The $1.38 Million Mismatched Earrings
A pair of diamond earrings by India-based jewelry designer Nirav Modi sold for over $1.38 million at a recent Christie’s jewelry auction in Hong Kong. But what makes them so expensive? Nirav Modi, the founder of the eponymous jewelry label, explained it’s the rare colored diamonds he used.
The annual production of high quality Fancy Pink diamonds such as the ones used here would barely fill a champagne flute and Fancy Blue diamonds are even rarer than pinks,” he said in an email to India Real Time on Friday. He added that the white diamonds in the earrings were the purest form of diamond, known as Type IIa, which added to the price. The bidder remained anonymous. Besides the rare diamonds, what’s striking about the pendants is that they don’t match.The centerpiece of one of the earrings is an oval-shaped 2.22-carat blue diamond, set within a diamond frame and matched with a pear-shaped Golconda white diamond at its top.
In the other earring, the stones are reversed: A larger white diamond weighing 2.06 carats hangs from the circular frame while a smaller blue diamond on the other end of the ear piece. The diamonds, which include smaller pink ones, are mounted on a spine of 18-karat white gold.