Top 10 | Most Beautiful, Rare, and Exquisite Emeralds that were sold in an Auction

[Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] colombia to spain europe and the rest of the world in today's video we are going to look at some of the best emerald jewels that changed history and played an important role in the jewelry market tenth on the list is a broach from catherine the great to historians she is catherine the great to russian nobles and commoners of her time she was the beloved mother of her people and without a single drop of russian blood in her veins for her contemporaries and for her successive generations this woman would become the very embodiment of russia ruling a mighty empire for 34 years catherine was born in 1729 baptized sofia fredericka agusta according to the lutheran right selected at the age of 14 as a suitable bride for her cousin peter heir to the childless empress elizabeth of russia sophia was sent to saint petersburg in 1745 she converted to the russian orthodox religion in moscow taking the name catherine and was married to peter becoming the grand duchess of russia at that time catherine the great found herself sole mistress of the world's largest and wealthiest empire the empress understood perfectly the demonstrative effect of a glittering court and she was quite conscious of the fact that in the eyes of the european monarchs a great jewelry collection was as important as a great army catherine was one of the greatest collectors of all time in both scale and quality she took great pleasure in jewels which proclaims her power and her rank as empress and her treasure gems such as this emerald and diamond brooch were renowned not only for their quality but also for their sheer size acquired by catherine the great this brooch center upon an octagonal cut emerald which weighs between 60 and 70 carats of colombian origin the emerald is fearless in size and quality uniquely precious and suited for imperial elegance the emerald is set within double roar of rose-cut diamonds to the old mine cut diamond surround mounted in silver top gold on october 7 1776 catherine gave this exquisite brooch as a wedding gift to sofia doratia the future empress maria fjodorovna on the occasion of her marriage to catherine's son his royal highness paul the first the broach was inherited by maria fiordarova's daughter grand duchess maria pivlovna from 1786 to 1859 and then passed down to her daughter it remained the property of the prussian house of hanselen for the next three generations [Music] private secretary to prince leopold inherited the prince's entire fortune upon the prince's death in 1959 and set a signature and seal on the included letter of authenticity the emerald and diamond broach its lively history interwoven with romanov and her henslin families was sold in 1972 to private american collector who took much pleasure wearing it in 1973 state dinner at the white house after 40 years in hiding the broach appeared in 2010 in an auction by christie's new york and sold for one million six hundred and fifty thousand five hundred dollars angelina jolie always looks great on the red carpet but she really stunned us when she attended the 2009 academy awards wearing a beautiful black gown by elisa from the spring 2009 haute couture collection jolie walked on the red carpet alongside brad pitt and wear a pair of magnificent colombian emerald drop earrings weighing a total of 115 carats by lorraine schwartz with a staggering price of 2.5 million dollars she match her stunning earrings with a 65 carat emerald ring and was worth over 1 million dollars it seems almost impossible that emeralds of this large size could ever exist but certainly makes sense that angelina jolie would not only know them but also wear them her jewelry perfectly complemented her beautiful green eyes and was the icing on the cake to angie's outfit eighth on our list is from his highness prince arga khan the fourth in 1970 he commissioned the house of harry winston to create a beautiful pair of emerald and diamond earrings and he also commissioned the house of cartier to make a necklace to match the set of earrings as a gift for his wife princess salim khan princess salamaraga khan was born sarah francis crocopol in 1940 in what was then british india and went to finishing school in paris one of the last debutants to be presented to the queen at the queen charlotte's ball in london she went on to become a model leading a glamorous life as a girl about town in london after a brief first marriage to a british aristocrat she married prince karamarga khan iv in 1969 the couple stayed together for 25 years and had three children following their divorce in 1995 princess salim khan auctioned all her jewry in order to raise funds for her charity works the total sale of her entire collection was about 27 million dollars at the time 25 years later her collection was put on for auctioned by sophomores new york and the emerald with the diamond set was sold separately the pair of earrings was sold for 2.5 million dollars