As time has moved along, so has the way men used to shop for engagement rings.

Diamonds are timeless, classic and elegant and when making this purchase, it literally represents the most sacred choice you and your significant other will ever face. If the wrong engagement ring is chosen, men will forever remember the look of disappointment on their girlfriend’s face or else women will feel incredibly awkward and possibly forced to wear a ring they dislike, forever.

This is exactly why more and more women are choosing to shop WITH their boyfriends to pick out the perfect engagement ring together.

But gentlemen, this doesn’t mean that the element of surprise needs to be taken out! The proposal can be everything you’ve dreamed and much, much more this way.

You can still surprise her with a box containing a starter engagement ring, the dinner, the bending down one knee or whatever romantic idea it is that you’ve. The only difference is that the ring is still in the store and not yet on her finger.

As anyone knows, women love to be understood more than just about anything else! Shopping together for her input will make your woman feel incredibly important and extremely valued because she can contribute to the whole decision-making process about the ring that will be worn forever with pride and love.

Choosing an engagement ring together might sound a little strange to some people but think about it for a few minutes: It’s practically a foolproof situation! You get to give her the story of her life to tell everyone she knows while she gets the ring she’s dreamed about since she was a little girl.

Men get to spend less time going from store to store stressing out and women can have the ring resized and looking just right all in one go. Both parties are much more at ease making this experience a memorable one, not to mention, the end result is phenomenal!

You’ll worry less about what she might think of the engagement ring you’ve chosen and be able to put more time and effort into the whole proposal. Your better half will feel nothing but happiness and surprise, leaving no room for that awkward silence of accepting a ring they hate – assuming, that is, she wants to say yes.

Buying these rings are definitely not a light purchase to be made which is why diamonds are always considered an investment no matter their size and not just another ring to wear to the latest gala.

Not only that, it’s much more common to look at choosing your engagement ring together than you think! Out of all women who are proposed to, 75% of them receive a diamond engagement ring and from that, a whopping 53.7% of couples chose the engagement ring together. That’s more than half!

As the numbers continue to increase, some worry that this could mean a decrease in sales for diamond engagement rings but in Australia, jewellers say that their sales has remained exactly the same while the U.S. reports only a $600 decline as of 2008.

Shopping for engagement rings together has become the new trend of diamond wear and hopefully will continue to be so for the decades to come.

Are you one of those couples who have shopped for your engagement and wedding rings together? If so, we’d love to hear your story – leave a comment below for me!

Sandy Mandow, owner and founder, SM Productions asked Eskae Private Jeweller to provide a vast collection of our diamond jewellery for their Diamonds Are Forever photo shoot and wow, what a blast that was!

Sandy, herself, took care of the technical stuff such as the photographer, wardrobe and makeup stylists and the studio location while I was asked to bring the brilliance, a.k.a., the diamonds.

Photo shoots can be long and tedious for some people but the experience was just the opposite for me! It was too short and incredibly fun spending the day with such fun, talented people and I’m definitely looking forward to the next commercial shoot!

And do you want to know what the best part is? You can see our final commercial production right here!

Pink diamonds are one of the most valuable coloured diamonds in the market which makes the decision of picking the perfect pink rock for you, just as significant! This means when shopping for a pink diamond engagement ring, first find out all you can about pink diamonds through your own research, who the most reputable jewellery professional as well as extremely knowledgeable in pink diamonds and lastly but most importantly, never rush into buying your pink diamond!

Pink Diamond Origin

The very first pink diamond to be known about was found in 1643, where it was gifted to Louis de Bourbon, Prince of Conde and Commander of the French Army during the Thirty Years War. This light pink coloured diamond, named, Conde Pink Diamond, weighed 9.01 carats and was later bought by Louis XIII but now sits in the very famous, Musee de Conde in Chantilly, France.

Throughout history, large pink diamonds have surfaced to make their grand appearance but only recently, have people’s perception increased of its value within the last 30 years, when the Argyle Diamond Mine released its first pink diamond in 1985.

While scientists are still unsure as to what truly forms a pink diamond, they’re 100% sure of the fact that these little beauties go through the worst malformation abuse of all white and coloured diamonds. Only found in one kind of rock, called Lamproite, has made Australia famous for pink diamonds since no other active mines have yet been found to contain these gorgeous diamond’s very unique mode of transportation.

