There’s no denying Loretta Castoro’s eye for quality colored gemstones. They were plentiful in her booth at JCK Tucson last week, and though she had an abundance set into her signature lip looks, one more beauty appeared on the second day of the show: a one-of-a-kind cobalt blue spinel from Vietnam.

Castoro acquired this 5.91 ct. pear-shape stone in the fall of 2014 and designed an elegant diamond-encrusted 18k white gold leaf-motif-inspired mounting that was made into a ring that—thankfully—arrived in time for the show.

“I am so in love with this stone, it looks so much like a blue diamond!” gushed Castoro. “I had a few colored-diamond experts at my booth, and they all agreed that it looked like a blue diamond.”

And while many admiring eyes fell upon it, the piece is still for sale. Castoro expects it to sell at a future trunk show, several of which she scheduled during JCK Tucson. One retailer from New York invited her to bring it to a special colored-stone event taking place later this year, and another store in Wyoming asked her to bring it to an in-store event being held over the summer. Whose consumer will ultimately take it home? We’ll have to check back with Castoro to find out. In the meantime, it’s available for $45,000 retail.

This one-of-a-kind piece from Loretta Castoro is so new that it has not yet been professionally photographed! The 5.91 ct. cobalt-blue spinel is set in an 18k gold ring with 0.18 ct. t.w. diamonds and retails for $45,000.

The Style 360 blog is your editorial source for the newest jewelry, trends, market analysis, trade show insights, designer profiles, and more.

JCK