Merilyn Monroe’s diamond and an exceptional sapphire necklace for sale by Christie’s ♦ ︎
Myths are eternal, even more if they involve transversely different peoples, different epochs and universal characters. Like Marilyn Monroe. The actress who died aged only 36, on 5 August 1962, remains one of the most beloved figures and, above all, a symbol of femininity. Also with regards to his love for jewels. On November 27th, Christie’s will test the fascination for Marilyn with an auction in Hong Kong.
On sale there is a 24 carat yellow diamond that belonged to Marilyn Monroe.
Not only. It is a stone with a story to tell. The diamond is called The Moon of Baroda, is a pear-shaped fancy yellow, which originates from the legendary now-exhausted mines of Golconda, India. The actress wore this diamond as a pendant in 1953, while promoting the release of Gentleman Prefer Blondes movie. It was the film in which she sang Diamonds are the Girl’s Best Friend, a historical phrase (perhaps too much). The myth was also immortalized by an autographed photo of 1953 in which Marilyn Monroe appears wearing La luna di Baroda. The photo is also part of Christie’s auction and will be sold together with the diamond.
The diamond, in addition to Marilyn, was also before owned by Samuel H. Deutsch, a diamond cutter from Cleveland, Ohio, who bought it in 1944 and sold it to Meyer Rosenbaum, president of the Meyer Jewelry Company of Detroit, in 1953. Current estimate is between 510,000 and 765,000 dollars.
But in the same auction appears another special and much more precious jewel: The Peacock Necklace, a necklace of diamonds and 21 Kashmir sapphires for a total of 109.08 carats, estimated at between 12 and 15 million dollars.
Kashmir sapphires are sought after for their rich cornflower blue color and reminiscent of the splendid shade of a peacock’s neck. Each sapphire of this necklace has been carefully assembled to ensure the creation of a collection of stones that are unsurpassed in beauty and harmony. The central stone weighs 10.56 carats, an absolute rarity in size, since finding a single sapphire of this caliber is tremendously difficult, not to mention the composition of a complete suite of equal excellence. Federico Graglia