while the necklace was sold for 4.5 million dollars seventh on the list is the fringe emerald and diamond necklace by van cleef and our pals the necklace was created in 1929 and was modified in 1937 and in 1947 princess pfizer purchased the necklace princess pfizer was the third daughter of his majesty king found of egypt though brought up in the royal tradition of the egyptian court noted for its extravagance and fairytale lifestyle was intelligent enough to understand that caught life with all its trappings was actually a gilded cage far removed from the real world that operated outside the palace something which his brother king failed to comprehend and as a result lost his throne the imposing and graceful pure art deco style necklace was worn by the princess as a court jewel as seen in one of her photographs taken in 1948 attending the teja palace ball in cairo and remained her property when she went into exile in europe with her husband in 1952 after the egyptian revolution the princess died in 1994 and all her jewelry including the classic art deco piece became the property of an anonymous collector who eventually decided to put it up for sale at a christie's magnificent jewels sale in geneva held on november the twelfth twenty thirteen [Music] sixth on our list is grand monoz the grand mo news is actually a pair of rare emerald earrings on january the 27th 2012 the gemological institute of america issued a statement about the classification of these two emeralds stating that both of these specimens are unique finds with beautiful deep green grass color with a slight bluish undertone no treatment with mild inclusion and with exceptional clarity in the published statement they also mentioned that both of these emeralds were from the old mine of colombia the pristine old mines of emeralds were located in colombia specifically where the mines of mozu in which the emerald colour is intense grass green the other one is the where the color is dark grass green with a tinge of blue and the last one was cascus which currently owned by the government mozu is renowned to this day as the best producer of high quality emerald while shebo produces the rarest of the rare there is no written history about this pair of emeralds but what makes this pair so expensive is because of their age the quality and the location in which they were found the mines of shiva colombia the pair of earrings was sold in 2019 at a price of four million five hundred and four thousand nine hundred and twelve dollars one of the things i love the most is tracing the journeys of important gems having previously written about the famed emeralds owned by the grand duchess vladimir of russia i was fascinated to hear that a single one of these stones had made an auction appearance earlier this year the stone attracted attention not only because of its imperial province but also because it was arguably the finest emerald in the grand duchesses collection originally the emerald was part of the para a wedding present from the romanovs to princess marie of mecklenburg schwerin to celebrate her marriage to the uncle of tsar nicholas ii upon which she became her imperial highness the grand duchess vladimir pavlovna these stones in my opinion were probably the finest collection of emeralds ever owned by an individual unrivaled in size quality and color match the fullest extent of the grand duchess's emerald collection can be seen in the famous photograph of her in historical russian costume for a ball in 1903 the center stone of the paris necklace more of which later was a hexagonal specimen weighing over 100 carats and can clearly be seen on the headdress the stone recently sold at auction was originally an emerald cut weighing 107.67 carats set in diamonds and suspending an important drop emerald this can also clearly be identified pinned at the front the rest of her emerald jewelry all containing stones of considerable size is sewn all over her dress upon her death in 1920 the emeralds were inherited by the grand duchess's son the grand duke boris and the rest of the jewelry was divided into colors and was bequeathed to her other children the first breakup of the emeralds was affected by the grand duke who sold the emerald necklace in about 1922 to cartier they were subsequently reset into a sleek art deco sort bought by edith mccormack rockefeller this superb colombian emerald embodies the grandeur of the rockefeller dynasty a name enshrined in american history in 1930 john d rockefeller jr purchased to a private owner approach for his wife art patent abby aldrich rockefeller the brooch said to be by van cleef and arpels centered upon a large emerald with mesmerizing color and impeccable clarity when his wife passed away in 1948 rockefeller gifted the individual emeralds from this setting to the rockefeller children the center step cut emerald weighing an impressive 18.04 carats went to his son david david rockefeller asked the renowned american jury designer raymond c yard to mount the emerald on a ring executed with an elegantly