut diamond lattice-work band centering on a line of graduated pear-shaped diamonds and framed by two rows of oval and cushion-shaped rubies ranging from 7.02 carats to 1.10 carats.
The 18-karat white gold necklace features 48 Burmese rubies with a total weight of 120 carats. Each ruby displays the highly desirable “pigeon's blood” color. The $13 million sale price exceeded Christie’s high estimate by more than $1.5 million.
Selling for $5.7 million and topping Christie’s high estimate by nearly $750,000 was this jadeite, ruby and diamond pendant necklace. The jadeite cabochon, which boasts a vivid emerald green color and high translucency, measures 26.1 x 21.3 x 14.5 mm and is surmounted by a cabochon ruby.
Christie’s third record setter was this 18-karat gold ring set with an extremely rare circular-cut 10.33-carat Kashmir sapphire. The vibrant center stone is accented with a brilliant-cut diamond two-tiered surround. The selling price of $2.5 million was slightly higher than Christie’s high estimate of $2.3 million.
Archaeologists excavating a remote Aboriginal site on the Kimberley coast of Western Australia discovered a 2,000-year-old natural South Sea pearl.
Nearly round, in remarkably good condition and measuring 5mm in width, the white pearl with pink and gold overtones baffled scientists. How could a natural pearl of this size, shape and age survive 2,000 years underground? This specimen was the first of its kind to be found on this island continent.
The resource-rich Kimberley region of Australia is famous for producing most of the world’s pink diamonds and for having a robust cultured pearl industry, so maybe it's not coincidental that this most recent find occurred in Kimberley.
Researchers from the University of Wollongong suspected that the pearl was natural, but needed to be certain that a modern cultured pearl hadn’t been introduced to the ancient Aboriginal site.
The archaeologists were challenged with the task of dating and authenticating the natural pearl without taking a sample, thereby damaging it.
They decided to use a micro CT scan to prove that the pearl was naturally formed and had no nucleus (the seed that is used in the cultured pearl process.) The shell around the pearl was radiocarbon dated to about 2,000 years ago.
“Natural pearls are very rare in nature and we certainly — despite many, many [oyster] shell middens being found in Australia — never found a natural pearl before,” Kat Szabo, an associate professor at the University of Wollongong, told Discovery News.
A midden is a collection of refuse. The pearl was discovered in a midden about two feet below the surface. Szabo said that it would have taken 10 years for the natural pearl to grow to the size of 5mm.
Scientists had understood that the indigenous people of Australia had used oysters in rainmaking ceremonies. They were just not sure when the practice began. The age of the natural pearl offers evidence that the rainmaking ritual goes back at least two millennia.
The now-famous natural pearl will go on display at the Western Australian Maritime Museum in Perth later this month.
Welcome to Music Friday when we bring you chart-topping songs with jewelry, gemstones or precious metals in the title or lyrics. Today, we have Kenny Chesney singing the #1 country music single of 2002, “The Good Stuff.”
In the song, a young man learns some critical life lessons from a middle-aged barkeep that recently lost his wife to cancer. The younger man goes to the bar after having a tiff with his missus, and orders “the good stuff.” But instead of delivering whiskey or beer, the bartender pours some milk and shares his views about the loving, romantic and momentous things in life that are really “the good stuff.”
Among these items are an engagement ring that falls into a plate of spaghetti and a pearl necklace that commemorates a special occasion.
The sing-along chorus contains these memorable lines… “'Cause it’s the first long kiss on a second date / Momma's all worried when you get home late / And droppin' the ring in the spaghetti plate / 'Cause you're hands are shakin' so much.”
Later in the song, Chesney sings, “Was the sight of her holdin' my baby girl / The way she adored that string of pearls / I gave her the day that our youngest boy Earl / Married his high school love.”
Written by Nashville hitmakers Jim Collins and Craig Wiseman, “The Good Stuff” was the second single from Chesney’s album No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems.
The song zoomed to #1 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart and had cross-over success, topping out at #22 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. “The Good Stuff” would go on to become the #1 country music single of 2002, according to Billboard.
Wiseman told The Boot that “The Good Stuff” was loosely based on the heartbreaking story of a dear friend, Rusty Martin, who lost his wife to cancer.
“I actually played Rusty the song,” Wiseman said. “I told him the song was inspired by him in some ways so I wanted to make sure he was OK with it.”
Wiseman continued: “I had gotten in touch with the funeral home where he had buried his wife and had a matching foot stone made for her that was engraved with 'The Good Stuff.' I went and gave it to him at the No. 1 party. Everybody was crying.”
Born in Knoxville, Tenn., in 1968, Chesney has produced more than 30 Top 10 singles on the U.S. Billboard Country Airplay chart and has sold more than 30 million albums worldwide.
We hope you enjoy the official video for “The Good Stuff.” The lyrics are below if you’d like to sing along…
"The Good Stuff"
Written by Craig Michael Wiseman and Jim Collins. Performed by Kenny Chesney.
Well, me and my lady had our first big fight
So I drove around till I saw the neon light
The corner bar. It just seemed right so I pulled up.
Not a soul around but the old bar keep
Down at the end lookin' half asleep
But he walked up and said, “What'll it be?”
I said, “The good stuff.”
He didn't reach around for the whiskey.
He didn't pour me a beer.
His blue eyes kinda went misty.
He said you can't find that here.
[Chorus]
'Cause it’s the first long kiss on a second date.
Momma's all worried when you get home late
And droppin' the ring in the spaghetti plate
'Cause you're hands are shakin' so much
And it’s the way that she looks with her eyes and her hair.