Searching For Your Pink Diamond

With the Argyle Diamond Mine producing one-third (around 35 million diamonds per year) of the world’s natural supply of diamonds, it only makes sense that they also produce the largest amount of pink diamonds. With 45% of their diamonds in the near gem quality diamond pile and 50% of industry quality diamonds, that leaves a mere 5% of rare, coloured diamonds out of which, only 0.1% of that will be pink diamonds.

To put that into better context, for every 10,000 white diamonds mined, only one pink diamond will be mined and the chances of that one pink diamond being an industry quality diamond is even rarer than that!

The Argyle Diamond Mine does release a very small, set amount of pink diamonds each year but only to select clientele. These lovely stones will always be very limited due to their rarity and more severely, the fact that by 2030, pink diamond mining will come to an end with the belief that no more pink diamonds will be available to mine.

The fact that the pink diamond supply will eventually cease may make you feel the urge to rush out and get one but this is an investment that you should NEVER take lightly or be rash about.

The first and most obvious step to take, once you’ve found a jeweller who specialises or is very knowledgeable in pink diamonds, is to set an appointment with your jewellery professional. He/She will be able to let you know what’s available, what’s a good asking price and narrow down your options to make a well educated decision.

If you can’t afford hundreds of thousands of dollars (or millions), then lighten up your choices – literally! The lighter and more faint a pink diamond is, the lesser the price. The darker and more vivid of the pink in a diamond, the price steeply climbs up the ladder.

Remember that pink diamonds aren’t ever remotely near anything close to a cheap price and you’ll never find a sale surrounding it. In other words, be prepared to spend a substantial amount when you make your final purchase!

Creating Your Pink Diamond Engagement Ring

Jewellery professionals are talented artists who appreciate every aspect of what makes up any piece of jewellery. If you’re planning on having a pink diamond engagement ring to pop the question with, then your best bet is to have the ring design customised so that this engagement ring gets a fabulous one-of-a-kind design the pink diamond truly deserves!

Your jewellery professional will sit down with you to go over many different designs of ideas he/she has that will enhance the pink diamond’s quality and appearance while also taking your own ideas and thoughts to create some designs of your own.

If you already know exactly what look you’ll be going for, then go ahead and sketch out your thoughts. Even if you aren’t the best artist in the world, your jewellery professional will understand once you’ve arrived at your appointment.

After looking through all of the different engagement ring designs that both of you have drawn up, the final outcome will produce the exact design you had in mind while including the final tweaking it needs to produce the perfect engagement ring.

1. How are diamonds formed?

The formation process that diamonds go through is absolutely amazing! Diamonds are the only element discovered that consist of one single element, Carbon, that form between 120-200 kms below the earth’s surface.

Obviously, the farther below the earth’s surface you go, the hotter the temperature gets, majorly increasing the pressure from all of the layers of surface above. This extreme heat and large weight of pressure cause carbon atoms to crystallise – which is how we get these beautiful diamonds that we treasure.

2. How are diamonds mined?

Not many people really think too much about the extraction part of the diamond process when putting a diamond on their finger but extraction is exactly what mining diamonds is. Before it can even be worthy of catching your eye, diamonds are pretty unrecognisable when inside of a mine.

Because it takes great skill and patience to gather diamonds without damaging them, there are two types of mining that are the most commonly used methods: Pipe mining and alluvial mining. Pipe mining is the more dramatic of the two since it involves recovering diamonds from volcanic pipes. Miners have to be lowered deep within the cave to be able to find these valuable stones.

Alluvial mining is a little less intense  and one that most people are likely to be more familiar with since it’s done above the earth’s surface. This type involves the screen you’ve actually seen before at riverbeds and ocean beaches, where people sway them back and forth, sifting in search of diamonds and other treasures.

3. Can diamonds break easily?

This is a very important question because the popular thought is that diamonds are invincible when surprisingly, they’re not!  Remember that even Superman has his weaknesses!

While they are the strongest gemstone known to man, they can still go through wear and tear just like any other precious stone and yes, diamonds absolutely can be broken if hit hard enough with a hammer (not that anyone would likely want to do this!).

Not only can they be damaged, they can also damage other gemstones if sitting too close together. For example, if a person is wearing two rings next to each other – a diamond ring on the ring finger and a ruby ring on the middle finger – and both rings accidentally turn towards each other, the diamond will win that battle, hands down.

4. What are the 4 C’s?

Instead of constantly spelling out all four components that make up a diamonds value (cut, clarity, colour, carat), it’s commonly known as the 4 C’s in the jewellery world.