understated diamond and platinum setting the ring was one of yards most important private commissions raymond yard had a professional and personal relationship with the rockefeller family [Music] he had a very keen knowledge of gemstones and used the term gem quality only for gemstones that were truly exquisite you can see the stock card where raymond yard knows down stating that david rockefeller left with him a gem to be manufactured into a ring it speaks out his very keen and discerning eye and talks of the quality of the gemstone all the way back in 1948 so not only is this a fantastic gemstone but it is a true part of american history the story is exceptional because of its size the cut is absolutely perfect the color is very evenly distributed it has no enhancement whatsoever and to have an emerald of this size of this quality with no enhancement is truly exceptional third on our list is the gaussian emerald and diamond double riviere the necklace designed by edmund chin for the mason begotten features a line of 28 perfectly cut and matched colombian emeralds of unsurpassed quality all completely natural each with no clarity enhancement in addition it is set with both diamonds and jadeite each emerald was hand selected by albert bergoshen and sourced from the famed muso mine in colombia home to the greatest emeralds known for their unsurpassed color lustre clarity and size in november of 2020 the begotian emerald and diamond double riviera necklace was sold at christie's magnificent jewels auction for a price of seven million dollars the record-selling price made history after it topples the palmett necklace of 2017 thus creating a new milestone for the mason second on our list is the bulgari platinum brooch in emerald and diamonds according to richard burton the only word elizabeth taylor knew in italian was bulgari during the filming of cleopatra burton visited the bulgari boutique in rome where he purchased this emerald and diamond brooch as a wedding gift for his fiancee the broach was an engagement ring richard burton gave to taylor the colombian emerald on its center weighs 23.44 carats and is encircled by pear-shaped diamonds it is the only jewel elizabeth taylor wore at their first wedding when elizabeth taylor passed away at the age of 79 all her pieces of jewelry including the brooch that became a pendant from a beautiful emerald necklace were later sold in the collection of elizabeth taylor the legendary jewels evening sale at christie's in new york in december 2011 it realized six million one hundred and thirty thousand five hundred dollars and remains the most expensive single stone emerald jewel ever sold when one looks back to the great jewelry collections of the 20th century the name of potinho always comes up in the 1930s and 1940s during one of the greatest periods of jewelry design fabulous gemstones and jewels were purchased by simon pitino and kept in family hands over several generations the cartier emerald and diamond para were one of them [Music] the highlight of the petinus collection is a magnificent emerald and diamond necklace this impressive necklace of royal inspiration was designed by cartier london in 1937 after they had purchased a rare emerald cross of 45 carats from queen eugenia victoria of spain carved from one single gem the cross named the andean cross had belonged to queen isabelle two of spain as well as to empress eugenie of france [Music] having acquired the andean cross cartier decided that the extremely rare gem should be given an appropriate setting in keeping with its religious significance and royal provenance accordingly cartier's jewelry designs decided that the most appropriate setting would be for the emerald cross to be suspended as a pendant to a befitting necklace also incorporating the best of emeralds the designers then selected over 100 carats of the best emeralds available at the time and incorporating 12 high quality emeralds and 24 top quality diamonds created the stunning emerald and diamond necklace reflecting features of the jewelry designs of the period of art deco era subsequently in 1938 simon atari patino the bolivian tin king also known as the andean rockefeller an esteemed customer of cartier saw the stunning necklace with a historic andean cross suspended by it and decided to purchase it for his beloved wife on 12 november 2013 the patina collection was offered at christie's geneva and it was sold for a price of 10 230 968 the highest price ever paid for emerald jewelry of all time it has been a pleasure sharing with you the stories of these noble and magnificent emerald pieces of jewelry in our history thank you and have a nice day

Channel: Andrew Pidor

Views: 211,522

Keywords: Top 10, Top, amazing, beautiful, rare, exquisite, expensive, historical, luxurious, emerald, diamond, green, blue, elizabeth, catherine the great, angelina jolie, gold, collection, colombia, queen, spain, muzo, chivor, colombian emeralds, gem, quality, rarity

Id: A41ZPhIBzRE

Length: 18min 30sec (1110 seconds)

Published: Sun Feb 21 2021