Keeping Up With the Kardashian Ring
Kanye West recently popped the question to baby mama Kim Kardashian, and in typical Yeezy style—i.e., big, bold, loud, but also stylish—he did so with a massive diamond ring designed by celebrity jewelry queen (and Kardashian fave) Lorraine Schwartz.
Media reports say the stone is a colorless, internally flawless cushion-cut 15 ct. diamond, valued anywhere from $3 million to $8 million. That’s much more than the value of—yet 5 carats smaller than—Kardashian’s ring from ex-husband Kris Humphries, which was recently auctioned at Christie’s for $749,000. (Schwartz was unavailable for comment.)
As for the setting, experts say it must be platinum. “It was reported that Kanye wanted the diamond to look like it was floating on air,” says Ashley Ingwer of Manhattan diamond house Leo Ingwer, so “the mounting must be very thin, and needs the strength of the platinum.”
A rep for Schwartz told E! Online that “Kanye was involved in every single way,” and “had a vision from the beginning. He looked at a lot of stones and wanted only the best.”
Lita Asscher of Royal Asscher likened the stone to a certain royal rock: “It reminds me of the Cullinan in the crown of England!” —Jennifer Heebner
Blue Bombshell
A rare 12.47 ct. blue rough, discovered at Gem Diamonds’ Letseng mine in Lesotho, South Africa, fetched $7.5 million, or $603,047 per carat—a record for the mine—at an October sale. Another of the mine’s notable recent finds—an 82 ct. white diamond—earned $4.8 million ($59,173 per carat). —Rob Bates