The cut of a diamond is perhaps the most important ‘C’ of the bunch. This is what determines a diamond’s beauty and when cut to perfection, will enhance the diamond’s colour and hide inclusions at the same time.

Since everything is based on the diameter of the diamond, the perfect diameter for a 1ct. round diamond is exactly 6.50mm – not 6.48mm or 6.55mm – but 6.50mm. This allows for the perfect proportion to then be cut, resulting in a diamond that is now able to break up white light into the appropriate colour spectrum very strongly rather than very weakly.

The clarity of a diamond has to do with how ‘clear’ a diamond is. Any inclusions or imperfection within the diamond can lower its overall grade which decreases the diamonds value. In layman’s terms, the more clarity a diamond has, the more the diamond is worth.

The colour of a diamond is simply just that: the colour. Diamonds come in a beautiful variety of colours, to include just about any colour you can think of. To distinguish the difference between their colours, the terms Faint through Fancy and Fancy through Fancy Vivid are given to these gorgeous coloured diamonds.

And finally, the carat, refers to the weight of the diamond (see question #7).

5. What process do diamonds go through to get that, ‘Girl’s Best Friend’ sparkling, Fire and Brilliance finish?

Believe it or not, diamonds don’t pop out of the earth, glittering and ready to be sold! Diamonds are actually pretty dirty rocks that take an enormous amount of fixing up to get it engagement ring ready. Of course, diamonds are valuable as rough, raw stones but cutting and polishing them improve the diamond’s value by a minimum of 50%!

In order to get the full price and value put into a diamond, it takes an extreme amount of expertise and patience (this process can sometimes take up to an entire year to finish!) until the diamond is ready to be placed into a jewellery setting.

The first important C’s of any diamond is its cut, followed closely by the diamond’s colour. This is what gives each diamond, what I refer to as, that ‘Fire and Brilliance’. The cut and colour of every diamond is its heart and soul which makes these two C’s matter greatly in just how important a good diamond is.

Because diamonds rate a full 10 on the Mohs scale of hardness, very precise tools, such as diamond saws and lasers, are used to cut the shape of the diamond. A Russian mathematician, Marcel Tolkowsky, worked out a formula in the early 1900′s that’s used nowadays to maximise the Fire and Brilliance of diamonds.

To give it that special dazzling factor, jewellery professionals use a special formula to determine where the facets should be placed on the diamond. The final process involves a fine, mechanically controlled saw, a laser or a rotating disk that is sprinkled with diamond powder.

6. What constitutes the carat of a diamond?

This is a very short answer with a single explanation: Technically speaking, a diamond’s carat is the term used to express the weight of a diamond, with one carat equalling 200 milligrams of actual weight. If a diamond is extremely small, it can then be expressed by points, i.e. 0.01 or one-hundredth of a carat.

7. Is there a difference between certified and uncertified diamonds?

Those who aren’t in the professional world of jewellery have a hard time fully grasping the concept of certified and uncertified diamonds. The reason that the difference between both kinds of diamonds might throw people off is because these words sound more like more valuable and less valuable. This is a diamond myth that has absolutely nothing to do with a diamond’s value, whatsoever!

Certified diamonds are graded diamonds. In other words, diamonds with a piece of paper that reputable gemmology labs grade a diamond’s quality with. This may sound a little disappointing but it’s actually the biggest difference between certified and uncertified.

Now, here is where this myth that certified diamonds cost more lies: Diamond wholesalers who possess a certified diamond will occasionally charge more for a certified diamond because the buyer knows without a doubt that everything about the diamond is authentic. This has nothing to do with the certification and has everything to do with the seller.

8. What are the three most famous diamonds in the world?

There are so many famous diamonds but sticking to the three biggest and most magnificent diamonds:

The Cullinan diamond: This is, without a doubt, the biggest diamond to have ever been discovered to date. Coming in at 3,106.75 carats of pure white diamond, it was then cut into nine smaller (figuratively speaking) diamonds with the two biggest rocks taking on famous names themselves: The Great Star of Africa (or Cullinan I) weighing 530 carats and the Lesser Star of Africa (or Cullinan II) weighing 317 carats

The Golden Jubilee: The reason for this diamond’s fame isn’t just on carat weight alone but for its colour. The Golden Jubilee is the biggest brown diamond to make its way to the earth’s surface with a whopping weight of 345.67 carats!

