Sotheby’s recently announced that they’d sold one of Tupac’s rings in New York City for $1,016,000 – a great deal more than the initial estimates of $200k-$300k. As the only piece purchased for over $1 million, the ring has been deemed the most valuable hip-hop artifact ever sold at auction.
Boasting 10-carats of cabochon rubies and pavé diamonds, the gold ring is a creation purely from Tupac’s imagination. Designed by the rapper in 1996, it was reportedly tooled and re-tooled according to his specifications until perfect.
The new owner of the ring is none other than Drake, who showed off his latest piece of bling on Instagram over the weekend.
Diamond and jewellery experts at Steven Stone have taken a close look at the prized possession, revealing everything you need to know.
Meticulously designed by Tupac, the custom ring was designed by Tupac and worn during his final public appearance at the 1996 MTV Video Music Awards.
Modelled after the crowns worn by Europe’s medieval kings, a gold crown sits on top of the diamond encrusted gold band. The circlet of the crown is studded with a central cabochon ruby, flanked by two pave cut diamonds – the three largest jewels in the piece.
Sixteen spikes of descending heights sit above the circlet, with the tallest five being topped with round cabochon rubies set in gold.
Tupac featured traditional European design elements that characterize the crown as a specific coronation piece.
This isn’t the first impressive piece of jewellery that we’ve seen from Drake and late last year, he created a diamond necklace that’s made up of 42 diamonds from engagement rings that he thought about giving to women but ultimately decided against.
The necklace totals 351.38 carats and features multiple diamond shapes – including round, emerald, princess cuts. At the time, we estimated its value to be a staggering $12.5 million.
“Tupac’s iconic crown ring is a magnificent piece of jewellery. Boasting 10-carats of cabochon rubies and pavé diamonds, it’s a creation purely from Tupac’s imagination and was designed by the rapper in 1996.
The gold ring boasts a diamond-encrusted gold band, with a gold crown sat atop that was modelled after the crowns of the medieval Kings of Europe. The crowns circlet is studded with the three largest jewels in the entire piece and 16 spikes of descending heights sit above it, with the tallest 5 being topped with round cabochon rubies set in gold.
Sotheby’s estimated the piece to go for $200-300k, but it went for a great deal more and is now in the hands of another rapper – Drake bought the piece for just over $1 million, making it the most valuable hip-hop artifact to have been sold at auction.
This isn’t the first impressive piece of jewellery that we’ve seen from Drake – late last year he created a diamond necklace that we estimated to be worth $12.5 million. Made up of 42 diamonds from engagement rings Drake thought about giving to women but ultimately decided against, the necklace totals 351.38 carats and features multiple diamond shapes – including round, emerald, princess cuts.”
maxwell stone, diamond expert, steven stone
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