Eatin' burnt suppers the whole first year
And askin' for seconds to keep her from tearin' up
Yeah man, that's the good stuff.
He grabbed a carton of milk and he poured a glass.
And I smiled and said I'll have some of that.
We sat there and talked as an hour passed like old friends.
I saw a black-and-white picture and it caught my stare.
It was a pretty girl with bouffant hair
He said that's my Bonnie, taken 'bout a year after we wed.
He said I spent five years in the bar when the cancer took her from me.
But I've been sober three years now
'Cause the one thing's stronger than the whiskey
Was the sight of her holdin' my baby girl
The way she adored that string of pearls
I gave her the day that our youngest boy Earl
Married his high school love.
And its a new t-shirt sayin' I'm a grandpa.
Bein' right there as our time got small
And holdin' her hand when good the Lord called her up
Yeah man that's the good stuff.
He said, when you get home she'll start to cry.
When she says, I'm sorry, say so am I.
Look into those eyes so deep in love and drink it up
'Cause that's the good stuff.
Los Angeles Laker Nick Young proposed to rap star Iggy Azalea on Monday, June 1 — his birthday — with an engagement ring featuring an 8.15-carat fancy intense yellow cushion-cut diamond embellished by a halo of white diamonds.
The 24-year-old Azalea laughed and said “Yes” after Young went down on one knee and asked the Australian-born singer if she would marry him during his carnival-themed 30th birthday bash. Azalea was caught completely by surprise, according to friends at the event.
The beautiful 18-karat white gold ring, which is estimated to be worth $500,000, was designed by Young with a professional assist from Beverly Hills designer Jason Arasheben.
"Nick was very involved in designing the ring. We wanted it to be both a ring of Iggy's dreams and a ring that fit her personal style," Arasheben told Us Weekly.
The 30-year-old shooting guard/small forward, who recently signed a four-year contract with the Lakers worth $21.5 million, visited the jeweler no fewer than four times during a two-month period to fine-tune the ring’s design, which includes 2.28 carats of white accent diamonds.
“He knew he wanted a cushion-shape stone,” Arasheben told PEOPLE. “He was very meticulous and changed minor details on the design a few times until we both felt it was perfect. He was really determined to create the perfect ring for her.”
Citing mental exhaustion, the “Pretty Girls” rapper recently cancelled her Great Escape world tour that was set to kick off in San Diego on September 18. She told Seventeen magazine that she been going non-stop for the past two years and needed some time to regroup.
“I need a break from everything to just enjoy what I worked so hard for,” she said, “and I don't really feel like I've had a chance to do that."
"Happiest Day #Isaidyes," was the caption of the ring shot, which was liked by 395,000 fans. "Love you @swaggyp1," captioned a second shot of the couple kissing — with the new ring neatly in frame.
If Azalea’s impressive ring is giving you a feeling of rapper deja-vu, it may be because it is, in fact, very similar to the dazzler received by Nicky Minaj less than two months ago. That ring had a heart-shaped fancy yellow diamond center stone surrounded by a double halo of white diamonds. Minaj's ring was also estimated to be worth $500,000.
A St. Petersburg metal detecting club helped a bride avert disaster by finding the engagement ring she lost on her wedding day.
On Memorial Day, Liz Oswald and her husband were celebrating their wedding in the waters off Tarpon Springs, Florida – on the Gulf of Mexico side – surrounded by friends and family. After exchanging their vows, Oswald looked down and suddenly noticed that her cherished white gold, one-carat diamond engagement ring was gone.
“We were all hanging out in the water, and I looked at my hand and my ring was gone. It was pretty upsetting," she told FOX 13 News. Family and friends soon began to search, but were unsuccessful. “After an hour we thought, let's make the best of the day and we'll worry about it tomorrow."
Oswald contacted Suncoast Research and Recovery Club, a metal detecting club in St. Petersburg, Fla. Club members are metal detecting experts who search for lost items in sand and water. They responded within minutes, and were excited to help. Club President Tom Jones and three club volunteers boarded Oswald’s boat and began the harrowing search process in an area about the size of a football field.
“The volunteers helped us narrow it down,” Oswald said. “They threw their metal detectors into the water and walked through chest-deep [waves] as they searched.”
The critical moment came when a wedding guest sent Oswald text messages with pictures from the wedding. This helped the club members pinpoint where and when the ring fell off. In some photos, the bride was wearing the ring; in other photos, it was missing. "We ran a grid pattern," Jones said. "We marked off on the beach and tried to make sure we covered every square inch of the area."
Oswald had been doubtful she would ever see the ring again. "I was really hoping but I felt it was a slim to none chance," she admitted. "The first hour and a half was pretty grim, but within two hours they found my ring."
In waist-deep water, SRARC member Paul Hill finally struck gold when he recovered Oswald’s lost ring.
In a tearful call to her husband, Oswald exclaimed, "They found it! In like two feet of water! Oh God, I'm so happy they found it. I'm so sorry I lost it."
Oswald's husband, who was heartbroken over the loss, was thrilled to hear the good news. "They had no hesitation in helping me," Oswald said. "They never once asked for anything in return... They are kindest people you'll ever meet."
Jones noted that Oswald's ring was the 27th ring his metal detecting group has found this year. “When I took over as president, me and the board decided we should use our talents to help people. When we found it, she broke down and she cried. She was just beside herself… She broke down and hugged me.”
"I'm still in shock...I still can't believe it's back on my finger," Oswald said. "It's very emotional because it's a big day, you get married and you lose your engagement ring and you think it's gone forever and these amazing guys with metal detectors come out and find your ring."
Oswald has one word to describe the volunteers who found her ring: “Angels."