The Incomparable: This amazing yellow diamond was first discovered in its 890 carat glory but after being cut and polished, still holds firmly in third place with 407.48 carats of pure beauty.

9. Are diamonds a good investment?

Absolutely! Diamonds will always be valuable and is the one precious stone that will always remain in tact and at the top of the gem hierarchy. They’re a completely tangible investment because of this very reason.

Even if there is a slight fall in inflation, diamonds are guaranteed to ALWAYS go back up on the rise. Even if it’s hard to find a buyer right off the bat, it’s like any other investment that takes patience. The rewards that can be reaped by diamond investments can cover pensions, send children to college and provide a life of financial security if the right investment techniques are used.

10. Where can people find the best quality diamonds?

The most important advice for those who are looking for the best quality diamonds that nature has to offer, is to begin their search with the most reputable jewellery professional in town. Clients need to feel a sense of security and trust with their jewellery professional before rushing into any purchase so that they’re left 100% satisfied with their purchase with all questions answered.

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There probably isn’t much of Prince William’s and his new bride, Kate Middleton’s wedding left that hasn’t been viewed or talked about all over the world. This ‘It’ event of the year (or century) has people are talking about a Cinderella-ish wedding that girl’s only ever get to dream of!

While people are still buzzing about the wedding dresses (yes, that’s plural!) Kate wore during her big day, let’s talk about the royal wedding rings that are just as lavish and worth much, much more.

Engagement and Wedding Ring

In an era where coloured gemstones and diamonds are the new white diamond, the engagement ring that Prince William proposed to Kate with extravagantly fits right into that category. Previously, Princess Diana’s own engagement ring, this 18 carat oval blue sapphire surrounded by 14 small diamonds originally cost $45,000 USD.

The sapphire, alone, is now valued $300,000 USD. With the total price of the ring equalling a little over half a million USD, what many people may not know is that Princess Di’s sapphire engagement ring was originally given to Prince Harry while Prince William received her Cartier watch. When the older Prince became engaged, Prince Harry gave the ring to him for Kate Middleton. How’s that for brotherly love?

As for the wedding ring itself, the Prince has chosen not to wear a wedding ring but that doesn’t mean he skimped out on Kate’s ring! Going to their family jeweller at Wartski, a jewellery company founded in Bangor, the ring was made from a single, large nugget of Clogau gold only found in Wales.

What makes this gold even more valuable is the fact that this type of gold is extremely rare making this wedding ring, very possibly, the last piece of jewellery to ever be crafted from this particular type of Welsh gold.

Earrings

Princess Diana’s engagement ring wasn’t the only family heirloom passed on down to Kate. During their honeymoon, Prince William also gifted his mother’s diamond and sapphire earrings to his new bride.

Using the great advantage of custom jewellery, Kate took Princess Diana’s favourite earrings and had them the remodelled to include a more modern look that suited her own personality. These exquisite earrings were originally designed as large, jewelled studs but are now a gorgeous pair of single tear drop earrings.

On her wedding day, Kate was given a pair of new diamond encrusted drop earrings designed by Robinson Pelham as a wedding gift from her parents. While these earrings were certainly jaw dropping in price, the simple yet elegant style suited Middleton perfectly

Tiara

Now, not many girls get the option to choose which historical, jewelled filled tiaras they’ll be wearing, Kate Middleton certainly did – and choose she did!

The talk was that Middleton would perhaps wear the famous tiara that Queen Elizabeth wore on her wedding day but instead, she chose the 1936 diamond Cartier tiara that was originally purchased by the Duke of York who later became known as King George VI.

Set in platinum, the tiara is made from old, baguette-cut diamond with the upper part forming a range of lotus flowers and the lower ‘zig-zag’ part forming a removable piece that can be used as a bandeau. This royal tiara was given to Queen Elizabeth when she was still just a princess and has now been passed on to Kate Middleton.

A statement hasn’t been released yet as to whether or not Kate will keep this tiara as her own but for now, all clothing and jewellery is up on display at Buckingham palace.

So there you have it! Something old, something new, something borrowed and a lot of things blue!

While the total value of all these jewels can only be found in a royal bank account, the style and sentiment behind them are entirely priceless!

*If you’re having a hard time viewing the picture, click it to zoom in closer.

Origins

Much like their bold colouring, how rubies are formed is also extremely interesting! Coming from the Latin word ‘ruber’, which means large, high-quality natural rubies are extremely rare making it no surprise that these beauts come with a steep price. Most rubies found in stores are synthetically made but if you ever come across a deep, red-coloured ruby, you can bet it will be worth more than a diamond!

