I usually don’t care for jewellery, even if I love it. I mean: I hate wearing it, but in an ideal world I would live my life covered in diamonds head to toe. I hate wearing jewellery but I love seeing other people wearing it, especially when it comes to unique pieces.
This happened some time ago, when Christina Aguilera announced her engagement to Matthew Rutler, showing a massive vintage-looking ring on a tropical background (no id of it yet, sorry), and even more when Mary-Kate Olsen was spotted wearing a sparkler which definitely looked like an engagement ring (her boyfriend is Olivier Sarkozy).
Even if it’s been a while since I last wrote about the Olsens, I’ve always kept an eye on them because I love their style. Mary-Kate is my favourite, though: her slightly dishevelled look and her love for vintage make me look at her as a source of inspiration. But let’s go back to her ring. She was first spotted wearing it some days ago, while she was leaving an office building in New York.
We got a better look at it when she attended the Louis Vuitton fall/winter 2014 fashion show in Paris on March 5th, 2014. Wearing a simple black and white outfit, she stepped out wearing that sparkler again. Media started buzzing about the piece of jewellery, which was quickly identified (details to come).
I don’t care for its meaning but I really care for it, since it’s one of the most breath-taking rings I’ve ever seen. Now it’s time for details! It’s been identified as a 1953 Cartier ring, purchased at a jewellery auction at Sotheby’s on February 6th, 2014.
According to StyleCaster, “the center European-cut diamond clocks in at approximately four carats, framed by 16 sapphires, and the petals are set with single-cut diamonds.”
It was originally estimated to sell for $40,000/60,000, but it was sold for $81,250. Can we breathe again, after lusting over this beauty? The combination of sapphires and diamonds is just sublime, perfectly balanced in their arrangement, and the overall shape is just perfect, as well.
Its price and value can’t be compared to the Lorraine Schwartz monster diamond ring which is sitting on Kim Kardashian’s ring, but its history is surely unvaluable. The Cartier ring originally belonged to a Tennessee-based jewelry collector, but who knows exactly where it came from.
Whenever I think of vintage, that’s the first question that comes to my mind: who first wore this?
Was he/she happy while wearing it? Why didn’t his/her family keep this as a heirloom?
I don’t know if Mary-Kate knows more about the ring that’s now hers, but I’d love to.
Money can buy everything, but the personal stories/memories eventually connected to objects we can buy have no price and – thank God – are not for sale.