The main element used in forming rubies is called corundum which is the elemental mineral consisting of densely packed aluminium and oxygen atoms. As an interesting side-note, corundums without the red or white colour are a very common gemstone that most are familiar with: Sapphires.

Corundums are typically colourless; however, depending on the small amounts of chromium that lay inside of a corundum give off the red colouring that is associated with rubies.

Because of their rarity, geoscience professional deem rubies as a minor geological miracle since the entire process of how a ruby is formed from start to finish still remains unknown, although the ‘glow’ of a ruby can be explained quite easily.

The dazzling glow factor that occurs inside of rubies is simply when the chromium element meets ultraviolet lights. This is one of the main factors that have given rubies their mystical qualities that still run strong today.

Mystical Qualities

Rubies are one of the most revered gems in all of history as well as currently. Centuries ago, Burmese warriors were known to actually embed rubies under their skin to make them invincible in battle while warding off enemies. Probably not the healthiest of tactics but it does portray the strong amount of faith people have put into rubies.

In today’s era, rubies are most notably worshipped by Hindus. Those of Hinduism belief follow a very distinct ritual, each and every time, before ever wearing a new ruby on their body. This is based on the person’s birth month, date and year, followed by varied numbers of chants while letting the ruby sit in unboiled milk.

Believed to be a representation of the sun, here is how the entire process typically plays out:

• Rubies must be without flaws, transparent and dark red in colour
• Rubies should be set in gold at the minimum of 14 carats
• If the jewellery is a ruby ring, it must be worn on the left ring finger for males and right ring finger for females
• It can only be placed on the body after being bathed in unboiled milk and gangajal AFTER sunrise and BEFORE 10am on Sunday
• The ruby must touch the stone on the feet of any favourite God after chanting the appropriate mantra – for 10 continuous Sundays
• There are a couple mantras of Sun. After picking the suitable mantra, it must be chanted 108 times after the Ganesh mantra

*Please note that this is only one of many methods, mantras and beliefs of the ruby.

More generalised beliefs of rubies revolve around symbolisms of everlasting love, good fortune and was/is worn as a talisman to ward off evil spirits and natural disasters.

Gift Ideas

With birthstones and coloured diamonds being the new ‘It’ trend for engagement rings, rubies are no exception. The difference between a ruby and another coloured gemstone is both the value and the colour which should both be kept in mind when considering the purchase.

Because of the value that rubies hold, chances are that a ruby engagement ring will be the proposal gift of the year but that also means insurance is a must. Knowing how to care for a ruby is also extremely important.

While rubies are extremely hard, depending on how many inclusions or if it has any internal fractures, it will crack over time if not monitored. Most jewellery professionals offer ring rejuvenation services to polish and clean your engagement ring while checking for any problems it may have.

Rubies are a much bolder jewel than most other gemstones which means that wearing a ruby makes a bold statement in itself. The colour of a ruby speaks for itself meaning that you won’t need to deck yourself up too much with other jewellery since it will either get outshone by the ruby or worse, clashing and turning a magnificent statement into a fashion faux-pas!

The same rules apply to all ruby jewellery, whether it’s a necklace, bracelet, earrings or rings. Value and colour! Keep those two things in mind and you’ll be wearing your ruby like royalty!!

5. Dream Shoe Designer: Stuart Weitzmann, assisted by Oscar Heyman Bros.

Fully understanding what women want out of a shoe, Stuart Weitzmann has created some of the finest, artistic and most expensive shoes of our time. Designing, perhaps, a coveted shoe during the times of The Wizard of Oz, these sparkly red slippers are fully studded with 642 oval Burma rubies that come in with a total weight of 123-33 carats and are set in a half pound of platinum.

When the stilettos were first created, they were the most expensive shoe of their time and designed to be worn only by the famous. Currently ranking in at #5 on the list of Most Expensive Dream Shoes, they still cost an arm and a leg of $1.6 million USD.

4. Dream Shoe Designer: Stuart Weitzmann

Deemed the ‘Cinderella slippers’, these elegant heels are heavy with 565 platinum-set Kwiat diamonds that total up to 55 carats of clear diamonds and one enormous 5 carat amaretto diamond, worth one million USD on its own, on each shoe.

These fairytale 4 ½ inch stiletto shoes are every girl’s dream and with their steep cost, may just remain that! While they’ve been worn once by Allison Kraus at the 2004 Oscar ceremony, these shoes now sit on display in Beverly Hills, California and are worth $2 million USD.

3. Dream Shoe Designer: Stuart Weitzmann and Jeweller, Le Vian

Tying 3^rd and 4^th place with himself on the most expensive shoes list, Stuart Weitzmann, in collaboration with Le Vian, have created another $2 million USD pair of evening shoes.

Rightfully so, these million dollar stilettos rank in the top 5 of the world’s most expensive shoes due to the 185 carats of museum quality tanzanite, 28 carats of diamonds and another huge 16 carat tanzanite that dangles on the front of the heel from the ankle strap. All of these rare and precious stones are placed on the silver leather embellished shoe making it one of the daintiest and rarest high-heeled stilettos ever made.

2. Dream Shoe Designer: Ronald Winston from the House of Harry Winston

Not to be outdone by Stuart Weitzman, Ronald Winston carries on The Wizard of Oz theme by celebrating its 50^th anniversary with these Harry Winston Ruby Slippers. Tying in at first place with Stuart Weitzmann on the #1 spot, not only are they eye-blindingly glittery with very possibly, more rubies that any person has seen at once, they also carry more weight than any shoe designed to date! Completely covered in 4,600 valuable rubies, these low-heeled pumps have a total weight of 1,350 carats or pure ruby.

To coincide with this one-of-a-kind pair of treasures, it also carries a one-of-a-kind price tag of $3 million USD!

1. Dream Shoe Designer: Stuart Weitzmann

The factor that determined whether the Harry Winston Ruby Slippers or the Stuart Weitzmann Rita Hayworth Heels took the number one spot was which shoe was more current.

Labelled as the most recent, over-the-top creation in designer shoes, these shoes were inspired by earrings worn by the late Rita Hayworth and worn only once by singer/songwriter, Kathleen Bird York, at the 2006 Oscars. Now owned by Rita Haworth’s daughter, Princess Yasmin Aga Khan, they’re off the market although their beauty can still be admired from afar.

These open-toed heels were designed using a rust-coloured satin and decorated with rubies, sapphires and diamonds, all nested in the satin ruffle at the toe of the shoe. Unsurprisingly, the Rita Hayworth shoes hold their value at $300 million USD.

Everyone wants to own the nicest and latest fashioned, name branded shoes but what about shoes that girls can only dream about? Believe it or not, they do exist! All you have to do is add the most exquisite diamonds, jewels and precious metals to these coveted shoes.

Still don’t believe it? Well, go ahead and take a look at the first half of the world’s most amazing and expensive dream shoes!

10. Dream Shoe Designer: Unnamed Italian Designer in Wuhu

Although the designer has remained vague about his creation, his masterpiece is anything but! These sparkling, gold pumps used 680 grams of pure gold to mould them into perfection under the invitation of the World Gold Council.

While the price is has also not been released, if you calculate the going rate for 1 gram of gold ($44 USD), then the price for the gold alone comes in $29, 920 USD.

9. Dream Shoe Designer: Bruno Frisoni for Roger Vivier

Named, The Dovima, these taxidermy bird shoes (yes, they’re actually real birds!) were dyed a rose pink colour and attached to the toe of these heels by their crystal encrusted head. Frisoni really knew how to set himself apart in the designer world since this is the type of shoe that will never be forgotten once you’ve seen it!

Each bird’s crystallised head is surrounded by 24 carat gold-coated mesh, silk, ribbons and crocodile-skin rosettes with the added bonus of protective crocodile or snakeskin that are attachable to keep the shoes, themselves, from ever touching the ground.

These oddly creative, animal-esque shoes can be ordered for $30,000 (USD).

8. Dream Shoe Designer: Giuseppe Zanotti

This Italian shoe designer created the design for these extremely pink shoes with the help of the fine jewellery company, Chopard, who gave the jewellery needed for this fascinating footwear.

Unlike the previous shoe Shellis designed using one specific type of stone, Zanotti incorporated pink diamonds, pink sapphires, tourmalines and russellites to create this one-of-a-kind satin high-heels.

The biggest plus for these shoes is that the jewelled ankle strap of the shoe is removable so that the owner can have not one, but TWO valuable bracelets!

Totalling 22 carats of diamonds, 134 carats of rubellites and 199 carats of pink sapphires, Giuseppe Zanotti also designed a matching set of rose gold, pink sapphire and diamond hoop earrings.

Believed to be auctioned off for up to $175,000 dollars USD for amfAR’s fight against AIDS, these gorgeous bejewelled, satin stilettos sold for an even bigger sum of $200,000 (USD) to a private bidder!

7. Dream Shoe Designer: Christopher Michael Shellis for House of Borgezie

Founder and jewellery designer of the House Of Borgezie, Shellis has designed some of the most expensive shoes of all times with his main attributes to them consisting of diamonds, platinum and solid gold.

This shoe was given the title of, The Eternal Borgezie Diamond Stiletto, and rightfully so due to the 30 carats of 2,200 encrusted white diamonds set into this platinum beauty.

Since all of his jewelled and precious metalled shoes are made with such precision and the best raw materials, they’re guaranteed to last much longer than 10 lifetimes – 1,000 years!

Shellis’ reason for creating these expensive shoes is to showcase the jewels and create jewellery rather than making shoes for people to wear. He has begun the pricing at £100,000 UK.

6. Dream Shoe Designer: Christopher Michael Shellis for the House of Borgezie

Designing another shoe on our Top 10 list, Shellis has once again created his own pair of diamond encrusted stilettos that he calls, ‘A treasure of the feet’ – which, they truly are!

These shoes required a team of goldsmiths to work with temperatures of over 1000ºC to create the entire shoe out of gold. After the base was made, over 2,200 white diamonds were again added to both shoes, totalling a humongous 30 carats.

Having gone on sale just 5 months ago, these dream stilettos can be bought for the big price of £140,000 UK or $319,469 USD.

This exquisite, once-in-a-lifetime jewel encrusted tiara was created by renowned jewellers, Chaumet, for Guido Count von Henckel, First Prince von Donnersmark, as a gift for his second wife, Princess Katharina. The emeralds, themselves, are believed to be a part of a collection owned by Napolean III’s wife, Empress Eugenie before the tiara was designed for Princess Katharina.

Not only is this the most rare and valuable emerald and diamond tiaras to come to light, it’s also one of the most historic and prized jewellery pieces to make its debut at Sotheby’s in over 30 years!

Sotheby has recently released this description of the Luxury Emerald and Diamond Tiara:

“The tiara is a crown of foliate and floral inspiration. The base is set with a central row of eleven larger cushion-shaped diamonds, each set between pairs of muguets, above a line of laurel leaf motifs and surmounted by festooned ribbons, pierced and millegrain set throughout with rose and brilliant-cut diamonds, surmount by a row of eleven polished pear-shaped emeralds. The emeralds, totaling approximately 500 carats, graduated in size from the center, each emerald drilled and held in diamond set cusp motifs, the nine largest tipped by rose diamonds, mounted in silver and gold, later detachable tiara fitting”.

Quite the description to match the tiara’s intricate, magnificent historical piece of work!

Understandably so, this amazing and brilliant Luxury Emerald and Diamond Tiara is estimated to sell for $5 to $10 million dollars in Geneva on May 17, 2011.

These legendary top 10 biggest diamonds in the world come in all shapes and sizes. While their prices are sure to be left to pure royalty, there is no limit to the amount of admiration and awe to be shared amongst everyone.

Take a look for yourself and see if you aren’t dazzled by these diamonds!

1. The Golden Jubilee

Weight: 545.67 carats or 109.13 g

Estimated Value: $8 – $12 million

Firmly holding onto its #1 spot, The Golden Jubilee is the largest known diamond in the world! This large brown diamond was discovered in 1985 in a premier mine in South Africa with the original total rough shape weight of 755.5 carats (151 g) which was later reshaped and resized. The first name originally given to this enormous diamond was simply, ‘Unnamed Brown’. In honor of King Bhumibol Adulyade’s 50^th coronation anniversary, this brown diamond was presented to him as a gift during which, he renamed the brown diamond as ‘The Golden Jubilee’.

2. The Cullinan I

Weight: 530.4 carats or 106.1 g

Estimated Value: Over $400 million

Also commonly known as Star of Africa, the Cullinan I is the second largest diamond in the world. This pear shaped diamond measures 58.9 mm × 45.4 mm × 27.7 mm. It is called the Cullinan I since it was the largest of the 9 stones cut from the Cullinan Diamond which weighed 3106 carats when first discovered. The Cullinan Diamond was named after Thomas Cullinan (later Sir Thomas), who was a South African mine company owner.

3. The Incomparable

Weight: 407.48 carats

Estimated Value: $600,000

The Incomparable is the third largest diamond in the world, measuring in at 53.90 mm × 35.19 mm × 28.18 mm and was found in the town of Mbuji Mayi in the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire) in the 1980s. This large rock was first discovered in its rough state weighing 890 carats, then reshaped and resized and finally adjusted into a ring. The cutting of the diamond was done by a the team of Marvin Samuels, who was the co-owner of the stone together along with Donald Zale of Zales Jewellers and Louis Glick.

4. The Cullinan II

Weight: 317.40 carats

Estimated Value: Unknown

Initially dismissed as a real diamond, the cushion-shaped Cullinan II is now the fourth largest diamond of the world. Discovered by mine manager, Fred Wells, this diamond rests in the center-front of the Imperial Stat Crown of Great Britain which had, at one time, belonged to Queen Elizabeth II of England. It was cut from the same rough diamond, the Cullinan, and fascinatingly, has two loops on either side to wear it as a broach or with the Cullinan I.

5. The Spirit of de Grisogono

Weight: 312.24 carats

Estimated Value: Unknown

Coming in as the fifth largest diamond in the world, the Spirit of de Grisogono is also the world’s largest cut black diamond, discovered in West Central Africa. This deep, dark diamond’s original rough weight was 587 carats but was later cut and resized.  It’s now fitted into a ring and is encrusted with 702 small white diamonds which have a total weight of 36.69 carats.

6. The Centenary

Weight: 273.85 carats

Estimated Value: Unknown

The Centenary, discovered on 17th July 1986, is the sixth largest diamond of the world and has an almost heart-shaped appearance. This perfect coloured diamond was found at the premier mine by the electric X-ray recovery system at the Premier Mine and those who were a part of it were sworn to secrecy. The rough shape weight of this diamond was 599 carats with 247 facets, measuring in at 39.90mm × 50.50mm × 24.55 mm. It has since been reshaped and resized.

7. The Jubilee

Weight: 245.35 carats

Estimated Value: Unknown, although, in 1900, its estimated value was 7,000,000 francs.

The seventh largest diamond in the world is the colourless, cushion-shaped Jubilee. Discovered in 1895 in the Jagersfontein Mine located in South Africa, it was sent to Amsterdam where it was polished by M.B. Barends. The previous name given to original diamond before it was cleaved was the Reitz in honour of the then president of the Orange Free State, Francis William Reitz. After a 40 carat slab was separated from the original 650.80 carats of rough diamond, the remaining piece was polished, renamed as the Jubilee and destined to be sent to Queen Victoria. The Jubilee is now located in the Royal Thai Palace and is fixed into the crown along with other expensive and popular jewels.

8. The De Beers

Weight: 234.65 carats

Estimated Value: Would be valued $20 – $30 million if found again

The De Beers is the eighth largest diamond in the world and was discovered in the Kimberly mines located in South Africa in 1888. Before being resized and reshaped this amazing diamond weighed 428.50 carats. It was bought by the Maharaja of Patiala and then fitted into a necklace which was named the Patiala Necklace. In 1978, after being loaned to an event in Israel, the famous necklace went missing until it turned up later at a second-hand jewellery shop in London in 1998 – without the De Beers diamond. This light yellow diamond has yet to be found and until that day arrives, De Beers allowed Cartier to restore a cubic zirconium look-a-like to replace its spot on the Patiala Necklace.

9. The Red Cross

Weight: 205.07

Estimated Value: £2 million

The Red Cross is the ninth largest diamond of the world weighing 205.07 was also discovered in the Kimberly mines, South Africa but at a later date in 1901. There are two extremely significant features that make this canary yellow diamond so valuable and unique. The first rare feature is that after exposure to brilliant light, it emits those rays becoming self-luminous in the dark. Even more intriguing is its second rare feature: The Maltese Cross distinctly visible in the top facet, hence its name, the Red Cross.

10. The Millennium Star

Weight: 203.04 carats

Estimated Value: While the estimated value is kept private, it was insured by De Beers Chairman, Nicky Oppenheimer, for £100 million

Although it’s the last of the Top 10 List, the Millennium Star diamond is definitely not the least and is in fact, the second largest faceted D-Flawless diamond in the world. Discovered in Zaire in 1990, this clear blue coloured stone weighed 777 carats in its rough state and was considered to be a magical number. What makes this diamond extremely exceptional is that it is externally flawless without a single scratch or burn marks on any of the facets.